Russian electromagnetic weapons. Gods Weapon - emo

When talking about electromagnetic weapons, most often they mean the disabling of electrical and electronic equipment by pointing electromagnetic pulses (EMP) at it. Indeed, currents and voltages resulting from a powerful impulse in electronic circuits lead to its failure. And the greater its power, the greater the distance any "signs of civilization" become worthless.

One of the most powerful sources of EMP is nuclear weapons. For example, American nuclear test in the Pacific Ocean in 1958 caused Hawaiian Islands disruption of radio and television broadcasts and power outages, and in Australia, disruption of radio navigation for 18 hours. In 1962, when at an altitude of 400 km. the Americans blew up a 1.9 Mt charge - 9 satellites “died”, radio communication was lost for a long time in a vast area of ​​the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, the electromagnetic pulse is one of the damaging factors nuclear weapons.

But nuclear weapons are applicable only in a global conflict, and EMP capabilities are very useful in more applied military affairs. Therefore, non-nuclear means EMP damage began to be designed almost immediately after nuclear weapons.

Of course, EMP generators have been around for a long time. But creating a sufficiently powerful (and therefore "long-range") generator is not so easy technically. After all, in fact, it is a device that converts electrical or other energy into high-power electromagnetic radiation. And if a nuclear weapon has no problems with primary energy, then if electricity is used together with power sources (voltage), it will be more of a structure than a weapon. Unlike a nuclear weapon, delivering it "at the right time, to the right place" is more problematic.

And in the early 90s, reports began to appear about non-nuclear "electromagnetic bombs" (E-Bomb). As always, the source was the Western press, and the reason was the 1991 American operation against Iraq. The "new secret superweapon" was indeed used to suppress and disable Iraqi air defense and communications systems.

However, Academician Andrei Sakharov offered such weapons in our country back in the 1950s (even before he became a "peacemaker"). By the way, at the peak of his creative activity (which does not fall on the period of dissidence, as many people think), he had a lot of original ideas. For example, during the war years, he was one of the creators of an original and reliable device for testing armor-piercing cores at a cartridge factory.

And in the early 1950s, he proposed to “wash away” the US east coast with a wave of a giant tsunami, which could be initiated by a series of powerful sea nuclear explosions at a considerable distance from the coast. True, the command of the Navy, having seen the "nuclear torpedo" made for this purpose, flatly refused to accept it for service for reasons of humanism - and even yelled at the scientist with a multi-deck fotian obscenity. Compared to this idea electromagnetic bomb- really "humane weapon".

In the non-nuclear munition proposed by Sakharov, a powerful EMP was formed as a result of compression of the magnetic field of the solenoid by an explosion of a conventional explosive. Thanks to high density chemical energy in the explosive, this eliminated the need to use a source of electrical energy to convert into EMP. In addition, in this way it was possible to obtain a powerful EMP. True, this also made the device disposable, since it was destroyed by the initiating explosion. In our country, this type of device began to be called an explosive magnetic generator (EMG).

Actually, the Americans and the British came up with the same idea in the late 70s, as a result of which ammunition appeared that was tested in a combat situation in 1991. So there is nothing "new" and "super secret" in this type of technology.

In our country (and the Soviet Union occupied a leading position in the field of physical research), such devices were used in purely peaceful scientific and technological fields - such as energy transport, acceleration of charged particles, plasma heating, laser pumping, high-resolution radar, modification of materials, etc. etc. Of course, research was also carried out in the direction of military application. Initially, VMGs were used in nuclear munitions for neutron detonation systems. But there were also ideas for using the "Sakharov generator" as an independent weapon.

But before talking about the use of EMP weapons, it should be said that Soviet army prepared to fight in the conditions of the use of nuclear weapons. That is, under the conditions acting on the technique damaging factor AMY. Therefore, all military equipment was developed taking into account protection against this damaging factor. The methods are different - starting from the simplest shielding and grounding of metal cases of equipment and ending with the use of special safety devices, arresters and equipment architecture resistant to EMI.

So to say that there is no protection from this "wonder weapon" is also not worth it. And the range of EMP ammunition is not as large as in the American press - radiation propagates in all directions from the charge, and its power density decreases in proportion to the square of the distance. Accordingly, the impact also decreases. Of course, it is difficult to protect equipment near the point of detonation. But there is no need to talk about an effective impact on kilometers - for sufficiently powerful ammunition it will be tens of meters (which, however, is larger than the impact zone of high-explosive ammunition of a similar size). Here the advantage of such a weapon - it does not require a point hit - turns into a disadvantage.

