A war with the use of weapons of mass destruction, if it does arise, cannot be a means of achieving political, economic, ideological and other goals. There will be no winners or losers in it. This conclusion follows from the presence of military-strategic parity between the USSR and OSH, the Warsaw Pact Organization and NATO, and its recognition by the opposing sides.

However, despite the fact that the new political thinking and the positive processes associated with it are gradually gaining positions on the world stage, the situation remains complex and unpredictable. The threat of unleashing a new war remains. It still comes from the most reactionary, aggressively-minded militaristic circles of imperialism, who have not abandoned the thought of settling the historical dispute with socialism by military means in their favor.

In the military doctrines of the United States and its NATO allies, an important role is assigned to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) - weapons of great lethality designed to inflict massive losses and destruction.

The United States possesses stocks of chemical weapons in the hundreds of thousands of tons. These are millions of aircraft cassettes, bombs, shells, mines, land mines and other chemical munitions stored both on the territory of the United States and on the territories of other European NATO member states within the proposed theaters of military operations.

The United States attaches great importance to the development of a long-term program of chemical rearmament, the creation of a new type of chemical weapons - binary chemical munitions intended for massive combat use in various theaters of military operations, primarily in Europe.

The US Armed Forces have gained extensive experience in the use of chemical weapons in an aggressive war in Southeast Asia. Various types of chemical weapons have been used by US forces in many operations in South Vietnam. This resulted in huge human casualties and irreparable damage to the ecology of Vietnam.

After the Second World War, the US military department took advantage of the experience of the Japanese imperialists, who were engaged in the development of biological weapons and tested them on people - prisoners of war on the territory of the then occupied Manchuria, and began to consider biological weapons as one of the effective means of warfare, comparable in their capabilities to nuclear and chemical weapons.

In search of the greatest effectiveness of the damaging effect of biological weapons, the United States in the 50-60s repeatedly conducted large-scale field tests using both the biological agents themselves and their simulators.

In violation of the official announcement of the President of the United States in 1969 to end the development of biological weapons and the destruction of their stockpiles and the obligations assumed under the 1972 Biological Convention, the United States continues to develop biological and toxin weapons and maintain production facilities for their manufacture. The Pentagon moved its biological and toxin weapons development center from Fort Detrick to the US Army's Dougway Proving Grounds in the Utah desert region and deployed research there at the Baker Biological Laboratory. However, work on biological weapons at Fort Detrick has not been stopped.

Research is being conducted on a broad front in the United States in order to create new types of weapons of mass destruction, the destructive effect of which is based on different physical principles. The implementation of the results of these studies can lead to the creation of beam, radio frequency, infrasound, radiological and geophysical weapons.

The detailed program of elimination of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction by the end of this century put forward in the Statement of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee M.S.Gorbachev on January 15, 1986, became a concrete expression of the principled line of the Soviet state on the issue of war and peace. For the coming years, the struggle for the implementation of this program is the central direction of the USSR's foreign policy. This foreign policy platform of the sincere desire of the USSR for peace was approved by the 27th Congress of the CPSU.

Since military force and violence in the countries of imperialism have always played a dominant role, and, according to American data, in the post-war period, the issue of using nuclear weapons was put on the agenda in Washington 19 times, including in four cases the threat was addressed to the USSR, the responsibility for maintaining constant vigilance and high combat readiness of the Armed Forces of the USSR for defense against aggression.

The development of nuclear power in many countries of the world and in recent years has made the threat of radioactive contamination of vast territories real not only in the case of the use of nuclear weapons, but also in the event of the destruction of nuclear fuel cycle facilities located in the area of ​​hostilities by conventional weapons or in their accident in during industrial operation. Therefore, the troops must be trained to operate in conditions of radioactive contamination both as a result of ground nuclear explosions and in conditions of radioactive contamination during the destruction of nuclear fuel cycle facilities and elimination of the consequences of this destruction.

In the local wars unleashed by the imperialists after the Second World War, incendiary weapons were widely used, which caused massive losses in personnel and military equipment. Consequently, along with measures to protect against weapons of mass destruction, it is necessary to envisage measures to protect troops from incendiary weapons.

Soviet soldiers are obliged to deeply study the combat properties and capabilities of various types of weapons of mass destruction and incendiary weapons of foreign armies, to be able to act in the conditions of the use of these types of weapons, to know firmly the means and methods of protecting them. This publication can provide some assistance in this regard.

Section I is supplemented with information on the scale and characteristics of radioactive contamination and other consequences during the destruction (major accident) of nuclear fuel cycle facilities, as well as information on the development of weapons of mass destruction in the United States based on new "physical principles."

Section II includes a new chapter, which outlines how to protect subunits from OM "P" in the main types of combat, during movement and positioning on the spot, as well as the specifics of eliminating the consequences of radioactive contamination during the destruction (major accident) of nuclear fuel cycle facilities.

The second edition is supplemented with an implicit section I1, s-which gives the characteristics of incendiary weapons of foreign armies, as well as the means and methods of defending against them.

This publication does not exhaust all the issues, knowledge of which is necessary for [solving. A set of protection measures in the unit. Therefore, unit commanders in their work should use additional literature on the combat properties of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as sophisticated and new types of weapons of foreign armies, according to the means and methods of defending against it.

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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Types of weapons capable of causing massive losses and destruction up to irreversible changes in the environment. The main distinctive features of weapons of mass destruction are: multifactorial damaging effect; the presence of long-acting damaging factors and their spread beyond the target; long-term psycho-traumatic effect in humans; severe genetic and environmental consequences; the complexity of protecting troops, the population, critical facilities and eliminating the consequences of its use. WMD includes nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The development of science and technology can contribute to the emergence of new types of weapons, which in their effectiveness are not inferior to and even surpass the already known types of weapons of mass destruction (see Weapons based on new physical principles).

Nuclear weapons (NW), is in service with many armies and fleets of the world, practically all branches of the Armed Forces and combat arms. The main means of destruction is nuclear weapons. In addition to various types of ammunition, nuclear weapons include the means of delivering them to the target (see Carriers of nuclear weapons), as well as means of combat control and support. Strategic nuclear weapons can possess high-yield nuclear weapons - up to several Mt (100kt = 1Mt) in TNT equivalent and reach anywhere in the world. It is capable of quickly destroying administrative centers, industrial and military facilities, causing massive disasters - fires, floods and radioactive pollution of the environment, destroying a significant number of groups of troops and the population. The main delivery vehicles for strategic nuclear weapons are strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles. Non-strategic nuclear weapons have nuclear charges ranging from several units to several hundred kt and are designed to engage various targets at operational-tactical depth. This type of nuclear weapons includes medium-range ground-based missile systems, air-to-surface missiles, air bombs, anti-ship and anti-submarine missile systems, mines and torpedoes with nuclear charges, atomic artillery, etc.

The main damaging factors of nuclear weapons (see. The damaging effect of a nuclear explosion) include a shock wave, light radiation, penetrating radiation, radioactive contamination (contamination), and an electromagnetic pulse. The damaging factors of nuclear weapons depend on the power and type of nuclear charge, on the type of nuclear explosion (ground, underground, air, high-altitude, surface, underwater). The simultaneous action of the damaging factors of nuclear weapons leads to a combined defeat of people, equipment and structures. Injuries and contusions from a shock wave can be combined with burns from light radiation and radiation sickness from penetrating radiation and radioactive contamination (contamination). Equipment and structures are damaged by a shock wave with a simultaneous fire from light radiation, and electronic equipment is exposed to an electromagnetic pulse and ionizing radiation. In settlements, industrial centers, objects of the natural environment (forests, mountains, etc.), explosions of nuclear weapons (ammunition) lead to massive fires, debris, flooding and other emergency phenomena, which, along with radioactive contamination (contamination), will become formidable obstacles in eliminating the consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction by the enemy.

