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For all the "well-wishers" of Russia, who are concerned about the country's nuclear weapons, there are two pieces of news. One good, the other not so good. The good news is that in 2018 the intercontinental ballistic missile R-36M "Voevoda" (or "Satan" according to NATO classification) is still planned to be withdrawn from service.
The bad news is that the Satan will be replaced by a technologically different and fundamentally different intercontinental ballistic missile RS-28 Sarmat, the warheads of which, in fact, will make any missile defense system meaningless.
About the outgoing and the coming
At one time, the Tsar Rocket R-36M made a lot of noise. Experts admit that even modern facilities air interception of such targets as ICBMs are developing by leaps and bounds, and the two-hundred-ton missile is enough to this day. However, the missile defense, which is rapidly being built up by our kind Western "friends", makes us think about when the possibilities of "Satan" will be exhausted, because, as you know, there is no eternal in this world.
In this sense, "Sarmat" is not just a successor missile to "Voevoda", but to some extent will determine in which direction the funds will develop nuclear deterrence worldwide. By and large, with the start of work on the Sarmat ICBM, several tasks are solved at once, among which warhead rockets, or rather its mass, is not decisive.
Contrary to the approach of the developers of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and Academician Yangel, who personally created a missile capable of erasing areas the size of Texas from the face of the earth, the creation of the RS-28 requires, first of all, to master higher speed indicators, thanks to which it will be possible to overcome any existing (and developed on replacement) of any country's missile defense system.
4202
It is most correct in stories about "products" to start with carriers of warheads. There are enough significant differences between "Sarmat" and "Voevoda", and above all this starting weight rockets. According to various estimates, a ready-to-use liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile will have a mass of 110 tons instead of 200-odd at Voevoda. However, it is not only and not so much the design of the rocket that brings warheads to the compartment that is interesting, but the capabilities of the warheads themselves and their purpose.
Experts note that trends in the improvement of nuclear deterrence forces (or in the case of especially democratic countries of nuclear as well as non-nuclear attack) will lead to the fact that the program, once called PGS, or Promt Global Strike (global lightning strike), has a high chance of life in the Strategic Missile Forces of the Russian Federation. Despite the fact that the “product 4202” is a secret with seven seals, experts still undertake to speculate about how exactly hypersound can be used in the design of warheads of the new ICBM.
Controlled hypersonics is even conceptually a very difficult task, not to mention bringing the finished hypersonic product to a test launch. There are enough features associated with the use of hypersonic warheads as ready-to-use weapons. The fact is that the combat units of modern, that is, now bearing combat duty intercontinental ballistic missiles usually "fall" from orbit at speeds close to hypersonic - about seven kilometers per second. With such a speed, for example, the ISS moves in the Earth's orbit.
Upon entering the atmosphere, the speed of the warhead is reduced to about three speeds of sound and is subjected to serious heating - up to one and a half thousand degrees. With the help of special thermal protection and speed reduction, warheads can maneuver: each warhead is turned into a small rocket with its own fuel supply, high-performance engine and guidance system. In the case of the “product 4202”, experts talk about maneuvering warheads at speeds of six to ten thousand kilometers per hour. Ten speeds of sound.
In order to carry out targeting and perform vigorous maneuvers at such speeds, the usual controls will no longer be suitable.
“If in space special shunting engines are responsible for maneuvers, then in the atmospheric part of the flight, control rudders are usually responsible for this. But the catch is that at speeds of 10M such means simply will not work: imagine the effort that needs to be applied to change the trajectory of the warhead at ten thousand kilometers per hour, even with the help of hydraulics, ”explains a military observer in an interview with Zvezda and weapons expert Alexei Leonkov.
Another important task is the control of the warhead: it will not be possible to control a “blank” flying at a speed of 10M remotely, which means that each warhead will probably be equipped with a control computer. Experts note that the “pitch” and “yaw” on hypersonic units will most likely be carried out with the help of special impulse engines. But even here it will not be without difficulties: dashing maneuvers of the warhead with a minimum loss of speed expose several more problems related not so much to anti-missile system probable adversary, how many with the usual laws of physics.
