14-10-2008

Simple Magnetic Gun (Induction Gun, Magnetic Rifle)

A small magnetic gun, which can demonstrate the principle of operation of such devices, can be assembled from available materials in about an hour.

The energy used in this gun is less than what could cause death, so it can be considered quite safe. However, care must be taken as the energy stored in the capacitors used can cause noticeable pain, minor electrical burns, and temporary muscle paralysis.

Warning: The authors of this article are not responsible for injury or damage caused by attempts to repeat the above experiments. Capacitors are charged to a high voltage, which can not only lead to muscle rupture and other serious damage, but also kill.

You will need

Tools:

• soldering iron
• Solder
• wire cutters
• glue gun
• Flat head screwdriver

• Available used camera (preferably Fugifilm)
• Low-power trinistor or powerful transistor (TO3 package)
• Connecting wire
• 30 cm of heat shrink tubing (for insulating high voltage connections)
• Quick Push Button Switch
• Socket for two AA cells
• toggle switch
• Plastic spool of thread and a small skein of 0.3 mm wire
• Red and black nail polish
• General purpose fast drying epoxy adhesive
• Small nails approximately 10 mm long and 1 mm in diameter

Device

First you need to remove the charger and capacitor from the camera. This can be done by removing its front panel, for which it is necessary to break the side fasteners with a screwdriver. Capacitors in cameras remain charged for a very long time, so in order to protect yourself, you should wear rubber gloves. Once you've removed the front of your camera, it should look something like this:

The charger is a green circuit board with a flash and a capacitor attached to it. Take it out of the camera and you can throw everything else away. Short the capacitor leads with a screwdriver. If the capacitor has been charged, this may cause popping.

Now you need to unsolder the capacitor and battery connections, as well as the switch and flash lamp. Mark the plus and minus on the capacitor terminals with red and black varnish, and the plus and minus on the battery connection. Also mark the places on the board where you removed these elements from. Solder the connecting wires to these places.

You should get something like this:

Now you need to wind the inductor.

The inductance will be wound on a coil of thread, cut off the end of it so that you have a plastic tube about 40 mm long.

To make an inductor, you will need to wind about 4 layers of 0.3 mm wire around the base. Since the projectile is about 10 mm long, you need to start winding the coil at a distance of about 10 mm from one of the ends. Secure the end of the wire to the spool with tape. It is also recommended to cover each layer of winding with a thin layer of epoxy, which will hold the layer in place and better insulate it. Also pour resin on the unwrapped end of the cylinder where the projectile will be placed. This gun is muzzle loaded.

Once you've made the coil, you're ready to solder the rest of the components together. Use the following schema:

After connecting all the components according to the scheme, your gun can fire. It is better to place the gun inside the body of a toy weapon, so it will be easier to use it and you will not be shocked.

To fire your new cannon, you first need projectiles. To do this, take a nail and bite off its head. Place the rest of the nail in the muzzle of the induction coil and lift the gun up so that it slides in and stops at the epoxy plug. Now put the batteries in the slot provided for them and turn on the charging switch. If everything was done correctly, you will hear a buzzing sound indicating that the capacitors are charging. When the neon charge indicator from the camera flashes, this will mean that the magnetic mini-gun is charged and ready to shoot. To shoot, point the cannon at the target and pull the trigger. The nail should fly out of the cannon at a noticeable speed.

This pistol has an initial shot energy of about 2 joules and a reload time of about 10 seconds. It shoots with single bolts, since the author did not have the skills to work on the machine to make a semi-automatic reloading mechanism. The power supply consists of two 1.5 V batteries attached to the back for ease of use and portability. With a fresh set of batteries, it turns out to make about ten shots.

The magnetic rifle was made second, and it has a shot energy of about 5 joules, and it takes 10 seconds to load. Power source - battery 12 V 3.5 Ah. A 12 - 240 V inverter is connected to it, which feeds the rectifier circuit. The 400V from the output of this circuit is used to charge two 400V x 2200uF capacitors to power the coil. The rifle can pierce several beer cans.