Chemical weapons (XO), based on the action of combat toxic chemicals (BTXV) - toxic substances (OM), toxins and phytotoxicants. CW include single-use chemical ammunition (artillery shells, aerial bombs, checkers, etc.) or reusable chemical warfare devices (pouring and spraying aircraft devices, thermomechanical and mechanical generators). In international law, CW includes: toxic chemicals and chemical reagents involved in any stage of the production of these weapons; ammunition and devices designed to destroy toxic chemicals; any equipment specially designed for the use of chemical munitions and other similar devices.

CW based on OM and toxins is intended for mass destruction of manpower, hindering the activities of troops, disorganizing the control system, disabling rear and transport facilities, and on the basis of phytotoxicants - for destroying agricultural crops. crops for the purpose of depriving the food base, poisoning water, air, etc. Aviation, missiles, artillery, engineering, chemical and other troops are used as means of delivering chemical weapons to targets.

The combat properties and specific features of CW include: high toxicity of BTXV, which allows, in small doses, to cause severe and lethal doses of injury to people; the biochemical mechanism of the damaging effect of BTXV on living organisms and the high moral and psychological effect of the impact on people; the ability of agents and toxins to penetrate into open engineering, industrial structures and objects, residential buildings and to infect people in them; the difficulty of timely detecting the fact of the use of chemical agents and establishing the type of applied agents or toxins; duration of action due to the ability of BTXV to retain its damaging properties over time.

The listed properties and features of CW, the large scale and grave consequences of its use cause significant difficulties in protecting troops and the population, require a complex of organizational and technical protective measures, as well as the use of various means of detection, warning, direct individual and collective protection, elimination of the consequences of infection, and also carrying out preventive and medical-medical measures (see Elimination of the consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction by the enemy).

Biological weapons (BW), based on the action of biological (bacterial) (BS). Pathogenic (pathogenic) microorganisms (viruses, rickettsia, bacteria, fungi, etc.) and highly toxic products of their vital activity (toxins) that can cause mass diseases of people and animals (typhus, cholera, smallpox, plague, glanders, etc.), as well as plants (grain rust, rice blast, potato late blight, etc.).

BO includes ammunition equipped with BS (missile warheads, cassettes and containers, pouring and spraying devices, aerial bombs, cannon and rocket artillery shells, etc.) and ammunition carriers (delivery vehicles) (missiles of various ranges, strategic, tactical and transport aircraft, remotely piloted and autonomously controlled unmanned aerial vehicles, radio and remote controlled balloons, underwater and surface ships, artillery pieces, etc.).

The use of BW can lead to the spread of infectious diseases to a large number of people and cause epidemics. There are various methods of mass destruction of BS people: contamination of the surface layer of air with aerosol particles; dispersion in the target area of ​​artificially infected BS of blood-sucking insects-carriers of infectious diseases; contamination of air, water and food, etc. The aerosol method of using BS is considered to be the main one, because allows you to suddenly and covertly infect the air, terrain and people on it, equipment, vehicles, buildings and other objects in large areas. In this case, people are exposed not only to those who are openly located on the ground, but also those who are inside objects and engineering structures. With this method, it is possible to contaminate the air with a combination of various types of BS, which makes it difficult to carry out their indication, protective and therapeutic and prophylactic measures. The conversion of biological formulations into aerosols can be carried out in two main ways: due to the energy of the explosion of the ammunition and using spraying devices.

The effectiveness of the BO is determined by its following properties: high lethality of the BS; the ability of a number of contagious BS to create large foci of the epidemic; the presence of an incubation (hidden) period of action; the complexity of the indication; strong psychological effect and a number of other properties. The effectiveness of the BW also depends on: the degree of protection of the troops and the population, the availability and timely use of individual and collective protective equipment, as well as preventive and therapeutic drugs; meteorological, climatic and topographic conditions (wind speed and direction, degree of stability of the atmosphere, solar radiation, precipitation and air humidity, nature of the terrain, etc.), time of year and day, etc.

Advances in biology and related sciences (biochemistry, genetics and genetic engineering, microbiology and experimental aerobiology) may lead to the development of new pathogens or an increase in the effectiveness of known BS. Therefore, a particular danger is caused by the problem of developing and using BW for sabotage and terrorist purposes, when the objects of its use can be places of large concentrations of people, protective structures, water sources, water supply networks, food warehouses and shops, catering establishments, etc.

The possibility of using BW requires the development of effective measures for the antibiological protection of the population and territories, as well as the elimination of the consequences of the action of the BS (see Elimination of the consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction by the enemy).

The use of any type of weapons of mass destruction can lead to unpredictable results for all of humanity. Therefore, a number of states, political parties, public organizations and movements launched a struggle to ban the production, dissemination and use of weapons of mass destruction. In this regard, a number of international treaties, conventions and agreements were adopted. The main ones are: "Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests 1963", "Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons 1968", "Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and Their Destruction 1972", "Convention on the prohibition of the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons and their destruction 1997 "and others.

In the Russian Federation, there are special troops designed to perform specific tasks of radiation, chemical and biological protection, eliminate the consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction - the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops, the Civil Defense Troops. The Strategic Missile Forces has a special Radiation Chemical and Biological Defense Service of the Strategic Missile Forces and a radiation, chemical and biological defense unit of the Strategic Missile Forces.

The main mistake people make is that troubles
they are more afraid of today than of tomorrow.
Karl von Clausewitz

General information about new types of weapons of mass destruction

CONSIDERING the centuries-old history of mankind from a certain angle, it should be recognized that this is a kind of history of wars and weapons. Each era of world civilization is characterized by the corresponding types of weapons. This was primarily due to the fact that the participants, as a rule, tried to resolve political, economic, ethnic, and confessional contradictions by military force. The acceleration of the process of improving weapons has become especially noticeable in the last two centuries, when the combat properties of weapons, its destructive effect began to be determined by the achieved level of science, the results of scientific research, and the emergence of new technologies and materials. This, in turn, naturally determined the corresponding changes in the forms and methods of armed struggle, which arose and developed in the course of the conduct of hostilities. In the 20th century, fundamentally new types of weapons entered the world arena - chemical, biological, nuclear, capable of inflicting mass destruction.

The entry of mankind into the third millennium is marked by the exacerbation of an increasingly urgent problem: what is the future fate of world civilization? How to avoid the appearance of severe cataclysms that can put humanity in front of the threat of losing its immortality? Understanding the reality of the threat of grave consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) initiated a wide movement in the world for the prohibition and complete destruction of all their existing types. Real steps have been taken on this difficult path. In 1975, the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons and the Destruction of All Their Stockpiles came into force. In 1977, the world community adopted a similar chemical weapons convention. A number of Russian (Soviet) -American agreements on the limitation and reduction of nuclear weapons were signed, and a whole class of nuclear weapons - medium-range missiles - was completely eliminated. The world community, concerned about the threat of natural disasters, adopted in 1977 the Convention on the Prohibition of Military and Any Other Hostile Use of Means of Influencing the Environment.

At the same time, the concern of the world community is caused by the continuing deep contradictions caused by the different levels of economic development of countries, the intensification of the struggle for sources of raw materials and energy carriers, and in the near future for drinking water supplies, ensuring environmental safety. Therefore, the question of what paths the further development of the means of armed struggle will take is very topical. What types of weapons can fill the vacuum that inevitably forms after the elimination of the existing types of weapons of mass destruction? Scientists and military experts point out that in the near future we should expect the emergence of qualitatively new types and systems of weapons, including weapons of mass destruction. According to them, it is already possible to predict the creation of some new types of weapons, based on already well-known scientific and technical ideas. This is largely facilitated by the fact that until now there are no international treaties and agreements prohibiting the development and production of new types of weapons of mass destruction, while the need to put a reliable barrier on the path of their creation and proliferation becomes more and more obvious.