“It is necessary to solve the issue with frantic overloads and kinetic heating. And if the issue with heating can be solved, even if using passive means, in the case of overload, everything is a little more complicated: here it is required that the warhead be enclosed in a compound and be a monolith, which is not affected by overloads in any direction, ”explains in an interview with Zvezda, the head of the department of scientific and technical information of TsAGI named after. N. E. Zhukovsky Ivan Kudishin.
Combat use
Improved energy characteristics, which make it possible to equip the Sarmat with additional means of overcoming the American missile defense system, as experts note, are achieved precisely through hypersound. In early May, the Izvestiya newspaper, citing foreign media, reported that Russia had tested hypersonic warheads for latest rocket"Sarmat".
The Ministry of Defense specialists do not comment on the statements of the media, however, based on the information that is freely available, it can be concluded that work on hypersonic "products" for warheads of ICBMs is really going on and is at the finish line. Experts admit that the problems of the American PGS program, or a global lightning strike, are mainly related to the fact that the American HTV will not have a hypersonic flight speed and will switch to a “supersonic” flight mode in the final section, becoming a target for air defense systems.
In turn, Russian specialists are working on the issue of the so-called permanent hypersonic regime, in which the warhead will maintain high speed even with vigorous maneuvers. If a Russian science and engineering were able to solve this issue, then the information that over the past ten years up to six launches of the “4202 product” could be carried out using intercontinental ballistic missiles does not at all look like Science fiction.
Considering that the concept of a global lightning strike could be rewritten for the sake of national security Russian Federation, the use of several highly maneuverable hypersonic warheads with a nuclear warhead (or conventional, increased power) in the new Sarmat liquid-propellant missile is guaranteed to eliminate the entire potential American system PRO.
Experts explain that the situation in the Russian economy of the 1990s, when work on promising areas, including hypersonic, “were abandoned”, does not at all prove that such weapons cannot be created, tested and put into service. And this means that the secret of the global lightning strike Russian specialists already disclosed.
Despite the fact that experts in the field of weapons, and people who are not involved in the creation of the RS-28 missile and warheads for it, do not know and will never know everyone technical features missiles, the fact remains: the adoption of the Sarmat with hypersonic maneuvering warheads is scheduled for 2018.
Global instant hit(Prompt Global Strike, PGS) is strategic concept US Army, according to which the Pentagon began a long-term reform in 2002 to restructure the structure of the branches of the armed forces.
The goal is stated: the maintenance of American interests on a global scale. PGS includes weapons systems. These are silo and sea-based ICBMs, air-, land- and space-based hypersonic weapons, as well as high-precision air- and sea-based cruise missiles.
Stated goals
April 2018 research service The US Congress published the report "Conventional Prompt Global Strike and Long-Range Ballistic Missiles: Background and Issues" by nuclear weapons policy expert Emmy F. Wolfe. The document says that the need for the concept of Prompt Global Strike was considered by the Pentagon repeatedly in the Quadrennial Defense Policy Review (Qudrennial Defense Review, QDR) in 2001, 2006 and 2010. In 2001, the QDR noted that the country's defense strategy "is based on the assumption that the US military has the ability to project force around the world."
QDR 2006, in connection with the expansion of the need for operational global strike operations, noted that the US Army has the ability to “attack stationary protected objects, mobile targets, operationally using precision weapons anywhere in the world at the direction of the President."
In the same QDR, emphasis was placed on the deployment within 2-4 years of submarine groups with Trident II D5 ICBMs with conventional warheads - to support PGS tasks without the use of nuclear weapons.
The 2010 QDR noted that "expanding long-range precision strike capabilities is not only one way to counter growing threats to the United States and its military bases around the world, but to enable the Pentagon to predict the use of force around the world."
The commander of STRATCOM in 2004-2007, General James Cartwright, emphasized that PGS is not only the delivery of weapons to the target: “PGS includes the ability to quickly plan operations for the use of precision weapons and the understanding that the time from assessment to decision on the use of weapons, as well as the resulting effect put forward increased demands on the intelligence that should support the PGS mission.