• Ha! This is already called not voltage supply, but current. Two big differences. Some kind of sliding contacts... Difficult. And if the current is induced by induction, then with a nail the difference is not fundamental - just like a phase rotor differs from a short-circuited one. And the bullet should be simple and cheap!
• This guy seems to have experimented a lot http://gauss2k.narod.ru/12s.htm
• M-yes. Serious drop. So it turns out that there is nothing to suffer with these rifles.
• Or maybe use another, more highly profitable way to accelerate the ball? For example, with plasma, which is formed during a high-voltage breakdown of liquid sodium? charge liquid sodium into the sleeve, instead of the capsule, the central electrode isolated from the sleeve, and apply high voltage with high current through the thyristor. sodium will explode into plasma and drive along the barrel 5-6 times faster than gunpowder. the expansion rate of gases during the combustion of gunpowder is 1-1.5 km / s, so a bullet will never fly faster than 900 m / s. and the expansion of gases during the formation of plasma is greater, about 3-5 km / s, so the bullet can fly out at a speed of 2-2.5 km / s. On this principle, new assault rifles USA. A bullet with a tungsten core flies out at a speed of 2.2 km / s, pierces 40 cm thick concrete and armored personnel carrier armor from a distance of 600 m, pierces an army bulletproof vest from a distance of 2.5 km, and has an aimed fire range of 3 km !!! I think if you use a negligible charge and very small bullets, you can get a marvelous effect. For example, a ball with a diameter of 2mm pierces right through the engine of a passenger car :)) from a distance of 100m - the hole is not visible, there is almost no noise, but the car is a mess! the only problem is non-inductive high voltage capacitors and capacitances + good thyristors for 100-200 amps. conders need 1000V at 1000uF, ceramic or other non-inductive type (not electrolytes and not paper) new type semiconductor conders, - give in impulse current up to 8000 amperes
• SpiderMax I would like a link to the source. No one has been able to bypass the law of conservation of energy yet. How much does a weapon like this weigh?
• I read this a long time ago, so I could have made a mistake with the parameters a little, but it weighs a little and shoots pretty quickly. there is also a rangefinder, and a computer that determines what charge it is necessary to inform the capacitor in order to reach the target and hit it, the soldier chooses the type of target (armored or not, ground or air, etc.) this is all in order to speed up the charge and save battery. after all, you don’t need to shoot at a person from 100 meters like at an armored personnel carrier from 500 ...
• they also wrote that one such cartridge in wholesale costs $ 10-20 and a rifle from $ 10,000
• And here is a wonderful info about the electric shooter http://railgun.org.ua/
• Something I can’t find an article about plasma cartridges ...: (we could have been removed from the Internet. It’s a painfully simple design, and conduits as large as for a rail gun are not needed. In addition, liquid sodium can be replaced with another substance that will need to be transferred into the plasma ... for example, a saturated salt solution or some kind of alkali - an acid.
• God, what does alkali or acid have to do with it! Well, sodium is actively oxidized. If you introduce capsules with sodium and separately with oxygen (or even then with fluorine), maybe the expiration rate will be greater than that of gunpowder. But what about the electric rifle? You can set it on fire simply by crushing it (to mix it up). And even if these capsules were sold in cigarette kiosks, it would not be "a painfully simple design" ... :)
• Plasma, gunpowder, what's the difference? In the rate of "burning" (if you can call the process of plasma formation)? Then why not BB? But the barrel will probably break if substances with high burning rates are used, by analogy with detonating explosives. I remember the experience described in Landsberg's textbook of elementary physics from school, an aluminum ring put on the core of an electromagnet was thrown up to the ceiling when current was applied to the winding.
• We want a good shot - we need a strong barrel. But if we introduce any chemistry, we come to the usual firearms ... And without it, the energy of the bullet will be much less than that of the capacitor used.
• Sodium oxidation and plasma formation are completely different processes. during oxidation, thermal energy is released due to a chemical reaction, and during the formation of plasma, energy is introduced from the outside - from the capacitor, and its introduction, i.e. the rate of increase in the internal energy of a substance, multiplied by the amount of this same energy, gives an effect, and the rate of expansion of the working fluid can be tens of times greater than the rate of expanding gases during the oxidation reaction. Simply put, take a piece of gunpowder as large as a semiconductor crystal in a diode, for example, D9, or KD511, it's like a grain of sugar, and try to blow it up to get a good sound wave, and take the same diode, plug it into a 220 socket, it will explode so that in Your ears will still ring! Here is the formation of a plasma, and a combustion reaction! The dimensions and mass of the working substance are the same, but the work is different. Why, you can charge 0.1 g of this sodium into the sleeve, the sleeve itself will be like a Flobert cartridge, but a bullet weighing 0.5 g will fly out at a speed of 650-850 m / s! And now mathematicians ATTENTION - count kinetic energy this bullet, and a bullet from the PM, and compare ... I think it’s clear that for such a bullet and speed, a 3 kV capacitor with a capacity of 10000 microfarads is not needed. 1000 microfarads per 2kV with a head will be enough
• At high expansion rates of the working fluid, the strength of the barrel is not so important as its impact strength, so it is advisable to make it by forging. The fact is that the shock wave in the metal travels at speeds of about 4-8 km / s, and when fired with plasma, approximately the same speeds are obtained, if during combustion these speeds are several times lower. This is how a detonator, for example, its strength is unimportant .. There, the wave speed is 6 km / s, if lead azide ..
• Well, I was not too lazy, I counted. It turned out that with a discharge of 1000 microfarads * 1000V (i.e. 1000J, i.e. 0.2A * h from 1.5V, i.e. a "finger" is enough for 10 shots), a 1-gram bullet will acquire the speed of sound. It seems to be impressive. But this is with an efficiency (at all stages) of 100%! And I wonder if it will work out at least 1% in practice?
• The speed of detonation, nitrohydrocarbons, such as hexogen, is about 8 km/s. However, they are not used for throwing purposes due to the high "brisance" (explosive ability). Then what for to invent an unreliable electro-plasma spit, if it is possible to use a chemical cartridge with explosives in combination with a more durable barrel, for example, made of carbon fiber?
• Such a construction should be considered only as "gymnastics for the mind." Practical application, on the this moment, it cannot have due to the restrictions imposed by the materials and elements used. At the Institute of High-Temperature Processes (Shatura), an installation has been created and is being operated that accelerates a projectile of several grams to speeds of 2-8 km / s. It conducts experiments on the interaction of various materials of the target and the projectile for the "space". This is half a ton of the "gun" itself and a battery of high-voltage capacitors occupying a room of about 100 cubic meters.
• And it is natural that this "gymnastics" leads away from the topic "Magnetic gun" to classical cartridge cases and chemistry. With purely electromagnetic overclocking, it is unlikely that the 1% that I am writing about will work. It is not for nothing that they are not used in practice, although the military commissar always has everything most advanced.
• The original used 100 microfarad capacitors at 10,000 volts. can you calculate the energy of a bullet? The efficiency should be about 10%, maybe even more. Since at a high rate of expansion of gases, it is possible to shorten the barrel, but in that version it was not shortened, and this is tantamount to an increase in efficiency. But taking into account friction losses, then personally I would shorten the barrel .. I forgot to say, the bullet is about 15g
• Energy will be 10 times more, speed - 1.5 times less. So what? The phrase "efficiency should seem to be about 10%, maybe even more" does not inspire ...