Understanding of the emerging danger initiated the speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR at the 30th session of the UN General Assembly in September 1975 with a proposal that the states of the world community conclude an agreement, the basis of which would be the obligation not to develop or produce new types and new systems of weapons of mass destruction and do not encourage any activity aimed at this. The USSR presented to the UN General Assembly a draft agreement banning the development and production of new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons.

In this regard, the need for a unified understanding of the essence and legal definition of the new terminology became obvious. In development of these provisions, the USSR presented a preliminary draft definition of the concept of new types of weapons of mass destruction in the spring of 1976: their". However, during this period, the attention of the world community was riveted on the threat posed by the race of nuclear and chemical weapons, huge reserves of which weakened world stability and international security, and the new problem did not receive the necessary response from the world community, although its discussion continued in the UN Disarmament Committee.

Since almost all hypothetical types of weapons of mass destruction will be based on dual-use technologies, this situation significantly complicates the problem of their identification, control over development and production, and makes it difficult to reach an agreement on their prohibition. Apparently, in each specific case, it is necessary to develop a formulation that characterizes a given weapon, and to correlate it with the general definition of weapons of mass destruction. This ratio should not contain internal contradictions. The concept of "scale of destruction", which is the basis for the definition of weapons of mass destruction, is very closely related to the concept of "scale of use." It is known that the Anglo-American air raid on Dresden during World War II killed tens of thousands of people, which is comparable to the results of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In this case, the scale of the use of conventional weapons determined the scale of destruction characteristic of weapons of mass destruction. This classification makes it possible to assess the approximate scale of destruction when using one or another type of weapon and, consequently, the achievement of certain tasks in the conduct of hostilities - strategic, operational-tactical or tactical. The higher the level of tasks to be solved, the more grounds for classifying this type of weapon as WMD.

Decades will pass, and, speaking in the fall of 2006 at MGIMO, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov acknowledged with alarm: "The arms race is reaching a new level, there is a threat of new types of weapons emerging." It must be assumed that this statement was initiated by the emergence of information about the development of new weapons capable of destroying strategic stability in the world and undermining the international security system. The use of new types of weapons of mass destruction and even the threat of their use will be aimed primarily at achieving the most important political and economic goals, possibly even without direct contact between the forces of the opposing sides and without conducting hostilities in their traditional sense. This can lead to the rejection of armed clashes of large armies, the physical destruction of people directly on the battlefield. They can be replaced by slow-acting agents that will have a covert (latent) damaging effect on the human body, gradually destroy its vitality, undermine the life support system, protection from meteorological and infectious factors, thus leading to its gradual death or long-term failure ...

As already mentioned, fundamentally new types of modern weapons appear on the basis of the results of fundamental scientific research, the emergence of new technologies. This is the objective nature of the potential for the emergence of new types of weapons, since it is impossible to stop the progressive development of science, and its consequences can be tragic. At one time, Winston Churchill warned about this: "The Stone Age can return on the shining wings of science." It is relatively easy to predict the possibility of the emergence of new types of weapons based on already known scientific principles, but have not yet received their practical embodiment, but it is almost impossible to foresee in advance the appearance of a weapon, the idea of ​​which does not exist today or it is extremely uncertain. At the same time, experts warn that the emergence of new weapons will naturally have a profound impact on the methods and methods of warfare, on the definition of its ultimate goals, on the very content of the concept of "victory." During his tenure as Minister of Defense, Marshal of Russia Igor Sergeev pointed out: "The appearance of weapons based on new physical principles, especially at the strategic and operational level, means another qualitative leap in the change in the content and development of forms and methods of armed struggle."

One of the main goals of resolving the conflict in the future may be the impact with the help of certain types of weapons on the psychology of the enemy: individual, collective, mass, destruction of public and state institutions, provoking mass riots, collapse of the state, degradation of society. To achieve victory in these conditions, it will be necessary to know not only the enemy's armed forces, but also the characteristics of his state-political system, the mechanism for making military-political decisions, the peculiarities of thinking, culture, reaction to possible developments of state and military leaders, and their impact on mentality population. This creates the fundamental possibility of transition from direct confrontation between armies and attempts to quickly destroy enemy personnel and population to methods of covert war. A certain selectivity of the impact of some types of such weapons can allow the attacking side to practically eliminate the losses of its troops and at the same time ensure the targeted incapacitation of the enemy's manpower while preserving material values, structures, engineering facilities. The results of the use of certain types of weapons of the future may appear quite long after the impact, calculated in months and even years, when the cause-and-effect relationship will be lost.

Historical experience shows that serious efforts to prohibit one or another type of weapon that inflict massive losses or great suffering to people were made only after they were used for military purposes and the world community was personally convinced of the dire consequences of this. Thus came an epiphany regarding the need to ban chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. However, the use of this "trial and error" method in relation to new types of weapons of mass destruction at the present time, and even more so in the future, is fraught with far-reaching grave consequences, possibly irreversible. Therefore, the world community is now facing a very difficult, but also extremely urgent task to prevent the development and production of new systems of weapons of mass destruction. The urgency of solving this problem is also explained by the fact that international legal legislation, both in the past and at the present time, lags behind the pace of improving weapons. But even in those cases when international legal restrictions and bans on certain types of weapons and their use had already been developed, as a rule, there was no reliable mechanism for monitoring the implementation of these bans.

In the coming decades, it is possible to expect the emergence of new types of weapons of mass destruction, the scientific and technical ideas of which are already known today, and some of them are already being developed. These include the following types of weapons:

• geophysical;
• laser;
• genetic;
• ethnic;
• beam;
• radio frequency;
• acoustic;
• based on particle and antiparticle annihilation;
• dropping an asteroid from orbit;
• informational;
• psychotronic.

There is no doubt that with the development of the natural sciences, the appearance of fundamental discoveries, fundamentally new ideas will appear in them, on the basis of which new types of weapons can be created. Numerous evidences of the appearance of "unidentified flying objects" (UFOs) show that in this case we are dealing with such types of energy that defy scientific explanation from the standpoint of modern science. At the same time, it is possible that as scientific and technological progress accelerates, mankind can gradually master these types of energy, which, in turn, can be used for military purposes5.

Brief description of possible types of weapons of mass destruction, the scientific and technical foundations of which are currently known

Geophysical weapons

SCIENTISTS PAY attention to the danger associated with the possibility of creating a "geophysical weapon" based on the use of means that cause natural disasters (earthquakes, showers, tsunamis, etc.), the destruction of the ozone layer of the atmosphere, which protects the flora and fauna from destructive radiation of the sun. Geophysical weapons are based on the use of means of influence for military purposes on the processes occurring in the solid, liquid and gaseous shells of the Earth. At the same time, states of unstable equilibrium are of particular interest, when a relatively small "push" can cause catastrophic consequences and the impact on the enemy of huge destructive forces of nature ("trigger effect"). Of particular importance for the use of such means is the atmospheric layer with a height of 10 to 60 kilometers. By the nature of the impact, geophysical weapons are subdivided into meteorological, ozone and climatic ones.