Since the time of the Sakharov generator, such devices have been constantly improved. Many organizations were engaged in their development: Institute high temperatures Academy of Sciences of the USSR, TsNIIKhM, MVTU, VNIIEF and many others. The devices have become compact enough to become combat units of weapons (from tactical missiles and artillery shells to sabotage weapons). Improved their characteristics. In addition to explosives, rocket fuel began to be used as a source of primary energy. VMGs began to be used as one of the cascades for pumping microwave generators. Despite the limited ability to hit targets, these weapons occupy an intermediate position between fire weapons and electronic countermeasures (which, in fact, are also electromagnetic weapons).

Little is known about specific examples. For example, Alexander Borisovich Prishchepenko describes successful experiments in disrupting an attack anti-ship missiles P-15 with the help of undermining compact VMGs at distances up to 30 meters from the rocket. This is, rather, a means of EMP protection. He also describes the "blinding" of the magnetic fuses of anti-tank mines, which, being at a distance of up to 50 meters from the place where the VMG was detonated, stopped working for a significant time.

As EMP ammunition, not only "bombs" were tested - rocket-propelled grenades to blind active protection systems (KAZ) of tanks! The RPG-30 anti-tank grenade launcher has two barrels: one main, the other of small diameter. A 42 mm Atropus rocket equipped with an electromagnetic warhead is fired in the direction of the tank a little earlier than the HEAT grenade. Having blinded KAZ, she allows the latter to calmly fly past the “thinking” protection.

A little digression, I will say that this is a fairly relevant direction. We came up with KAZ (“Drozd” was also installed on the T-55AD). Later, "Arena" and the Ukrainian "Barrier" appeared. By scanning the space surrounding the vehicle (usually in the millimeter range), they shoot small submunitions in the direction of incoming anti-tank grenades, missiles, and even shells that can change their trajectory or lead to premature detonation. With an eye on our developments, such complexes also began to appear in the West, in Israel and Southeast Asia: Trophy, Iron Fist, EFA, KAPS, LEDS-150, AMAP ADS, "CICS", "SLID" and others. Now they are getting the widest distribution and are beginning to be regularly installed not only on tanks, but even on light armored vehicles. Countering them becomes an integral part of the fight against armored vehicles and protected objects. And compact electromagnetic means are suitable for this purpose as well as possible.

But back to electromagnetic weapons. In addition to explosive magnetic devices, there are directional and omnidirectional EMP emitters that use various antenna devices as the radiating part. These are no longer disposable devices. They can be used over a considerable distance. They are divided into stationary, mobile and compact portable. Powerful stationary high-energy EMP emitters require the construction of special facilities, high-voltage generator sets, and large antenna devices. But their possibilities are very significant. Mobile emitters of ultrashort electromagnetic radiation with a maximum repetition rate of up to 1 kHz can be placed in vans or trailers. They also have a considerable range and sufficient power for their tasks. Portable devices are most commonly used for a variety of security, communications, reconnaissance, and explosives missions over short distances.

The capabilities of domestic mobile installations can be judged by the export version of the Ranets-E complex presented at the LIMA-2001 arms exhibition in Malaysia. It is made on the MAZ-543 chassis, has a mass of about 5 tons, provides a guaranteed defeat of ground target electronics, an aircraft or guided munition at ranges up to 14 kilometers and disturbances in its operation at a distance of up to 40 km.

From unclassified developments, MNIRTI products are also known - "Sniper-M", "I-140/64" and "Gigawatt", made on the basis of car trailers. They, in particular, are used to develop means of protecting radio engineering and digital systems for military, special and civilian purposes from EMP damage.

A little more needs to be said about electronic countermeasures. Moreover, they also belong to radio frequency electromagnetic weapons. This is so as not to create the impression that we are somehow unable to deal with precision weapons and "omnipotent drones and combat robots." All these fashionable and expensive things have a very vulnerable spot- electronics. Even relatively simple means capable of reliably blocking GPS signals and radio fuses, without which these systems cannot do.

VNII "Gradient" serially produces a station for jamming radio fuses of shells and missiles SPR-2 "Mercury-B", made on the basis of armored personnel carriers and regularly in service. Similar devices are produced by Minsk "KB RADAR". And since radio fuses are now equipped with up to 80% of Western field artillery shells, mines and unguided rockets and almost all high-precision munitions - these fairly simple means make it possible to protect troops from defeat, including directly in the zone of contact with the enemy.