Gauss gun (Eng. Gauss gun, Coil gun, Gauss cannon) - one of the varieties electromagnetic accelerator wt. Named after the German scientist Carl Gauss, who laid the foundations mathematical theory electromagnetism.

Operating principle
The Gauss gun consists of a solenoid, inside of which there is a barrel (usually made of a dielectric). A projectile (made of a ferromagnet) is inserted into one of the ends of the barrel. When an electric current flows in the solenoid, a magnetic field arises, which accelerates the projectile, “drawing” it into the solenoid. (At the ends of the projectile, poles are formed that are symmetrical to the poles of the coil, because of which, after passing through the center of the solenoid, the projectile is attracted in the opposite direction, that is, it slows down) - This is a common misconception. In fact, the projectile is drawn in and accelerated to the very end of the coil.
For the greatest effect, the current pulse in the solenoid must be short-term and powerful. As a rule, electrical capacitors with a high operating voltage are used to obtain such a pulse.
The parameters of the winding, projectile and capacitors must be coordinated in such a way that when the projectile is fired, by the time the projectile approaches the middle of the winding, the current in the latter would already have had time to decrease to a minimum value, that is, the charge of the capacitors would have already been completely used up. In this case, the efficiency of a single-stage Gauss gun will be maximum. The efficiency of "single-coil" systems increases with increasing voltage and increasing inductance of the coil.