Meteorological weapon

IN NORTH ALASKA, 320 km from Anchorage, at the foot of the mountains there is a whole forest of 24-meter antennas, which involuntarily attract the attention of ecologists and meteorological specialists. The official name of the project is "High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program" (HAARP) - the program of active high-frequency research of the auroral region. According to official statements, this project is intended to explore ways to improve radio communications. At the same time, a number of prominent scientists believe that work is being carried out there for military purposes under the leadership of the Pentagon. In particular, scientists believe that with the help of directional antennas, directed beams of high-frequency radio waves are "fired" into the ionosphere, which heats the ionosphere at high altitudes, up to the formation of plasma. This causes energy instability of the ionosphere, which changes the wind rose, creates unpredictable cataclysms: tsunamis, thunderstorms, floods, snowfalls.

The most studied action of such weapons is to provoke rainfall in certain areas. For this, in particular, the dispersion in rain clouds of silver iodide or lead iodide was used. The purpose of these actions may be to impede the movement of troops, especially heavy equipment and weapons, the formation of floods and the flooding of significant territories. Meteorological tools can also be used to disperse clouds in the area of ​​intended bombing to provide aiming, especially on point targets. A cloud several thousand cubic kilometers in size, carrying energy reserves of the order of a million kilowatt-hours, can be in such an unstable state that about 1 kilogram of silver iodide is enough to dramatically change it. Several aircraft, using hundreds of kilograms of this substance, are able to disperse clouds over an area of ​​several thousand square kilometers, causing heavy rainfall. To this end, the United States, already during the Vietnam War, used the dispersion of silver iodide in rain clouds to create floods, flood vast territories, and break through protective dams.

Work on the creation of meteorological weapons has a long history. Soon after the end of World War II, studies began to be intensively conducted in the United States to study the processes occurring in the atmosphere under the influence of external influences: "Skyfire" (the possibility of lightning formation), "Prime Argus" (methods of causing earthquakes), "Stormfury" (hurricane management) ... The results of this work were not widely reported, but it is known that in 1961 American scientists conducted an experiment to throw more than 350 thousand copper two-centimeter needles into the atmosphere, which changed the thermal balance of the ionosphere.

It is believed that it was as a result of this that an earthquake of 8.5 magnitude occurred in Alaska, and part of the coast of Chile slipped into the ocean. A sharp change in thermal processes in the atmosphere can cause the formation of powerful tsunamis. The tragedy that played out in the states of New Orleans and Louisiana, affected by the Katrin tsunami in September 2005, testifies to the danger posed by tsunamis that struck coastal areas. It was a natural cataclysm, but scientists do not exclude the possibility of creating an equally destructive tsunami near enemy territory by detonating a powerful thermonuclear charge in the ocean at a depth of hundreds of meters. A group of State Duma deputies, alarmed by the growing threat of the emergence of new types of weapons of mass destruction, turned in August 2002 to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a statement about the potential danger for humanity from the continuation by the United States of large-scale experiments on purposeful and powerful impact on the near-Earth environment by high-frequency radio waves. In their opinion, "one of the fundamental international legal acts should be the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Means of Influencing the Natural Environment of May 18, 1977, which should be applied to conducted and planned experiments as having a military orientation."

Climatic weapon

CLIMATE WEAPON is considered as a kind of geophysical weapon, since climate change occurs as a result of interference in the global weathering processes occurring in the Earth's atmosphere. The purpose of using such weapons can be to reduce agricultural production on the territory of a potential enemy, deteriorate food supply for its population, disrupt the implementation of socio-economic programs, which ultimately should lead to the destruction of political and economic structures. As a result of external influence, the desired political and economic changes can be achieved in this country without unleashing a war in the traditional sense. Some experts believe that a decrease in the average annual temperature by only one degree in the mid-latitude region, where the bulk of the grain is produced, can have catastrophic consequences. When carrying out large-scale extermination wars for fertile territories with the help of climatic weapons, massive losses of the population of large regions can be caused. However, given the deep interconnection of climatic processes taking place in different parts of the world, the use of climate weapons will be poorly controlled, which can cause significant damage to neighboring countries, including the country that will use it.

Ozone weapon

AS KNOWN, the ozone layer of the atmosphere is in dynamic equilibrium with the environment, which involves the formation of ozone from molecular oxygen under the influence of solar radiation and its decomposition under the influence of various factors associated with human activities: the emission of industrial gases into the atmosphere, vehicle exhaust, nuclear tests in the atmosphere, the release of nitrogen oxides from mineral fertilizers and chlorofluorocarbons (freons) from various cooling and air conditioning systems. This shows that the ozone layer is quite sensitive to external influences.

In accordance with this, ozone weapons can be a set of means (for example, rockets equipped with chemicals such as freons) for artificially destroying the ozone layer over selected areas of the enemy's territory. The formation of such "windows" will create conditions for the penetration of hard ultraviolet radiation from the Sun with a wavelength of about 0.3 microns to the Earth's surface. It has a detrimental effect on the cells of living organisms, cellular structures and the hereditary apparatus, causes skin burns, and contributes to a sharp increase in the number of cancers in humans and animals.

It is believed that the most tangible result of the impact will be an increase in the mortality of the population, a decrease in the productivity of animals and agricultural plants in areas over which the ozone layer has been depleted. Violation of the processes taking place in the ozonosphere can also affect the heat balance of these regions and the weather. A decrease in the ozone content should lead to a decrease in the average temperature and an increase in humidity, which is especially dangerous for areas of unstable, critical agriculture. In this area, ozone weapons merge with climatic ones.

RF EMP weapon

AMONG NON-NUCLEAR MEANS OF DEFENSE, radio-frequency weapons have recently been often mentioned, which affect a person and various technical objects with the help of a powerful electromagnetic pulse (EMP). This was facilitated to a large extent by the wide distribution in the world of electronic equipment for military and civil purposes, which solves extremely important tasks, including in the field of security. For the first time, an electromagnetic pulse capable of inflicting damage to various technical devices became widely known already during the first tests of nuclear weapons in the USA and the USSR, when a new physical phenomenon was discovered - the formation of a powerful pulse of electromagnetic radiation, in which great interest was immediately shown. However, as it soon turned out, EMP was created not only in the process of a nuclear explosion. Already in the 1950s, one of the "fathers" of Soviet nuclear weapons, Academician Andrei Sakharov, first proposed the principle of a non-nuclear "electromagnetic bomb". In this design, the magnetic field of the solenoid is compressed by the explosion of a chemical explosive, resulting in a powerful pulse of electromagnetic radiation.

Soviet specialists could not ignore the possibility of the emergence and military use of EMP weapons against the USSR (Russia). An important place in the study of EMP weapons and methods of protection against them belongs to the Institute of Thermophysics of Extreme States of the Russian Academy of Sciences, headed by Academician Vladimir Fortov. V. Fortov emphasized that at the present time, when the troops and infrastructure of many states are saturated to the limit with electronics, and in the future this trend will only grow, attention to the means of its destruction is very relevant. At the same time, he pointed out that, although EMP weapons are characterized as "non-lethal", experts classify them as "strategic" weapons that can be used to disable key objects of the system of state and military control, various types of weapons, thus solving strategic objectives.

In recent years, Russia has made significant progress in the development of stationary research generators that create high values ​​of the magnetic field strength and maximum current. Such generators can serve as a prototype of an "electromagnetic gun", the range of which can reach hundreds of meters or more, depending on what equipment is to be affected. The current level of technology allows a number of countries to supply their armed forces with various modifications of ammunition with powerful EMP radiation, which can be used in combat operations. During the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf, the United States used Tomahawk cruise missiles to suppress enemy electronic weapons, especially air defense systems, which, when their warheads were triggered, generated EMP radiation with a power of up to 5 MW. At the very beginning of the war with Iraq, in 2003, such an EMP bomb was dropped on the television center in Baghdad, which instantly disabled all the electronic equipment of the television center. Before that, the same bomb was tested in 1999 in Yugoslavia, where it also demonstrated its high effectiveness against electronic systems.