Concern "Constellation" produces a series of small-sized (portable, transportable, autonomous) jamming transmitters of the RP-377 series. With their help, you can jam GPS signals, and in a standalone version, equipped with power sources, you can also place transmitters in a certain area, limited only by the number of transmitters.

Now an export version of a more powerful GPS jamming system and weapon control channels is being prepared. It is already a system of object and area protection against high-precision weapons. It was built on a modular principle, which allows you to vary the areas and objects of protection. When it is shown, every self-respecting Bedouin will be able to protect their settlement from "high-precision methods of democratization."

Well, returning to the new physical principles of weapons, one cannot help but recall the developments of NIIRP (now a division of the Almaz-Antey Air Defense Concern) and the Physico-Technical Institute. Ioffe. Investigating the impact of powerful microwave radiation from the earth on air objects (targets), the specialists of these institutions unexpectedly received local plasma formations, which were obtained at the intersection of radiation flows from several sources. Upon contact with these formations, air targets underwent huge dynamic overloads and were destroyed.

The coordinated work of microwave radiation sources made it possible to quickly change the focus point, that is, to retarget at a tremendous speed or to accompany objects of almost any aerodynamic characteristics. Experiments have shown that the impact is effective even on warheads of ICBMs. In fact, this is not even a microwave weapon, but combat plasmoids.

Unfortunately, when in 1993 a team of authors submitted a draft air defense / missile defense system based on these principles to the state for consideration, Boris Yeltsin immediately proposed a joint development to the American president. And although cooperation on the project (thank God!) did not take place, perhaps this is what prompted the Americans to create the HAARP (High freguencu Active Auroral Research Program) complex in Alaska.

The studies carried out on it since 1997 are declaratively "purely peaceful". However, I personally do not see any civil logic in the studies of the impact of microwave radiation on the Earth's ionosphere and air objects. One can only hope for the traditional failed history of large-scale projects for Americans.

Well, we should be glad that traditionally strong positions in the region fundamental research, the interest of the state in weapons based on new physical principles has increased. Programs on it are now a priority.

The pulse rifle is a well-known type of weapon that has been developed in many game universes. This prototype exists in a large number of variations, each of which is considered in our material. Here the player can learn about the primary origins of the guns.

initial prototype

First pulse rifle appeared to the audience in the film "Aliens" by James Cameron. There she received the name M41A and was actively used by the main character Ellen Rippley. The prototype featured three firing modes: burst, single and salvo. The batteries are enough for a thousand shells at the same time, they are consumed quickly with an active fight.

To control ammunition, there is a special sensor on the body that shows the number of remaining cartridges. It should be noted that the weapon fires blobs of energy, not standard projectiles. The rifle can be equipped with the M92A PN and has a magazine capacity of five HE grants. After the incredible popularity of the film, weapons began to appear in the live-action adaptations of Aliens.

History of creation

The full name of this prototype during development was "M41A Pulse Rifle Pulse Rifle". Its design was developed for one day. In addition to James Cameron, military technologists from Britain Simon Atherton and Andrew Fletcher took part in the appearance of the concept. As a result of joint efforts, they managed to create a compact weapon that could theoretically exist in the near future. It fits perfectly into the entourage of the movie "Aliens". James Cameron even used a slightly modified design in the Terminator films, he liked it so much.

When stylistically, the authors were inspired by existing military models. For example, the grenade launcher became a mixture of Remington 870 shotgun models and the second Franchi SPAS-12. The name is also a redesigned version of the rifle, which entered service with the US Army in the year the film was released. Her codename is M4A1. This is how the first concept of the weapon appeared, it began to be used in many subsequent projects. As for the game universe, users can shoot from a rifle in the game "Aliens: Colonial Marines".

Great popularity

Approximate concepts to the standard design from the Aliens universe were used by the developers of the popular game Destiny 2. It was released in 2017 and attracted a huge audience. Inside the fictional world, a huge number of various weapons have been implemented for players, including impulse rifles. Standard prototypes are somewhere between scout weapons and automatic variations. The underbarrel electronic module in them is used simultaneously as a handle.