Most American analysts agree that the US Army does not yet have the capacity to meet the intelligence needs of the PGS.
Since October 2002, STRATCOM has merged with the US Space Command (SpaceCom). The merger gave the revamped structure "the ability to project power around the world through space and information warfare." The Pentagon reorganized STRATCOM in order to be able to carry out new combat missions, including the planning and execution of PGS operations.
In July 2006, STRATCOM created a separate division in its structure that combines all PGS operations management functions - the Joint Functional Component Command for Global Strike (JFCC-GS). According to a STRATCOM statement, the JFCC-GS is designed "to optimize the planning, execution and control of the US military in combat operations to deter attacks on US territory, as well as on its military property and bases abroad. JFCC-GS must ensure that any threats are repelled through the global use of weapons that create "global kinetic and non-kinetic combat effects."
Scenarios
In 2009, the Defense Science Board (US Department of Defense Science Board, DSB) prepared five scenarios for the use of armed force under the PGS. According to military analysts, the US Army can use a global strike in the following cases.
First, when a military adversary almost equal in power used its anti-space potential to destroy an American satellite.
Secondly, when the US wanted to destroy the components of a nuclear weapon that a terrorist organization supplied to a neutral country.
Thirdly, the weapon complex mass destruction temporarily located in the countryside of a neutral country.
Fourthly, the leadership of the terrorist organization gathered in famous place in a neutral country.
And fifth, when a rogue state armed with nuclear weapons threatens to use those weapons against the US or its ally.
In these scenarios, it was noted that the US cannot provide real-time intelligence to achieve the effectiveness of PGS weapons. Therefore, the stake was placed on the most rapid use of these weapons within a few minutes, without waiting for the receipt of clarifying intelligence information, which could arrive within a few hours.
The 2010 QDR noted that "the United States may use the PGS complex various systems weapons. In the short term, these may include medium or long range aircraft, cruise missiles launched from bombers or submarines, and ICBMs based on sea or land.” Thus, complexes of high-precision weapons were added to the nuclear triad.
As justification for this expansion, QDR 2010 cites the words of General James Cartwright, which he said at the Senate hearings in 2006. In particular, the general noted that increasing the accuracy of ICBMs will lead to their more effective use against especially important enemy targets, and high-precision cruise missiles will be able to hit up to 30% of targets that were previously assigned to ICBMs.
Hypersonic Components
In 2003, the US Air Force and DARPA initiated a program known as FALCON (Force application and launch from continental United States, - the use of force and launch from the continental United States). It was designed to create a launch vehicle (LV), similar to a ballistic missile, and a hypersonic descent vehicle - the Common aero vehicle (CAV), for combat missions within the PGS.
When launching a launch vehicle (modified ICBM), the CAV must move at Mach 5 (five Mach numbers) in order to deliver a warhead from the US to anywhere on Earth in less than two hours. The Falcon CAV complex should be ready for launch within 24 hours. The high-speed warhead CAV after separation from the launch vehicle must perform a maneuverable flight, hit both stationary and mobile targets to the entire depth of the enemy’s territory. To hit mobile targets, CAV will receive up-to-date information with the exact coordinates of the target. The probable deviation from the target point for CAV is up to 3 meters.
As conceived by the US Air Force command, launchers under the FALCON program should be located outside the silo ICBM base zone. As the first bases on which the Falcon CAV can be located, the US Air Force command proposed Vandenberg Air Force Base on west coast and Cape Canaveral on the east coast.
The goal of the HTV-2 program, being developed by DARPA, is to develop a hypersonic glide vehicle that, after launching into the upper atmosphere, would glide to the target at a speed of about 20 Mach numbers. “It should be designed in such a way that in 30 minutes it will get from Vandenberg Air Force Base to a target near Kwajalein Atoll in pacific ocean”, - stated in DARPA.