Much attention is also paid to work on the creation of combat models of such weapons in Russia. The Ranets-E and Rosa-E projects were successfully implemented at the Moscow Radio Engineering Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. With the help of the Mobile Microwave Protection System (MMPS) Project, it is planned to ensure the creation of defense of the most important objects from high-precision weapons. It should include an antenna system, a high-power generator, control and measuring equipment. The entire system must be mounted on a mobile base and ensure the operational transfer of the Ranets-E system to the desired area. It became known that this weapon will have an output power of over 500 MW, work in the centimeter range, and emit pulses with a duration of 10-20 nanoseconds. The Rantsa-E microwave cannon is designed to engage targets at a distance of up to 10 kilometers, providing a circular firing sector. The mass of such a system will exceed 5 tons. The first information about the new weapon was received by visitors to the Russian pavilion of the exhibition in 2001 in Singapore and Lima.

Studies of the effect of electromagnetic radiation on the human body have shown that, even with exposure to electromagnetic radiation of a sufficiently low intensity, various functional disorders and changes occur in it. In particular, the detrimental effect of electromagnetic radiation on the violation of the rhythm of the heart, according to some scientists, up to its stopping, has been established. At the same time, two types of impact were noted: thermal and non-thermal. Thermal exposure causes overheating of tissues and organs and, with sufficiently long-term radiation, causes irreversible pathological changes in them. Non-thermal exposure mainly leads to functional disorders in various organs of the human body, especially in the cardiovascular and nervous systems. The results of human tests of microwave weapons carried out in October 2001 in the United States at Kirtland airbase turned out to be very characteristic. Beams with a wavelength of 3 mm penetrated into the human body by only 0.3-0.4 mm, but at the same time, water and blood molecules in the subcutaneous layer began to boil almost instantly. In this case, a person experiences acute pain that exceeds the pain threshold, which makes him leave the zone of microwave radiation as soon as possible.

Laser weapon

Specialists from a number of countries have been working on the creation of laser weapons for many years, and the results obtained to date give reason to believe that it will soon acquire practical significance. As you know, lasers are powerful emitters of electromagnetic energy in the optical range - quantum generators. The damaging effect of a laser beam is achieved as a result of heating the materials of the object to high temperatures, causing them to melt or even vaporize, damage the sensitive elements of weapons, blind the human eyes, up to irreversible consequences, and inflict severe injuries on him in the form of thermal burns of the skin. For the enemy, the action of laser radiation is distinguished by surprise, secrecy, the absence of external signs in the form of fire, smoke, sound, high accuracy, straightforwardness of propagation, and almost instantaneous action. It is possible to create laser combat systems for various purposes of land, sea, air and space-based with different power, range, rate of fire, ammunition. Laser systems of low and medium power are planned to be used to disable control points, weapon guidance equipment, to blind tank crews, car drivers, helicopter pilots, and gun crews. High-power laser weapons are being tested for the purpose of using them in systems to combat enemy aircraft and missiles.

In support of the above, it should be noted that in the United States, laser rifles emitting a thin, low-energy beam have been developed for many years. Such a rifle provides target destruction at a distance of up to 1.5 km. A shot from such a gun is practically invisible and inaudible. The penetration of the beam into the eyes damages the organs of vision of varying severity, up to complete blindness. The various types of safety glasses used provide protection only against certain wavelengths. For a comprehensive study of the damaging effect of laser radiation and methods of protection against it, more than a thousand tests were carried out in the United States in the mid-1950s.

Experts, not without reason, believe that the greatest use of laser weapons will be associated with the creation of a large-scale missile defense of the US territory. In 1996, the United States began to create an airborne laser weapon ABL (Airborne Laser), designed to destroy missiles on the flight path, especially in the acceleration phase, where they are most vulnerable. A powerful laser installation with a fuel reserve of tens of tons will be placed on board the Boeing-747. In the event of a crisis, the Boeing rises into the air and will patrol at an altitude of 10-12 km, having the ability to detect an enemy missile within a few seconds and inflict a defeat on it at a range of up to 300-500 kilometers. The full test program is planned to be completed in the near future with the expectation that by 2009 a squadron of seven such aircraft will be created. In February 2000, one of the leading military-industrial consortia, Martin-Boeing-TRW, signed a contract with the Pentagon, providing for the development of the main elements of a space laser station with the expectation of carrying out full-scale tests in 2012. Completion of the full cycle of work on the creation of a space-based combat laser is planned by 2020. In conclusion, it should be pointed out that the range of possible use of laser weapons is very wide and diverse, and specialists, apparently, will more than once have a chance to meet with various methods of using them and targets.

Acoustic weapon

WHEN CONSIDERING THE PROBLEMS of creating and damaging acoustic weapons, it should be borne in mind that, in general, it covers three characteristic frequency ranges: infrasonic - the frequency range below 20 hertz (Hz), audible - from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. For frequencies above 20 kHz, the term "ultrasound" is used. Such a gradation is determined by the peculiarities of the effect of sound on the human body, and above all on his hearing aid. At the same time, it was found that the hearing thresholds, levels of pain and other negative effects on the human body decrease with an increase in the sound frequency from several hertz to 250 Hz.

In recent years, a wide range of work has been carried out in the United States in the field of non-lethal weapons (NLO), including acoustic ones, which is being carried out at the Army Arms Research, Development and Maintenance Center (ARDEC) in the Pakatinny arsenal (New Jersey). A number of projects to create acoustic bullet-forming devices emitted by large-diameter antennas have been carried out by the Scientific Research and Applications Association (SARA) in Huntingon Beach, California. As conceived by the creators of the new weapon, it should expand the possible range of use of military force not only on the battlefield, but also in a number of situations that may arise during police or peacekeeping operations. Research is underway to create infrasound systems based on the use of large loudspeakers and powerful amplifiers. SARA and ARDEC are working together to create high-power, low-frequency acoustic weapons designed to protect US institutions overseas.

To defeat the personnel of the troops located in bunkers, shelters and combat vehicles, acoustic "bullets" of very low frequencies were tested, formed when ultrasonic vibrations emitted by large antennas were superimposed. According to American experts in the field of "non-lethal weapons", Russia is also carrying out a set of works in the field of acoustic weapons and quite impressive results have been obtained. In particular, they stated that Russia has created a functioning device that generates an infrasonic pulse with a frequency of 10 Hz, "the size of a baseball", the power of which was supposedly sufficient to inflict a serious injury on a person at a distance of hundreds of meters.

The use of infrasonic waves with a frequency of several hertz can have a profound effect on the human body. The insidiousness of this weapon also lies in the fact that infrasonic vibrations, which are below the level of perception of the human ear, can cause an unconscious state of anxiety, despair and even horror. According to some experts, the impact of infrasound radiation on humans leads to epilepsy, and with a high radiation power, a lethal outcome can be achieved. Death can occur as a result of a sharp violation of the functions of individual human organs, especially when they resonate with sound vibrations. This leads to damage to his cardiovascular system, destruction of blood vessels and internal organs. According to experts, the selection of a certain radiation frequency can, for example, provoke massive manifestations of myocardial infarction in the personnel of the troops and the population of the enemy. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the ability of infrasonic vibrations to penetrate concrete and metal barriers, which undoubtedly increases the interest of military specialists in this weapon.