Main Feature guns can be considered large dimensions. The first design from Aliens was also not very compact, but in this game the dimensions are even larger. Standard models can be obtained by any player, they bear the typical name "Pulse Rifle" and do not have significant differences from each other. It should be noted that the Destiny 2 project is focused on gaining an advantage in battles through the best equipment. That is why the developers have added more rare prototypes.

Two other samples

The Pulse Rifle in Destiny 2 Bad Juju has more penetration power, but it's not that easy to get. Initially, you will have to pass the strike on the difficulty level "heroic" or "mythical". For this, a fragment of a special magazine is given. It refers to a character named Ikore Ray. To continue the work, the user will be given a task to farm another 25 strikes, which is a direct reference to the “grind”. Such activities are tiring and do not bring pleasure. The completion of this item will lead to a series of exchanges of things between different NPCs. At the end, the player will be sent to kill other users in a location called "Gorn" until a special scale is filled.

It takes hours, and getting the Red Death Pulse Rifle is even harder. The weapon belongs to exotic varieties. When firing from it, the user receives a number of bonuses by the type of healing or an increase in accuracy. You can get it by accumulating 23 strange coins. This price is displayed at the merchant Zyura.

Another cosmic interpretation

In the Mass Effect universe, the geth pulse rifle doesn't even remotely resemble the weapons used in Aliens. Here the prototype was developed alien race by their technology. That is why the design has rounded shapes, the case is completely covered with metal plates, the internal filling is not shown. The equipment is compact and first appears in the second part, and later - in the third.

For the first time, Commander Shepard can find Hestrom on a mission to recruit new members for his team. In a room with a technologically defective geth, there will be a rifle available for picking up. Its clear advantage is resistance to overheating. It comes only after 144 shots, the closest competitor in this direction has 106. Recoil when shooting is almost absent, but the advantages of low damage are leveled. For excellent penetration, you will have to use explosive cartridges pumped to the maximum level.

Universe of constant war

The Tau (Empire) pulse rifle will be familiar to all fans of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Foot soldiers from the Fire Caste of the same name carry weapons as standard weapons. In design, it resembles a massive long shotgun with rectangular shapes. The rifle shoots with special plasma projectiles, which, due to magnetic acceleration, cause great damage. Weapons were created for reliable opposition to the horde of Orcs on long range.

The concept of the pulse rifle has an emphasis on durability and range. She received an upgrade in containment fields compared to the Plasma Rifle. Thanks to this, she won in the defeat distance, but the damage decreased. In the Tau Empire, some of the priests do not share their brothers' contempt for this mechanism, trying to improve it.

Last option

In the game Dead Space, a pulse rifle is also present, but in the original interpretation. Isaac Clarke receives these weapons in the course of story progress. The standard sample has three small cannons that fire blasts of energy at hypersonic speeds. This makes it effective for aimed shooting. The main disadvantage is hidden in its small area of ​​​​damage. The weapon is convenient to use in narrow corridors, but in an open space surrounded by enemies, the effectiveness drops. Interestingly, among all the protagonist's weapons, only the SWS (Automatic Pulse Rifle) is used for the purpose for which it was designed. The cartridges are small-caliber, there are also additional variations of the rifle. In one of them, a grenade launcher is attached to it, in the other, the weapon resembles a shotgun.

Today, it does not cause as many discussions as electromagnetic weapons. There are even two camps in the world, which by this term mean different objects. Representatives of the first are confident that electromagnetic weapons have a huge potential for development and power, possibly exceeding the power of nuclear weapons. Representatives of the second state that it is not worth making a Hollywood fable out of electromagnetic weapons - a weapon that is undoubtedly promising, but is not capable of de-energizing an entire city and paralyzing the power system of a military base.

Academician Fortov refers himself to the first camp and claims that a full-fledged electromagnetic weapon already exists. In his opinion, the future belongs to electromagnetic weapons, because they are able to disable electronics at a great distance from the point of radiation. The academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences himself is inclined to classify electromagnetic weapons as strategic, since they are capable of exerting an active influence during a serious operation. Vladimir Fortov sees the development of electromagnetic weapons in two main directions. The first direction is connected with microelectronics. Modern man cannot imagine its existence without mobile devices. The modernization of the army also means equipping the troops with state-of-the-art microelectronic sensors, guidance systems and tracking equipment. One can imagine what would happen if, with the help of a preventive electromagnetic pulse, the missile guidance system of a modern bomber was disabled or its global positioning system was disabled.