On April 22, 2010, the Department of Defense conducted the first test of the HTV-2 by launching it on a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. HTV-2 reached the specified flight parameters in the atmosphere, after which, nine minutes after takeoff, communication was lost with it. The launch was considered a success, although the HTV-2 was never able to fly a distance of 6,600 km in the planned 30 minutes.
The second test of the HTV-2 took place on August 10, 2011. According to DARPA, the Minotaur IV rocket successfully brought the HTV-2 to a given trajectory, it successfully separated from the launch vehicle and switched to aerodynamic flight at a speed of Mach 20. However, while moving, HTV-2 "experienced a flight anomaly", prompting it to make a "controlled descent and fall into the ocean".
In addition, DARPA is developing new system, known as the ArcLight, which could serve as an alternative weapon for the PGS. The ArcLight program will use "a high-tech missile based on the current standard hypersonic airframe launch vehicle that will fly more than 3,700 km to its target." The X-51A WaveRider was chosen as the rocket, which made two test flights, reaching speeds of Mach 5.2.
ArcLight will be launched from US Navy Mark 41 launchers, both from submarines and surface ships. Mark 41 is a universal launcher for the Tomahawk missile launcher and the SM-3 anti-missiles of the Aegis combat system for sea and land-based systems.
The US Army has developed its own hypersonic complex - Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW). AHW has a conical design. Approaching the target, he maneuvers and hits it with the help of a precision guidance system. U.S. Army conducted a successful flight test of the AHW on November 17, 2011.
The system, launched from the Pacific Missile Range in Hawaii, used a launch vehicle derived from a decommissioned US Navy Polaris ICBM. According to press reports, AHW flew 3,860 kilometers to Kwajalein Atoll.
Not named, but funded
Unlike the Obama administration, the Donald Trump team did not openly consider PGS in either the National Defense Strategy or the New Nuclear Doctrine, but included in the texts of these documents all the main PGS policy terms from the STRATCOM, US Air Force, DARPA and Defense Science Board documents. .
The PGS program is the backbone of the US military strategy to deter and respond to threats to its interests. This is confirmed by the fact that funding for the subprograms included in the implementation of the PGS continued in 2018 and will continue in 2019. The subprogram associated with the Trident II D5 ICBM has been practically worked out. Hypersonic complexes Falcon CAV, HTV-2, AHW and ArcLight are still at the stage of experimental design work and may appear in the form of weapon systems no earlier than 2025-2030.
Summing up, we can say the following: PGS not only expanded nuclear triad United States with cruise missiles, but also seeks to bring it to a new qualitative level through the development of high-precision hypersonic weapons systems.
The Russian Ministry of Defense is sounding the alarm. As Alexander Yemelyanov, a spokesman for the department, said on October 12, the Pentagon has begun to create promising systems for instant global strike (Prompt Global Strike). The US Army will receive the first samples of the new weapons by 2020. The media reacted to the statement with panic headlines in the style of "The United States can destroy Russia in 60 minutes." Many experts, however, believe these fears are greatly exaggerated and recall the story of American program "star wars"SDI, which turned out to be a complete bluff. Alexey Stepanov, a military observer for the Moscow 24 portal, shares this opinion and substantiates it with numbers.
Recall that the concept of an instantaneous (rapid) global strike provides for the infliction of maximum damage to the enemy's civilian and military infrastructure by non-nuclear means in the shortest possible time. The victim state simply does not have time to adequately respond to aggression. In addition, in the event of such a strike, casualties among the civilian population will be minimized, which, in theory, will greatly affect the determination to use the remaining nuclear weapons in response. For the first time at a high level, such a danger was announced in June 2013 by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. According to his estimates, if the concept is implemented, the United States will be able to destroy 80-90% in six hours nuclear capability enemy, read - Russia. However, these figures raise a lot of fair questions, to which no one has yet been able to give clear answers.