At the same time, it should be pointed out that there is no consensus among scientists in assessing the damaging effect of acoustic weapons on humans. Such disagreements are confirmed by the results of examining the damaging effect of various types of non-lethal weapons, in particular, obtained by the highly reputable German company Daimler-Benz Aerospace. The diverse and often contradictory results of the damaging effect of acoustic weapons obtained by them determine the need for a wide range of further scientific and experimental research.

Information weapon

CONSIDERING THE PROBLEM of information weapons, one should immediately pay attention to the very broad content of this concept, which covers a fairly wide range of methods, means and methods of struggle. This confrontation is based on the actions and counteraction of the parties in the information sphere, which are, in aggregate, defensive and offensive in nature. In the course of hostilities, the opposing sides seek to destroy the enemy's information sphere and protect their own as much as possible. According to the definition of Russian specialists, it is expedient to refer to this component of the military counteraction as "information confrontation." An information war will begin immediately with the start of hostilities, or even precede them, go simultaneously in several directions at once: electronic warfare, active reconnaissance, disorganization of command and control systems of troops and weapons, misinformation of the enemy, conducting psychological operations against the troops and population of the enemy, the use of software and hardware exposure, the use of highly qualified hackers to open and violate the automated system of state and military management, etc.

When planning and conducting information warfare, psychological operations (PSYO) are carried out, which can have a different scale. The main tasks in conducting operations of a Strategic scale are: discrediting the foreign and domestic policy of the state, the socio-economic situation of the population, exacerbating ethnic contradictions, distorting the historical heritage, inciting religious enmity among representatives of various confessions, creating defeatist sentiments in the minds of the population, encouraging antisocial behavior in every way, and etc. In information operations at the operational-tactical level, the main focus is on undermining the morale of servicemen and the moral stability of the population, especially in areas adjacent to the combat zone, reducing the combat potential of troops, supporting opposition elements in the ranks of the enemy, encouraging the population to carry out actions of civil disobedience, encouraging desertion among the military.

Outstanding military leaders of the past already long ago realized that a clear and well-understood explanation of convincing arguments about the futility and destructiveness of further resistance to the enemy soldiery masses could give a positive result. During the Italian campaign of Alexander Suvorov, his appeal to the enemy troops with an explanation of the difficult situation in which they found themselves, led to the fact that the opposing troops of the Piedmontese army went over to the side of the Russians in whole units and units. Napoleon also attached great importance to bringing the necessary (often false) information to the enemy. Already at that time he had a mobile printing house with a capacity of 10 thousand leaflets per day. It belongs to him the catch phrase: "Four newspapers can do more evil than an army of one hundred thousand." The possible scale of the psychological offensive can be judged from the experience of World War II, when the Western allies used a huge amount of propaganda material against the armies of the Hitlerite coalition: Great Britain dropped 6.5 billion leaflets, and the United States - 8 billion.

The rapid development of the mass media, especially television and the Internet, creates objective prerequisites for increasing their use for military purposes. It is known that recently the global Internet network covers about 1 billion users in more than 150 countries of the world. It can be predicted that in the future, the battlefield will increasingly move into the intellectual realm, affecting the consciousness and feelings of millions of people. By placing space repeaters in near-earth orbits, using the great potential of television and the Internet, an aggressor country can develop and, under certain conditions, implement a scenario of a round-the-clock information war against a particular state, trying to blow it up from within. Provocative programs will be designed not for reason, but primarily for the emotions of people, for their least protected sensory sphere, which is much more effective, especially with a low political culture of the population, poor awareness and unpreparedness for such a war.

Dosed presentation of ideologically and psychologically processed provocative material, skillful alternation of truthful ("credit of trust") and false information, skillful editing of details of various real and fictional explosive situations can turn into a powerful means of psychological offensive. It can be especially effective against a country in which there is social tension, interethnic, religious or class conflicts. Carefully selected information, falling on such fertile soil, can in a short time cause panic, riots, pogroms, and destabilize the political situation in the country. Thus, you can force the enemy to surrender without the use of traditional weapons.

As an example of the use of the Internet in the field of information and psychological influence, one should recall the operation "Support for Democracy" in Haiti in 1994-1996. The widespread use of telephone calls to servicemen not to resist American troops was accompanied by the transfer of threats to members of the government of this country who had personal computers. During the 1999 hostilities against Yugoslavia, NATO troops attacked the system of television and radio transmitters, incapacitating them. At the same time, at the direction of Washington, the Internet system was preserved in order to transmit the "necessary" information to the population of the country.

Back in the mid-1990s, there were reports of virus No. 666, which has the ability to have a deep negative impact on the psychophysiological state of computer operators, up to and including their failure. This virus displays a specially selected image on the screen, plunging a person into a hypnotic trance. In this case, the calculation is made on the fact that the subconscious perception of the image will cause a sharp change in the activity of the cardiovascular system, up to blocking the vessels of the brain. The results of such an impact can be extremely dangerous when exposed to the operators of the system of state and combat control.

Genetic weapons

THE EXCESSIVE DEVELOPMENT of molecular genetics in the 60-70s of the XX century made it possible to carry out the recombination of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) - the carrier of genetic information. With the help of genetic engineering methods, it became possible to carry out the separation of genes and their recombination with the formation of recombinant DNA molecules. On the basis of these methods, it is also possible to carry out gene transfer with the help of microorganisms, to ensure the production of potent toxins of human, animal or plant origin. By combining various bacteriological and toxic agents, it is possible to create a biological weapon with an altered genetic apparatus with a high lethality. On the basis of the introduction of genetic material with pronounced toxic properties into virulent bacteria or human viruses, it is possible to obtain a bacteriological weapon capable of causing a mass death of the population in the affected regions.

Scientists believe that by 2010-2015, genetic engineering will achieve very significant results in the field of molecular biology, which will allow, among other things, to reveal the mechanism of action of toxins, to ensure the production of toxic products that can be used as weapons. This can create a fundamentally new strategic situation, when the main goal of a "genetic" war on the part of some countries is not the destruction of the enemy's armed forces, but the elimination of its population, which is declared "excessive." According to experts, this can radically change the global geopolitical and geostrategic situation, which, in their opinion, will be similar to the beginning of the atomic era of the 1940s-1950s.

Scientists believe that a new strategic feature in the development of the international security system, which will grow stronger over time, is the gradual transition of the world community from traditional armed conflicts using the most modern technology and weapons to a kind of "genocidal" wars. About such wars, statements were heard among certain representatives of the leadership of some countries. For the military-political leadership of the United States, taking into account the birth rate of various population groups and the appearance of various kinds of inevitable natural disasters (the example of New Orleans), it is envisaged to ensure, first of all, the preservation of the white English-speaking population, although they openly try not to focus on this.

American writer Tom Hartman in his reasoning refers to the report "Rebuilding America's Defense: Strategy, Forces and Resources of the New Century." The report examines the challenge associated with fundamental changes in the forms and methods of warfare in the future. A further revolution in military affairs will determine a diverse approach to waging war in specific conflict situations, ensuring victory is achieved in unconventional ways, in which any potential adversary will inevitably lag behind the United States. At the same time, information has already appeared that in the national laboratories of the United States - Oak Ridge, Livermore and some others, the genetic consequences of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been carefully studied, a significant contribution has been made to the finalization of the well-known international project "Human Genome", and the beginning of an even more ambitious research under the "Genome for Life" program. It should be noted that the development of modern science has already crossed a critical line in ensuring the security of the world community. This means that in the extreme case, a compact group of researchers can create a "scientific product" capable of causing enormous damage to humanity. This is the particular danger of the creation and use of genetic weapons, including by international terrorism.