Advantages and disadvantages
The Gauss cannon as a weapon has advantages that other types do not have small arms. This is the absence of sleeves and unlimited choice initial speed and the energy of the ammunition, the possibility of a silent shot (if the speed of a sufficiently streamlined projectile does not exceed the speed of sound), including without changing the barrel and ammunition, relatively low recoil (equal to the momentum of the projectile that has flown out, there is no additional impulse from powder gases or moving parts), theoretically, large reliability and wear resistance, as well as the ability to work in any conditions, including outer space.
However, despite the apparent simplicity of the Gauss cannon and its advantages, using it as a weapon is fraught with serious difficulties.
The first difficulty is the low efficiency of the installation. Only 1-7% of the capacitor charge is converted into the kinetic energy of the projectile. In part, this disadvantage can be compensated for by using a multi-stage projectile acceleration system, but in any case, the efficiency rarely reaches 27%. Therefore, the Gauss cannon loses even to pneumatic weapons in terms of the power of the shot.
The second difficulty is the high energy consumption (due to low efficiency) and the rather long time for the accumulative recharging of capacitors, which forces a power source (usually a powerful battery) to be carried along with the Gauss gun. It is possible to greatly increase efficiency by using superconducting solenoids, but this would require a powerful cooling system, which would greatly reduce the mobility of the Gauss gun.
The third difficulty (follows from the first two) - big weight and dimensions of the installation with its low efficiency.
Video. Gauss gun in the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R., in the game Fallout 2 and homemade real Gauss gun

Scientific and technological progress is developing rapidly. Unfortunately, its results lead not only to the improvement of our lives, to new amazing discoveries or victories over dangerous ailments, but also to the emergence of new, more advanced weapons.

Throughout the past century, mankind has been "puzzling" over the creation of new, even more effective means destruction. Poison gases, deadly bacteria and viruses, intercontinental missiles, thermonuclear weapons . There has never been such a period in human history that scientists and the military collaborated so closely and, unfortunately, effectively.

In many countries of the world, weapons are being actively developed based on new physical principles. The generals are very attentive to the latest achievements of science and try to put them at their service.

One of the most promising directions defense research are work in the field of creating electromagnetic weapons. In the yellow press, it is usually called the "electromagnetic bomb". Such studies are very expensive, so only rich countries can afford them: the USA, China, Russia, Israel.

The principle of operation of an electromagnetic bomb is to create a powerful electrical magnetic field, which disables all devices whose work is connected with electricity.

This is not the only way to use electromagnetic waves in modern military affairs: mobile generators of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) have been created that can disable enemy electronics at a distance of up to several tens of kilometers. Works in this area are actively carried out in the USA, Russia, and Israel.

There are even more exotic military applications of electromagnetic radiation than the electromagnetic bomb. Most of modern weapons uses the energy of powder gases to defeat the enemy. However, everything may change in the coming decades. Electromagnetic currents will also be used to launch the projectile.

The principle of operation of such an "electric gun" is quite simple: a projectile made of a conductive material, under the influence of a field, is pushed out at high speed over a fairly large distance. This scheme is planned to be put into practice in the near future. The Americans are the most actively working in this direction; successful development of weapons with this principle of operation in Russia is unknown.

How do you imagine the start of World War III? Blinding flashes of thermonuclear charges? The groans of people dying from anthrax? Hypersonic strikes from space?

Everything can be completely different.

There will indeed be a flash, but not very strong and not sizzling, but rather similar to a roll of thunder. The most "interesting" will begin later.

Light up even when turned off fluorescent lamps and TV screens, the smell of ozone will hang in the air, and wiring and electrical appliances will begin to smolder and sparkle. Gadgets and household appliances that have batteries will heat up and fail.

Almost all internal combustion engines will stop working. Communications will be cut off, the media will not work, cities will plunge into darkness.

People will not be harmed, in this respect the electromagnetic bomb is a very humane type of weapon. But think for yourself what life will turn into modern man, if you remove from it devices whose principle of operation is based on electricity.

A society against which a weapon of such an action will be used will be thrown back several centuries ago.

How it works

How can you create such a powerful electromagnetic field that can have such an effect on electronics and electrical networks? electronic bomb can a fantastic weapon or similar ammunition be created in practice?

The electronic bomb has already been created and has already been used twice. It's about about nuclear or thermonuclear weapons. When such a charge is detonated by one of damaging factors is the flux of electromagnetic radiation.

In 1958 the Americans blew up Pacific Ocean thermonuclear bomb, which led to a breakdown in communications throughout the region, it was not even in Australia, but on Hawaiian Islands the light is gone.