The second direction, according to Vladimir Fortov, is the development of large capacities contained in a very limited volume. None of the filters that exist today is capable of blocking a powerful impulse, a billion-watt value, which will be able to pose an almost insoluble task for modern energy.

The words of the academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences can be taken as fantasy and associated with an overly played out fantasy, but for example, the situation that arose in the world shortly before the appearance of nuclear weapons is quite appropriate here. At that time, there were many people in the world who ridiculed the fact of the possible existence of nuclear bomb, destroying all life within a radius of several kilometers around. However, Hiroshima has become eloquent proof of the lethal power of the "non-peaceful" atom.

Proponents of a more cautious view of electromagnetic weapons say that their only real power lies in imparting with a magnetic field initial speed combat projectile. In this case, electromagnetic weapons become an alternative to the principles of firearms. One example of this type of weapon is the so-called Gauss gun. This gun is a system consisting of a number of inductors attached to a rectangular base; from a power source capable of delivering short-term powerful pulses, as well as from a coil switching unit in serial mode. Batteries charge capacitors up to a certain potential difference. The shot itself is a discharge of capacitors on the turns of the coil. The principle of operation of the Gauss gun is based on the retraction of the core into the internal volume of the coil when passing through the DC winding. To enhance the "lethal" force of the Gauss gun, a magnetic circuit is mounted on top of the coil. In order for the increase in current in the coil not to slow down, its winding must be made of a wire of a sufficiently large cross section. The damaging effect of this type of electromagnetic weapon depends on the selected electrical capacity of the capacitor system. Of course, the power of such weapons is not yet considered as a competitive power of nuclear weapons.

But time goes by. Already today, there are experimental developments that indicate that with a high level of isolation, electromagnetic weapons are capable of delivering a very significant blow to enemy forces. I must say that the size of such weapons is more than impressive. In this case, the main question remains the question of the variant of the maximum effective application electromagnetic weapons. The power of today's systems of this type ("Silent Guardian" and the domestic "Knapsack") does not exceed one gigawatt, but they allow you to create radiation of a narrow direction. The first development option is directly related to a narrowly focused electromagnetic study, when the electron flow has a single frequency, which ensures the destruction of the target. The second one is associated with direct conversion sources, which can have much smaller dimensions and emit pulses with higher energy.

It would seem that the advantages of the second option are obvious, but scientists are in no hurry to move on to work on creating electromagnetic weapons based on direct conversion. This is due to the fact that such weapons are capable of causing an electrical breakdown in the propagation medium. It turns out that so far this path leads to a dead end, since the output will not be a powerful electromagnetic weapon capable of hitting targets, but a device that causes air glow - a kind of fireworks for a lot of money.

Despite the fact that representatives of the two camps of scientists tend to see seemingly different objects in electromagnetic weapons, there is an actual intersection of views. This intersection lies in the currently available weapons of the type described, as well as in the options for its use.

There are several evidences of the use of electromagnetic weapons in the world. One of the most high-profile is the air attack by American troops on the television center in Baghdad. The United States Air Force used a special guided bomb weighing 2.5 tons, equipped with a vircator (a group of microwave devices with a large volumetric charge). After its application, Iraqi television could not broadcast for about an hour. Another evidence is the showering of Iraqi air defenses with Tomahawk missiles with the same vircators. In this case, it was not possible to assess the true role of electromagnetic weapons, since at the same time other (classical) types of missiles were working on the same air defense objects. This evidence is not isolated, but, apparently, only the United States appears in terms of attempts to use EMO.

The use of electromagnetic weapons is also promising to suppress active protection modern tanks. One directed impulse - and a modern car turns into an unprotected metal toy that can be destroyed by the usual means. At the same time, the tank, like any other modern military vehicle, not only becomes vulnerable, but also a short time loses the ability to retaliate. In this regard, the development of electromagnetic weapons can be named among the priority tasks for modern military scientists. If such a technology is fully operational in any one country, it will upset the balance military power on the planet. It is hard to imagine what could happen if the technology for creating powerful electromagnetic weapons falls into the hands of representatives of terrorist networks.

Used directly to hit the target.

In the first case, the magnetic field is used as an alternative to explosives in firearms. In the second, the possibility of inducing high voltage currents and disabling electrical and electronic equipment as a result of the resulting overvoltage, or causing pain effects or other effects in humans, is used. Weapons of the second type are positioned as safe for people and serve to disable enemy equipment or lead to the incapacity of enemy manpower .; belongs to the category of non-lethal weapons.