So, according to Dmitry Rogozin, the main goal of the aggressor will be our strategic nuclear forces in the first place. The basis of the arsenal of Russian Missile troops strategic purpose are silo-based intercontinental missiles: according to the latest data, there are more than 150 of them on duty. The goal is extremely difficult even for nuclear weapons. So, according to existing estimates, for the guaranteed destruction of the mine launcher it is required in the immediate vicinity of the target to create a powerful shock wave with an overpressure of 200 atmospheres. The most accurate not only in the arsenal of the United States, but throughout the world is the American sea-based intercontinental missile Trident-2. The circular probable deviation (CEP) of its warheads (probability of hitting - 50%) is 100-120 m from the target: in this radius, the explosion of the W88 warhead used on the Trident-2 is capable of creating an overpressure at the target of 1750 atmospheres. At 1.8 KVO (probability of hitting - 90%), the explosion of the same warhead will cover the target with a shock wave with an overpressure of at least 380 atmospheres, that is, Trident-2 almost completely guarantees the destruction of the missile in the mine. But there is one "but": the power of the W88 warhead is 455 kilotons of TNT. We're talking about not nuclear strike, therefore, in order to destroy a rocket in a mine, some kind of ammunition is needed that can hit with impressive force exactly on its cover, flying thousands of kilometers. What is so interesting that the United States has or will soon be able to possess?
According to available information, the concept of a rapid global strike involves the use of three main types of weapons. The already implemented systems include non-nuclear warheads for intercontinental ballistic missiles already in service. The missile, as in the case of a nuclear strike, lifts the warhead into low Earth orbit, after which it separates from the platform and rushes to the target along a ballistic trajectory at hypersonic speed. Beautiful, but no one knows why suddenly the accuracy of this ammunition or kamikaze apparatus will be higher than that of a nuclear warhead. The fact is that the ammunition will have to overcome the entire path from space to the target in a cloud of plasma - the speed of the warhead in the atmosphere is 12-15 the speed of sound. And this means that such a device will not be able to receive radio signals, including GPS signals.
Photo: TASS/Ben Listerman/Department of Defense/Zuma
Hypersonic cruise missiles are called today as another punishing sword of an instant global strike. For example, the X-51 Waverider missile has been under development in the United States for several years now. So far, the best achievement of the experimental apparatus is a flight over a distance of 426 km at a speed of Mach 5.1. Obviously not enough to strike from across the ocean! In addition, judging by fragmentary information in the media, this device still flies exclusively in a straight line, so far it is not necessary to say that it will be able to maneuver. And, as in the case of non-nuclear units for ballistic missiles, there is also a problem with navigation and radio communications. And he, recall, should fall into the cover of a missile silo with an area of 15-20 square meters. m.
The third type of instant global strike weapon is the so-called kinetic weapon. It is reported that it will be 5-10 m long tungsten rods dropped on a target from a space orbit. . Allegedly, in order to work out such a concept, the Americans built the mysterious X-37B spaceplane, which last two years was on duty in orbit, after which it returned to Earth. But the fact that from orbit someone will be able to throw a tungsten crowbar with such amazing accuracy is hard to believe.
“There is a feeling that horror stories about an instant global strike are beneficial to replicate not so much for the Americans as for our generals and officials from the defense industry,” says a source in the military-industrial complex. “Perhaps someone is trying to knock additional money out of the budget in this way. Especially this is relevant today, when defense spending is significantly reduced."
MOSCOW, October 13 - RIA Novosti. The Department of Defense said that the build-up of the US missile defense system, the number of interceptor missiles of which by 2022 will exceed 1,000 units, poses a threat to global security.
Instant global strike complexes
The US will create a new cruise missile capable of carrying a nuclear chargeThe estimated amount of the contract with the development company will be 900 million dollars. It is planned to equip bombers with this type of missiles long range actions.The representative of the Ministry of Defense also said that the United States has begun to develop promising strike systems of an instant global strike. According to Yemelyanov, the US military is developing these systems as part of the concept of joint use of offensive and defensive weapons.
In the opinion of a representative of the Ministry of Defense, "in terms of non-nuclear equipment, these complexes should solve the same tasks that are currently assigned to strategic nuclear forces."
Yemelyanov also announced the relationship between plans to deploy a missile defense system and the creation of instant global strike weapons.