Gamma radiation, which is produced in excess during a nuclear explosion, causes the strongest electronic pulse that extends hundreds of kilometers and turns off all electronic devices. Immediately after the invention nuclear weapons, the military began to develop the protection of their own equipment from such an action of explosions.

Work related to the creation of a strong electromagnetic pulse, as well as the development of means of protection against it, are carried out in many countries (USA, Russia, Israel, China), but almost everywhere they are classified.

Is it possible to create a working device, on other less destructive principles of action than nuclear explosion. It turns out that it is possible. Moreover, such developments were actively engaged in the USSR (they continue in Russia as well). One of the first who became interested in this direction was the famous academician Sakharov.

It was he who first proposed the design of conventional electromagnetic ammunition. According to his idea, a high-energy magnetic field can be obtained by compressing the magnetic field of a solenoid with a conventional explosive. Such a device could be placed in a rocket, projectile or bomb and sent to an enemy object.

However, such ammunition has one drawback: their low power. The advantage of such projectiles and bombs is their simplicity and low cost.

Is it possible to defend?

After the first tests of nuclear weapons and the identification of electromagnetic radiation as one of its main damaging factors, the USSR and the USA began to work on protection against EMP.

This issue was taken very seriously in the USSR. Soviet army prepared to fight in conditions nuclear war, so all Combat vehicles was made taking into account the possible impact on it electromagnetic impulses. To say that there is no protection from him at all is a clear exaggeration.

All military electronics were equipped with special screens and reliably grounded. It included special safety devices, the electronics architecture was developed to be as resistant to EMP as possible.

Of course, if you get into the epicenter of the use of a high-power electromagnetic bomb, then the protection will be broken, but at a certain distance from the epicenter, the probability of defeat will be significantly lower. Electromagnetic waves propagate in all directions (like waves on water), so their strength decreases in proportion to the square of the distance.

In addition to protection, electronic weapons were also developed. With the help of EMP, they planned to shoot down cruise missiles, there is information about the successful application of this method.

Currently, mobile complexes are being developed that can emit EMP high density, disrupting enemy electronics on the ground and shooting down aircraft.

Video about electromagnetic bomb

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Hi all. In this article, we will consider how to make a portable Gaussian electromagnetic gun assembled using a microcontroller. Well, about the Gauss gun, of course, I got excited, but there is no doubt that it is an electromagnetic gun. This device on a microcontroller was designed to teach beginners how to program microcontrollers by building an example. electromagnetic gun with our own hands. We will analyze some design points both in the Gauss electromagnetic gun itself and in the program for the microcontroller.

From the very beginning, you need to decide on the diameter and length of the barrel of the gun itself and the material from which it will be made. I used a plastic case with a diameter of 10 mm from under a mercury thermometer, since I had it lying around idle. You can use any available material that has non-ferromagnetic properties. These are glass, plastic, copper tube, etc. The length of the barrel may depend on the number of electromagnetic coils used. In my case, four electromagnetic coils are used, the barrel length is twenty centimeters.

As for the diameter of the tube used, in the process of operation, the electromagnetic gun showed that it is necessary to take into account the diameter of the barrel relative to the projectile used. Simply put, the diameter of the barrel should not be much larger than the diameter of the projectile used. Ideally, the barrel of an electromagnetic gun should fit under the projectile itself.

The material for creating shells was the axis from the printer with a diameter of five millimeters. From this material, five blanks 2.5 centimeters long were made. Although it is also possible to use steel blanks, say, from a wire or an electrode - what can be found.

You need to pay attention to the weight of the projectile itself. The weight should be kept as low as possible. My shells are a bit heavy.

Before the creation of this gun, experiments were carried out. An empty paste from a pen was used as a barrel, a needle was used as a projectile. The needle easily pierced the cover of a magazine placed near the electromagnetic gun.

Since the original Gauss electromagnetic gun is built on the principle of charging a capacitor with a high voltage, about three hundred volts, for safety reasons, novice radio amateurs should power it with a low voltage, about twenty volts. Low voltage leads to the fact that the range of the projectile is not very long. But again, it all depends on the number of electromagnetic coils used. The more electromagnetic coils used, the greater the acceleration of the projectile in the electromagnetic gun. The diameter of the barrel also matters (the smaller the diameter of the barrel, the farther the projectile flies) and the quality of the winding of the electromagnetic coils themselves. Perhaps, electromagnetic coils are the most basic in the design of an electromagnetic gun, serious attention must be paid to this in order to achieve maximum projectile flight.