The French shipbuilding company DCNS is developing the Advansea program, during which it is planned to create a fully electrified surface combat ship with laser and electromagnetic weapons by 2025.

Types of electromagnetic weapons

Defeat missiles and precision-guided munitions with EMP weapons

• anti-radar missiles with their own radar search radars;
• ATGM of the 2nd generation with control over an unshielded wire (TOW or Fagot);
• missiles with their own active armor search radars (Brimstone, JAGM, AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire);
• radio-controlled missiles (TOW Aero, Chrysanthemum);
• precision bombs with simple GPS navigation receivers;
• gliding munitions with their own radars (SADARM).

Using an electromagnetic pulse against the missile's electronics behind its metal case is ineffective. The impact is possible for the most part on the homing head, which can be large mainly for missiles with their own radar in its capacity.

Electromagnetic weapons are used to destroy missiles in the Afganit active defense complex from the Armata tank platform and the Ranets-E combat EMP generator.

Defeat by EMP weapons of means of conducting guerrilla warfare

EMPs are effective against guerrilla warfare weapons, as consumer electronics have no protection against EMPs.

The most typical objects of EMP damage:

• radiomines and mines with electronic fuses, including traditional amateur radio devices for terrorist and sabotage actions;
• unprotected from EMP portable infantry radio communication devices;
• consumer radios, cell phones, tablets, laptops, electronic hunting sights and similar electronic household appliances.

Protection against EMP weapons

There are many effective means of protecting radar and electronics from EMP weapons.

Measures are applied in three categories:

1. blocking the input of a part of the energy of an electromagnetic pulse
2. suppression of induction currents inside electrical circuits their rapid opening
3. use of electronic devices insensitive to EMI

Means of resetting some or all of the EMP energy at the input to the device

As a means of protection against EMP, AFAR radars impose "Faraday cages" of cutting off EMP outside their frequencies. For internal electronics, simply iron shields are used.

In addition, a spark gap can be used as a means of discharging energy immediately behind the antenna.

Means of opening circuits in the event of strong inductive currents

To open the circuits of internal electronics in the event of strong induction currents from EMP, use

• zener diodes - semiconductor diodes designed to operate in breakdown mode with a sharp increase in resistance;

Pulse electromagnetic weapons, or the so-called. "jammers", is a real, already being tested, type of weapons of the Russian army. The United States and Israel are also conducting successful developments in this area, however, they have relied on the use of EMP systems to generate the kinetic energy of a warhead

In our country, they took the path of a direct damaging factor and created prototypes of several combat systems at once - for the ground forces, air force and navy. According to the specialists working on the project, the development of the technology has already passed the stage of field tests, but now there is work on the bugs and an attempt to increase the power, accuracy and range of radiation. Today, our Alabuga, having exploded at an altitude of 200-300 meters, is able to turn off all electronic equipment within a radius of 3.5 km and leave military unit battalion / regiment scale without means of communication, control, fire guidance, while turning all the available enemy equipment into a pile of useless scrap metal. Except how to surrender and give to the advancing units of the Russian army heavy weapons as trophies, there are essentially no options left.

"Jammer" of electronics

For the first time, the world saw a real-life prototype of electromagnetic weapons at the LIMA-2001 arms exhibition in Malaysia. An export version of the domestic Ranets-E complex was presented there. It is made on the MAZ-543 chassis, has a mass of about 5 tons, provides a guaranteed defeat of ground target electronics, an aircraft or a guided munition at ranges up to 14 kilometers and disruption in its operation at a distance of up to 40 km. Despite the fact that the first-born made a splash in the world media, experts noted a number of its shortcomings. Firstly, the size of an effectively hit target does not exceed 30 meters in diameter, and secondly, the weapon is disposable - reloading takes more than 20 minutes, during which the miracle cannon has already been shot 15 times from the air, and it can only work on targets in an open terrain, without the slightest visual obstruction. It is probably for these reasons that the Americans abandoned the creation of such directional EMP weapons, concentrating on laser technologies. Our gunsmiths decided to try their luck and try to "bring to mind" the technology of directed EMP radiation.

The specialist, who for obvious reasons did not want to reveal his name, in an interview with Expert Online expressed the opinion that electromagnetic pulsed weapons are already a reality, but the whole problem lies in the methods of delivering them to the target. “We have a project for the development of a complex electronic warfare classified as "OV" under the name "Alabuga". This is a rocket, the warhead of which is a high-frequency high-power electromagnetic field generator.