Ethnic weapons

STUDY of natural and genetic differences between people, blood composition, fine biochemical structure of the organism of representatives of different ethnic groups prompted some scientists to use these features to create the so-called ethnic weapons. According to scientists, such weapons will be able to target certain ethnic groups of the population with special agents and be indifferent towards others. This selectivity will be based on differences between people in blood groups, skin pigmentation, and genetic structure. Research in the field of ethnic weapons can be aimed at identifying the genetic vulnerability of certain ethnic groups and at developing special agents designed to effectively use these features. This means, for example, that the use of specially created biological agents acting selectively with respect to carriers of various DNAs for infection in any city with a mixed multinational population may not be felt by people at first. However, over time, the results of the impact will affect representatives of some categories of the population. They may develop severe chronic diseases, shorten their lifespan, and lose the ability to have offspring. This will actually lead to the gradual extinction of a certain ethnic group in the area exposed to special bioagents.

According to the calculations of one of the famous American physicians R. Hammerschlag, ethnic weapons can defeat 25-30% of the population of a country attacked with these weapons. Recall that such losses of population in a nuclear war are considered "unacceptable", in which the country is defeated. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that in order to conduct an ethnic war, a scrupulous analysis of the DNA of ethnic groups and determination of the differences between them is necessary.

There are reports that some time ago a group of Israeli scientists considered the possibility of waging an ethnic war against their neighbors - the Palestinians. If successful, they hoped in this way to rid Israel of its "restless" neighbors. However, the research conducted disappointed them. They showed that both peoples descend from the same ancestors and therefore have an identical genetic apparatus. Consequently, by unleashing an ethnic war against the Palestinians, Israel would simultaneously strike at the Jewish population.

Assessing the international situation in the world, it is impossible to exclude the appearance of secret production of ethnic weapons by some terrorist groups possessing nanotechnology (for example, Aum-Shinrikyo) and their use in the name of certain economic and political goals.

Beam weapon

The striking factor of a beam weapon is a highly directed beam of charged or neutral high-energy particles - electrons, protons, neutral hydrogen atoms. A powerful flow of energy carried by particles can create an intense thermal effect in the target material, shock mechanical loads, and initiate X-rays. The use of beam weapons is distinguished by the instant and suddenness of the destructive action. The limiting factor in the range of action of this weapon is the gas particles in the atmosphere, with the atoms of which the accelerated particles interact, gradually losing their energy. The use of beams of charged particles is further complicated by the fact that repulsive forces act between charged particles when they move.

The most likely targets for destruction can be manpower, electronic equipment, various systems of military equipment, ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft, spacecraft, etc. According to American scientists, the use of particle beams to destroy launch vehicles will require an increase in the accelerating voltage, pulse duration, and average power by one to two orders of magnitude compared to the values ​​already achieved, which creates serious difficulties in the way of using such weapons.

Work on the creation of beam weapons received the greatest scope after President Reagan proclaimed the SDI program. The Los Alamos National Laboratory has become the center of scientific research in this area. Experiments at that time were carried out on the ATS accelerator, then on more powerful devices.

Experts believe that such neutral particle accelerators can become a reliable means of selecting attacking enemy warheads against the background of a "cloud" of decoys. Research on the creation of beam weapons based on charged particles is also under way at Livermore National Laboratory. According to scientists, there have been successful attempts to obtain a flux of high-energy electrons, which is hundreds of times more powerful than that obtained in research accelerators. In the same laboratory, within the framework of the Antigone program, it was experimentally established that the electron beam, almost ideally, without scattering, propagates through an ionized channel previously created by a laser beam in the atmosphere, which makes it possible to significantly increase the range of the damaging effect of this weapon. Installations of beam weapons have large mass-dimensional characteristics and therefore can be created as stationary or on special mobile equipment with a large carrying capacity. This creates certain restrictions on their combat use.

Throwing asteroids from orbit

ABOUT HOW FAR the search for new weapons of mass destruction can go is evidenced by theoretical studies carried out by some US scientists back in the 1960s, in which a literally fantastic project was considered about a shift from its orbit of one of the asteroids moving between Earth and Mars. It was assumed that the withdrawal of the asteroid from its orbit could be carried out with the help of explosions of powerful nuclear charges in a charging chamber specially created on the surface of the asteroid. When the charge explodes, the asteroid will receive a powerful jet impulse, which will transfer it to an orbit that crosses the trajectory of the Earth's motion. At the same time, on the basis of modeling, the fall of an asteroid into the enemy's territory can be carried out. During the collision of the asteroid with the Earth, energy will be released, equivalent to the explosion of many thousands of nuclear charges, capable of destroying an entire continent.

Of course, the practical use of such a means of destruction is hardly possible and it is of purely theoretical interest, demonstrating the possible limits of the search for weapons, as well as the potential consequences of a collision of planet Earth with one of the celestial bodies. In recent decades, scientists have drawn attention to the potential for a meteorite to collide with the Earth. If such a threat is detected, the probability of which is extremely small, but its cost to world civilization is unacceptably high, the opposite problem will be solved - the prevention of a collision with the help of nuclear explosions on the surface of the asteroid, although the success of such an operation is highly controversial. However, to date, no one has been able to offer a more effective way to combat this threat.

Weapons based on the annihilation of particles and antiparticles

THEORETICAL RESEARCH in the field of nuclear physics, carried out in the first half of the 20th century, showed the fundamental possibility of the existence of antimatter. Subsequently, the existence of antiparticles (for example, positrons) was proved experimentally. It turned out that when particles and antiparticles interact, a significant amount of energy is released in the form of photons. According to scientists' calculations, when 1 milligram of antiparticles interacts with matter, energy is released, which is equivalent to an explosion of several tens of tons of trinitrotoluene. This makes it very tempting to create weapons of enormous destructive power based on antimatter. However, despite the tremendous efforts of scientists, nature diligently guards its secrets that stand in the way of creating a fundamentally new type of weapon. At present, the process of obtaining and preserving antiparticles is very difficult. It is known that attempts are being made at the European Center for Nuclear Research to keep antiparticles at low temperatures in liquid helium bubbles. These difficulties make it very problematic to create weapons of mass destruction based on antimatter in the foreseeable future.

Psychotronic weapons

IN RECENT YEARS, there has been a wide interest in research in the field of bioenergy related to the so-called paranormal human capabilities. In a number of countries, work is underway to create various technical devices based on the energy of a biofield, that is, a specific field that exists around a living organism. Research into the possibility of creating such a weapon is carried out in several directions: extrasensory perception - the perception of the properties of objects, their state, sounds, smells, thoughts of people without contact with them and without using ordinary senses; telepathy - transmission of thoughts at a distance; clairvoyance (far-sightedness) - observation of an object (target) that is outside the limits of visual communication; psychokinesis - impact on physical objects with the help of mental influence that causes their movement; telekinesis is the mental movement of a person whose body remains at rest. Scientists identify four main areas of applied military research in the field of bioenergy.

1. Development of methods of deliberate influence on human mental activity in order to create an "army of a new era". For this purpose, the issues of teaching soldiers the methods of meditation, the development of their ability for extrasensory perception and magic, hypnotic technique were investigated.

2. In-depth study of paranormal phenomena of greatest interest from the point of view of military applications - clairvoyance and telekinesis. Experiments were carried out to study the human ability to observe objects that are outside the limits of visual communication. The scope of the application of this phenomenon is very wide: on a strategic scale, it is possible to penetrate into the main command and control bodies of the enemy's troops to get acquainted with his plans.

The use of psychokinesis for the destruction of command and control systems. The ability of a person to emit a certain type of energy is confirmed by a photograph of the radiation field of a person (Kirlian effect).

3. Investigation of the influence of bio-radiation on control and communication systems, electronic equipment, as well as the development of artificial energy generators to influence the enemy's personnel and population in order to create abnormal mental states in them. Some research in this direction was carried out to determine the ability of people with paranormal abilities to interfere with computers.