I will give the parameters of my electromagnetic coils, they may be different for you. The coil is wound with a wire with a diameter of 0.2 mm. The winding length of the electromagnetic coil layer is two centimeters and contains six such rows. I did not isolate each new layer, but started winding a new layer on the previous one. Due to the fact that electromagnetic coils are powered by low voltage, you need to get the maximum Q factor of the coil. Therefore, we wind all the turns tightly to each other, turn to turn.

As for the feeder, no special explanations are needed here. Everything was soldered from the waste of foil textolite left over from the production of printed circuit boards. The pictures show everything in detail. The heart of the feeder is the SG90 servo driven by a microcontroller.

The feed rod is made of a steel bar with a diameter of 1.5 mm, an m3 nut is soldered at the end of the rod for coupling with the servo drive. A copper wire with a diameter of 1.5 mm bent at both ends is installed on the servo rocker to increase the arm.

This simple device, assembled from improvised materials, is quite enough to feed a projectile into the barrel of an electromagnetic gun. The feed rod must completely exit the loading magazine. A cracked brass post with an internal diameter of 3 mm and a length of 7 mm served as a guide for the supply rod. It was a pity to throw it away, so it came in handy, in fact, like pieces of foil textolite.

The program for the atmega16 microcontroller was created in AtmelStudio, and is a completely open source project for you. Consider some settings in the microcontroller program that will have to be made. For the most efficient operation of the electromagnetic gun, you will need to set the operating time of each electromagnetic coil in the program. The setting is done in order. First, solder the first coil into the circuit, do not connect the rest. Set the time in the program (in milliseconds).

PORT |=(1<<1); // катушка 1
_delay_ms(350); / / working hours

Flash the microcontroller, and run the program on the microcontroller. The effort of the reel should be enough to pull the projectile and give the initial acceleration. Having achieved the maximum flight of the projectile, adjusting the time of the coil in the microcontroller program, connect the second coil and also adjust the time, achieving an even greater range of the projectile. Accordingly, the first coil remains on.

PORT |=(1<<1); // катушка 1
_delay_ms(350);
PORTA &=~(1<<1);
PORT |=(1<<2); // катушка 2
_delay_ms(150);

In this way, you set up the operation of each electromagnetic coil, connecting them in order. As the number of electromagnetic coils in the Gauss electromagnetic gun device increases, the speed and, accordingly, the range of the projectile should also increase.

This painstaking procedure for setting up each coil can be avoided. But for this, it will be necessary to modernize the device of the electromagnetic gun itself by installing sensors between electromagnetic coils to track the movement of the projectile from one coil to another. Sensors in combination with a microcontroller will not only simplify the tuning process, but also increase the range of the projectile. I did not do these bells and whistles and complicate the microcontroller program. The goal was to implement an interesting and simple project using a microcontroller. How interesting it is, to judge, of course, you. To be honest, I was happy as a child, “threshing” from this device, and I had an idea for a more serious device on a microcontroller. But that's a topic for another article.

Program and scheme -

Russia is developing radio-electronic munitions designed to disable enemy equipment due to a powerful microwave pulse, an adviser to the first deputy general director recently said. Such statements, often containing extremely scarce information, look like something from the realm of fantasy, but they are heard more and more often, and not by chance. The United States and China are intensively working on electromagnetic weapons, where they understand that promising technologies for remote action will radically change the tactics and strategy of future wars. Is modern Russia capable of responding to such challenges?

Between the first and second

The use of electromagnetic weapons is considered part of an element of the American "third offset strategy", which involves the use of the latest technologies and control methods to achieve an advantage over the enemy. If the first two "compensatory strategies" were implemented during the Cold War solely as a response to the USSR, then the third is directed mainly against China. The war of the future involves limited human participation, but it is planned to actively use drones. They are controlled remotely, it is precisely such control systems that electromagnetic weapons should disable.

Speaking of electromagnetic weapons, they primarily mean equipment based on powerful microwave radiation. It is assumed that it is capable of suppressing, up to the complete incapacitation of enemy electronic systems. Depending on the tasks to be solved, microwave emitters can be delivered on rockets or drones, installed on armored vehicles, aircraft or ships, and also be stationary. Electromagnetic weapons usually operate for several tens of kilometers, electronics are affected in the entire space around the source or target located in a relatively narrow cone.