Based on active pulsed radiation, a similarity is obtained nuclear explosion, but without the radioactive component. Field tests have shown the high efficiency of the unit - not only radio-electronic, but also conventional electronic equipment of wired architecture, fails within a radius of 3.5 km. Those. not only removes the main communication headsets from normal operation, blinding and stunning the enemy, but actually leaves the whole unit without any local electronic control systems, including weapons. The advantages of such a "non-lethal" defeat are obvious - the enemy will only have to surrender, and the equipment can be obtained as a trophy. The problem is only in the effective means of delivering this charge - it has a relatively large mass and the missile must be large enough, and, as a result, very vulnerable to hitting air defense / missile defense systems, ”the expert explained.

Investigating the impact of powerful microwave radiation from the ground on air objects (targets), experts unexpectedly received local plasma formations, which were obtained at the intersection of radiation flows from several sources. Upon contact with these formations, air targets underwent huge dynamic overloads and were destroyed. The coordinated work of microwave radiation sources made it possible to quickly change the focus point, that is, to retarget at great speed or to accompany objects of almost any aerodynamic characteristics. Experiments have shown that the impact is effective even on warheads of ICBMs. In fact, this is not even a microwave weapon, but combat plasmoids. Unfortunately, when in 1993 a team of authors presented a draft air defense/missile defense system based on these principles for consideration by the state, Boris Yeltsin immediately proposed a joint development to the American president. And although cooperation on the project did not take place, perhaps this was what prompted the Americans to create the HAARP (High freguencu Active Auroral Research Program) complex in Alaska - a research project to study the ionosphere and auroras. Note that for some reason that peaceful project has funding from the Pentagon's DARPA agency.

Already entering service with the Russian army

To understand what place the topic of electronic warfare occupies in the military-technical strategy of the Russian military department, it is enough to look at the State Armaments Program until 2020. Of the 21 trillion rubles of the total budget of the SAP, 3.2 trillion (about 15%) is planned to be directed to the development and production of attack and defense systems using sources of electromagnetic radiation. For comparison, in the Pentagon's budget, according to experts, this share is much less - up to 10%. Now let's look at what you can already "feel", i.e. those products that have reached the series and entered service over the past few years.

Krasukha-4 mobile electronic warfare systems suppress spy satellites, ground-based radars and AWACS aviation systems, completely cover from radar detection for 150-300 km, and can also inflict radar damage on enemy electronic warfare and communications equipment. The operation of the complex is based on the creation of powerful interference at the main frequencies of radars and other radio-emitting sources.

The TK-25E sea-based electronic warfare system provides effective protection for ships of various classes. The complex is designed to provide radio-electronic protection of an object from radio-controlled air and ship-based weapons by creating active jamming. The interface of the complex with various systems of the protected object, such as a navigation complex, a radar station, an automated combat control system, is provided. The TK-25E equipment provides for the creation of various types of interference with a spectrum width from 64 to 2000 MHz, as well as impulse misinformation and imitation interference using signal copies. The complex is capable of simultaneously analyzing up to 256 targets. Equipping the protected object with the TK-25E complex reduces the probability of its destruction by three or more times.

The multifunctional complex "Mercury-BM" has been developed and produced at KRET enterprises since 2011 and is one of the most modern systems EW. The main purpose of the station is to protect manpower and equipment from single and salvo fire of artillery ammunition equipped with radio fuses. It should be noted that up to 80% of Western field artillery shells, mines and unguided rockets and almost all precision-guided munitions are now equipped with radio fuses, these fairly simple means make it possible to protect troops from damage, including directly in the zone of contact with the enemy.

Concern "Constellation" produces a series of small-sized (portable, transportable, autonomous) jamming transmitters of the RP-377 series. With their help, you can jam GPS signals, and in a standalone version, equipped with power sources, you can also place transmitters in a certain area, limited only by the number of transmitters. Now an export version of a more powerful GPS jamming system and weapon control channels is being prepared. It is already a system of object and area protection against high-precision weapons. It was built on a modular principle, which allows you to vary the areas and objects of protection. From unclassified developments, MNIRTI products are also known - "Sniper-M", "I-140/64" and "Gigawatt", made on the basis of car trailers. They, in particular, are used to develop means of protecting radio engineering and digital systems for military, special and civilian purposes from EMP damage.