The latest news about aerospace developments in the United States may indicate the emergence of an integrated aerospace-based precision weapon system there. The recent test of the X-37B unmanned orbiter fits into this concept.
The successful flight of the X-37B drone left more questions than answers. What did this apparatus do during 244 days in orbit, what is its purpose and what capabilities can it provide to the American military? What is the reason for the revival of the concept of a military "space plane" and how does it fit in with the strategic plans of the Pentagon?
The atmosphere of secrecy surrounding these tests, together with the already known information about the development in the United States of non-nuclear high-precision warheads and hypersonic strategic cruise missiles, makes us take seriously the opinion that Washington is preparing to deploy a new complex of strike forces and air-space-based weapons …
Unmanned aerial vehicle with no specific purpose
On April 22, 2010, an Atlas V launch vehicle launched from Cape Canaveral launched the X-37B exploration orbiting drone into space. An experimental flight began under the code USA-212. Demonstrating rather specific orbital evolution and its ability to actively maneuver, the plane successfully returned to Earth on December 3, slightly damaging one of the landing gear tires while landing on the Vandenberg airbase in California. Immediately followed by a statement that in the very near future, exactly the same second apparatus would be sent into orbit.
The Pentagon categorically (not to say - defiantly) refuses to provide any specific information about the purpose of the X-37B. The complete absence of reliable information gave rise to a whole cascade of speculations of varying degrees of adequacy. Nevertheless, they all revolve around the same point of view: we are witnessing the tests of a new military apparatus, and the abnormal secrecy is associated with the unwillingness to "light up" certain tactical and technical elements of the drone or its onboard equipment (weapons?) Ahead of time. In addition, the X-37B has already been dubbed the "satellite killer", which brings us back to the old 70s projects of "combat orbital stations" designed to hunt for enemy spacecraft.
“There is no need to be guided by fantasies,” the press service of the US Department of Defense sharply responds to questions from journalists. "Listen only to what we tell you." Such a straightforward bureaucratic approach, as it is easy to understand, immediately caused the most dense conspiracy theories to flourish in the press and on the Internet. Some of the fears of experts and hobbyists, however, may well be justified if we consider the flight of the X-37B in connection with a number of other decisions made in the United States recently.
Near space weapons
Back in 1957, work began in America on the creation of the X-20 Dyna Soar orbital combat aircraft, which was planned to be launched into space on a Titan rocket. The purpose was formulated as broadly as possible: reconnaissance, striking the earth's surface, fighting enemy spacecraft. In the late 1950s, the idea of manned orbital bombers still seemed promising. The group of test pilots of the apparatus included the future conqueror of the moon, Neil Armstrong.
The first flight of the Dyna Soar was planned for 1966, but problems with the upper stage and the rapid development of ICBMs, which offered a faster solution to the problem of "global strike", severely slowed down the development, depriving it of intelligible goals. In 1963, US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara secured the closure of the project, which by that time had already spent a rather substantial amount - $ 410 million. (To compare the scale of investments: the giant Apollo lunar program, including all the R&D support, the creation of the launch vehicle, the entire test cycle and eleven flights of spacecraft, according to NASA estimates, kept within 23 billion dollars.)
They did not lag behind in the Soviet Union. Already after the termination of funding for the X-20, the project of the Spiral aerospace system was launched, the development of which was entrusted to Gleb Lozino-Lozinsky, the future creator of Buran, who then worked in Mikoyan OKB-155. Soviet designers proposed a number of original, but difficult-to-execute solutions, such as the multi-stage undocking of the booster aircraft and the actual combat orbital spaceplane (it was the MiG-105.11, irreverently nicknamed "Laptem" for its blunt-nosed form).
The refusal of the Americans from their project of an orbital strike platform resulted in the fact that the political leadership of the USSR ceased to perceive Spiral as a priority, focusing on other areas of the rocket and space race. The development of prototypes went on neither shaky nor shaky: by the mid-70s a manned analogue aircraft appeared, ready for flight tests, but in 1976 a decision was made to reorient the efforts of the Lozino-Lozinsky team to develop a more promising Energia-Buran system.
It should be recalled that all this R&D was carried out against the background of both countries' commitment to limit the militarization of outer space, primarily the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which banned the deployment of nuclear weapons in near-earth orbits. Under this agreement, a number of missile systems put on duty formally lost their orbital warheads, although, according to a number of statements, they retained the possibility of their deployment, if an appropriate political decision is made.
Delivery - global, time - one hour
Why did the tests of the American X-37B drone alarm the public so much? First of all, the fact that the line on the development of such orbital systems already very well fits into the recently adopted concept for the development of the American Strategic Command Prompt Global Strike.
The main idea of PGS is formulated briefly and very weighty: "To be able to strike at any point of the planet within 60 minutes from the moment of making a decision." The development of modern means of reconnaissance, navigation and high-precision weapons already makes it possible to use conventional weapons within the framework of this doctrine and to a lesser extent focus on nuclear warheads. This was announced to the US Senate in 2007 by General James Cartwright, one of the leaders of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
As part of the PGS concept, a number of weapons are being developed, in particular, high-precision non-nuclear warheads for the Trident II and Minuteman III ballistic missiles. But the main interest is the breakthrough topic of the X-51A Waverider hypersonic strategic cruise missile, the first flight tests of which from the B-52 bomber took place in May 2010.
During the tests, the rocket reached a speed of 4, 8 M. Some sources indicate that this is not the limit and the final operating speeds of the system may become a level of 6-7 M. Considering the kinetic energy of a hypersonic warhead accelerated to such speeds, we can talk about a simple contact hitting a target (for example, a warship) with a massive "blank", naturally, in conditions of target designation and precise guidance, which is given increased attention in the American army.
Together with the design in the interests of the Pentagon of an unmanned vehicle capable of staying in orbit for at least six months and carrying an unexplained payload, such developments may indicate the formation in the United States of a scientific and practical groundwork for creating a new generation of strike systems. Calling the X-37B a strike spaceplane is somewhat premature, but after it, it is possible to develop larger aerospace systems capable of carrying "weighty" means of destruction.
The departure from the prevailing emphasis on nuclear warheads of strategic missiles (both ballistic and cruise), caused by rapid progress in target designation, high-precision guidance systems and global navigation systems, forms a quite tangible "loophole" in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which, both we have already mentioned, excludes the deployment of nuclear weapons in orbit, without any regulation of conventional weapons. The position regularly voiced by the Russian Foreign Ministry about the urgent need for a new international agreement on the demilitarization of outer space directly testifies to the level of concern displayed by Moscow, observing the progress of American space-rocket systems capable of becoming carriers of high-precision non-nuclear weapons based in space.
Under these conditions, the task of building an integrated aerospace defense system capable of intercepting hypersonic targets at speeds of 5-6 M becomes a critical task for powers wishing to at least to some extent protect themselves from an orbital strike “delivered within an hour”.