In this sense, electromagnetic weapons represent a further development of electronic warfare. The design of microwave radiation sources varies depending on the damaging targets and methods. Thus, compact generators with explosive compression of the magnetic field or emitters with focusing electromagnetic radiation in a certain sector can serve as the basis for electromagnetic bombs, while microwave emitters installed on large equipment, such as aircraft or tanks, operate on the basis of a laser crystal.

Let them talk

The first prototypes of electromagnetic weapons appeared in the 1950s in the USSR and the USA, however, it was possible to start producing compact and not very energy-consuming products only in the last twenty or thirty years. In fact, the United States started the race, Russia had no choice but to get involved in it.

Image: Boeing

In 2001, it became known about the work on one of the first samples of electromagnetic weapons of mass destruction: the American VMADS (Vehicle Mounted Active Denial System) system made it possible to heat human skin to a pain threshold (about 45 degrees Celsius), thus actually disorienting the enemy. However, in the end, the main goal of advanced weapons is not people, but machines. In 2012, in the United States, as part of the CHAMP (Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project) project, a rocket with an electromagnetic bomb was tested, and a year later, a ground-based electronic suppression system for drones was tested. In addition to these areas, laser weapons and railguns close to electromagnetic weapons are being intensively developed in the United States.

Similar developments are underway in China, where, moreover, they recently announced the creation of an array of SQUIDs (SQUID, Superconducting Quantum Interference Device, superconducting quantum interferometer), which allows detecting submarines from a distance of about six kilometers, and not hundreds of meters, as traditional methods. The US Navy experimented with single SQUID sensors rather than arrays for similar purposes, but the high noise level led to the fact that the use of promising technology was abandoned in favor of traditional means of detection, in particular sonar.

Russia

Russia already has samples of electromagnetic weapons. For example, the remote demining vehicle (MDR) "Foliage" is an armored car equipped with a radar for searching for mines, a microwave emitter for neutralizing the electronic filling of ammunition and a metal detector. This MDR, in particular, is intended to accompany vehicles of the Topol, Topol-M and Yars missile systems along the route. "Foliage" has repeatedly been tested, in Russia until 2020 it is planned to adopt more than 150 such vehicles.

The effectiveness of the system is limited, since only remotely controlled fuses (that is, with electronic filling) are neutralized with its help. On the other hand, there is always the function of detecting an explosive device. More complex systems, in particular "Afganit", are installed on modern Russian vehicles of the Armata universal combat platform.

In recent years, more than ten electronic warfare systems have been developed in Russia, including Algurit, Mercury-BM and the Krasukha family, as well as the Borisoglebsk-2 and Moscow-1 stations.

The Russian military is already being supplied with aerodynamic targets with a built-in electronic warfare system capable of simulating a group missile raid, thereby disorienting enemy air defenses. In such missiles, instead of a warhead, special equipment is installed. Within three years, they will equip the Su-34 and Su-57.

“Today, all these developments have been transferred to the level of specific experimental design projects for the creation of electromagnetic weapons: shells, bombs, missiles carrying a special explosive magnetic generator,” says Vladimir Mikheev, adviser to the first deputy general director of the Radioelectronic Technologies concern.

He clarified that in 2011-2012, a complex of scientific research was carried out under the code "Alabuga", which made it possible to determine the main directions for the development of electronic weapons of the future. Similar developments, the adviser noted, are being carried out in other countries, in particular in the United States and China.

Ahead of the planet

Nevertheless, in the development of electromagnetic weapons, so far it is Russia that occupies, if not a leader, then one of the leading positions in the world. Experts are almost unanimous on this.

“We have such regular ammunition - for example, there are generators in the combat units of anti-aircraft missiles, there are also shots for hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers equipped with such generators. In this direction, we are at the forefront in the world; as far as I know, there are no similar ammunition in the supply of foreign armies. In the USA and China, such equipment is now only at the testing stage, ”notes the editor-in-chief, a member of the expert council of the military-industrial complex board.

According to CNA (Center for Naval Analyzes) analyst Samuel Bendett, Russia leads the way in electronic warfare, and the US has lagged far behind in the past 20 years. The expert, speaking recently in Washington, DC, to government officials and representatives of the military-industrial circles, specifically noted the Russian RB-341V Leer-3 GSM jamming system.