"When delivering a 'disarming' strike against Russian and Chinese strategic nuclear forces the effectiveness of the American missile defense system is significantly increasing," he said.
The representative of the Ministry of Defense also emphasized that the United States, by creating a means of instant global strike, seeks to destroy the existing balance of power, as well as to ensure global strategic dominance.
Yemelyanov also spoke about the effectiveness of the US missile defense intelligence facilities. According to the representative of the Ministry of Defense, these funds can not only detect the launch Russian missiles, but also give target designations to intercept their warheads.
The real threat
According to a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, the capabilities of the US missile defense system, taking into account the work on their modernization, pose a threat to the Russian deterrent potential.
The representative of the military department also said that more than 60 such anti-missiles are deployed in Europe, while about 150 anti-missiles are deployed as part of the Asia-Pacific regional missile defense segment.
"According to our estimates, by 2022 the number of antimissiles of the missile defense system will be more than 1,000 units, and in the future it will exceed the number of warheads deployed on Russian intercontinental missiles", - added Emelyanov.
The Russian military department also told why the United States is building up missile defense. According to the representative of the Ministry of Defense, Washington intends to create the necessary conditions for the use of nuclear weapons at minimal cost. However, the Russian military warned that this could have serious security implications.
The threat of space activities
The Russian Ministry of Defense also said that the American missile defense system being developed poses a threat to space activities and does not allow for the demilitarization of space.
"The missile defense system being created poses a threat to the security of international space activities, hinders the achievement of agreements on the non-deployment of weapons in space," Defense Ministry spokesman Yemelyanov said.
In addition, the department talked about how the capabilities of the American missile defense system with the help of low-orbit ballistic missile detection systems could change.
"Due to the transfer of data directly from the spacecraft to the missile defense system, the capabilities of the US missile defense system will reach a qualitative level. new level", - added Emelyanov
Are misleading
According to Yemelyanov, the US is also using unrealistic missile defense scenarios to mislead the international community. The representative of the Ministry of Defense noted that this leads to the fact that real opportunities missile defense systems are difficult to assess in such a situation.
Yemelyanov added that the Russian military has repeatedly urged American colleagues to pay attention to the danger that comes from the global missile defense system for the strategic balance in the world. However, according to a representative of the military department, the United States ignores the arguments of the Russian side.
a concept developed at the initiative of the US Department of Defense, implying a strike with conventional weapons (non-nuclear, English conventional) at any point on the planet within 1 hour, by analogy with the first nuclear strike using ICBMs in nuclear strategy. According to the general James Cartwright: "Currently, if we are not talking about a nuclear strike, it may be days, possibly weeks" before the military can launch an attack with regular forces. The task of the BGU system is to provide the ability to deliver a quick and accurate strike on any region of the world in the event of a conflict or other emergency. A ballistic version could launch directly from US soil. The BGU system will complement the connections Forward Deployment Force, Expeditionary air force (which can be deployed within 48 hours) and Carrier Strike Groups (AUG, eng. Carrier battle groups, which can be deployed in a theater of operations within 96 hours). BSU will allow attacking any area of the planet or near space within 60 minutes.These forces, according to some (including the Obama administration), should be a way to reduce nuclear arsenals while maintaining a deterrent system and the potential for a rapid massive strike. Potential scenarios requiring rapid response only to nuclear weapons holders currently include the launch of ballistic missile, which is threatened by North Korea or the possibility of an Al-Qaeda or Taliban takeover of power in Pakistan. However the main problem ICBMs launched by this system is that they can provoke a counter-already nuclear-missile strike by Russia or even China against the United States, which is why George W. Bush postponed plans to create a system. It is currently unclear what means or precautions are intended to reassure these countries that ICBMs being launched are not carrying nuclear warheads. Possible measures include flying at low trajectories or allowing Russian and Chinese inspectors into the missile sites.
In response to the statement about BSU Russian Federation began the development of a new generation BZHRK. In 2017, it was decided to freeze the BZHRK project.