4. Development of systems for the detection and control of artificial and natural hazardous radiation, as well as methods of active and passive protection against them. The creation of technical devices for the detection of bio-radiation, research into the issues of bioenergetic interaction between people continues. In the Western press, there are claims that psychotronic weapons already exist, although their potential capabilities have not yet been determined and many scientists express serious doubts about the effectiveness of such weapons.

Even a brief analysis of the possible prospects for the emergence of new types of weapons of mass destruction shows their deep danger to the world community. According to some scientists, the development of modern science has already crossed a critical line in ensuring the security of the world community. Therefore, it is necessary to closely monitor the work in this area (especially in the field of dual technologies) in order to take appropriate preventive measures through the UN in order to prevent the emergence of a new threat. The world's leading countries need to come up with broad international initiatives to form a legal mechanism that reliably prevents the creation of new types of weapons of mass destruction.

2. Nuclear weapons: damaging factors and protection against them.

3. Chemical weapons and their characteristics.

4. Specific features of bacteriological weapons.

1. General characteristics of weapons of mass destruction.

In terms of the scale and nature of the destructive effect, modern weapons are subdivided into conventional and weapons of mass destruction.

Weapons of mass destruction - weapons of great lethality, designed to inflict massive losses or destruction, are distinguished by a large area of ​​action.

Currently to weapons of mass lesions include:

nuclear

chemical

bacteriological (biological)

Weapons of mass destruction have a powerful traumatic effect, demoralizing both the troops and the civilian population.

The use of weapons of mass destruction has dangerous environmental consequences and can cause irreparable damage to the environment.

2. Nuclear weapons: damaging factors and protection against them.

Nuclear weapon- ammunition, the damaging effect of which is based on the use of intranuclear energy. To deliver these weapons to the target, missiles, aircraft and other means are used. Nuclear weapons are the most powerful weapons of mass destruction. The damaging effect of a nuclear explosion depends mainly on the power of the ammunition and type of explosion: ground, underground, underwater, surface, air, high-altitude.

TO damaging factors nuclear explosion include:

Shock wave (SW). Similar to the blast wave of a normal explosion, but more effective. for a long time(about 15 sec.) and has a disproportionately greater destructive power. In most cases, it is the main a damaging factor. It can cause serious traumatic injuries to people, destroy buildings and structures at a considerable distance from the center of the explosion. It is capable of inflicting damage in closed rooms, penetrating there through cracks and holes.

The most reliable means protection are asylum.

Light emission (SI) - luminous flux emanating from the area of ​​the center of a nuclear explosion, heated to several thousand degrees, resembling a red-hot fireball. The brightness of light radiation in the first seconds is several times higher than the brightness of the Sun. Duration of action - up to 20 seconds. Direct exposure causes burns to the retina and exposed parts of the body. Secondary burns from the flames of burning buildings, objects, vegetation are possible.

Protection any opaque barrier that can give a shadow can serve: wall, building, tarpaulin, trees. Light radiation is significantly attenuated in dusty, smoky air, fog, rain, snowfall.

Penetrating radiation (PR) – the flux of gamma rays and neutrons released during a chain reaction at the time of a nuclear explosion and

15-20 sec. after him. The action extends to a distance

up to 1.5 km. Neutrons and gamma rays have a very high

penetrating ability. As a result of human exposure

can develop acute radiation sickness (OLB).

Protection are various materials that inhibit gamma

radiation and neutron flux - metals, concrete, brick, soil

(protective structures). To increase the body's resistance

prophylactic

anti-radiation drugs - "radioprotectors".

Radioactive contamination of the area (REM) – arises as a result of the fallout of radioactive substances from the cloud of a nuclear explosion. The damaging effect persists for a long time - weeks, months. It is due to: external exposure to gamma radiation, contact exposure to beta particles when in contact with the skin, mucous membranes or inside the body. Possible injuries to people: acute or chronic radiation sickness, radiation damage to the skin ("burns"). With inhalation of radioactive substances, radiation damage to the lungs occurs; when swallowed - along with irradiation of the gastrointestinal tract, they are absorbed with accumulation ("incorporation") in various organs and tissues.

Protection methods: limitation of stay in open areas,

d additional sealing of premises; use of satellites organs

breathing and skin when leaving the premises; removal of radioactive

dust from the surface of the body and clothing ("decontamination".

Electromagnetic pulse - powerful electric and

electromagnetic field arising at the moment of explosion (less than 1 sec.).

It does not have a pronounced damaging effect on people.

Disables communications, digital and electronic equipment.

The twentieth century was not only an era of rapid technological growth and the greatest scientific discoveries, it also "presented" to humanity and absolutely new threats, some of which may well put a fat point in the history of our civilization. The most realistic of them, of course, is a weapon of mass destruction, which is quite capable of sending our species into oblivion after dinosaurs or mammoths.

Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is a definition that combines several types of weapons that are different in their effect, each of which can lead to mass death of people. Moreover, in this case, the term "mass" is interpreted very broadly: from several thousand to many millions of deaths. Currently, only nuclear, chemical and biological weapons are classified as weapons of mass destruction. However, science does not stand still: scientists from different countries of the world are without rest developing a new weapon of mass destruction, which in its murderous qualities may well surpass the existing one.

The first large-scale use of weapons of mass destruction occurred during the First World War - on April 22, 1915, the Germans carried out the famous chlorine attack near Ypres. The "abilities" of the new weapon impressed the military so much that in just a few months the conflict turned into a real chemical war. The OV was also used by the Russian army.

Much louder was the "benefit" of another type of weapon of mass destruction - a nuclear bomb. In August 1945, the Americans dropped similar ammunition on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As a result of these attacks, about 200 thousand people died ... This event was included in all historical books, dictionaries and encyclopedias.

The third type of WMD, biological weapons, fortunately, was never used on a large scale in the course of hostilities, although there were attempts to use it for limited use.

Improvement of weapons of mass destruction continues today. New types of war gases and pathogens are being developed, and more powerful and efficient means of delivering nuclear weapons are being created. It is possible that in the near future new types of weapons of mass destruction will emerge based on different physical principles. In parallel with work on the development of weapons of mass destruction, various states are conducting serious research, the purpose of which is to protect against weapons of mass destruction - new vaccines are being synthesized, more effective personal protective equipment (PPE), etc. are being adopted.

What are weapons of mass destruction

The classification of weapons of mass destruction that exists today is quite simple, weapons of mass destruction are divided into three types:

• nuclear (thermonuclear);
• chemical;
• biological.

In turn, nuclear weapons (NW) are divided into:

• Nuclear explosive devices that use exclusively the fission energy of plutonium or uranium nuclei.
• Thermonuclear explosive devices, in which the bulk of the energy comes from nuclear fusion reactions.

Currently, the overwhelming majority of existing nuclear weapons work on the basis of fusion reactions, that is, they belong to thermonuclear weapons. It is also customary to divide nuclear weapons by power, from ultra-small (up to 1 Kt) to super-large (over 1 Mt). Separately, mention should be made of nuclear weapons, in which one of the damaging factors significantly prevails over the rest. So, for example, a cobalt bomb gives the maximum possible contamination of the area, and the main damaging factor of a neutron bomb is penetrating radiation.

The classification of chemical weapons is based on the physiological effects they have on the human body. This is the most important characteristic of this type of weapon of mass destruction. Considering it, combat gases are:

• Nerve agents (sarin, soman, herd and V-gases);
• Blistering action (mustard gas, lewisite);
• Generally toxic action (cyanogen chloride, hydrocyanic acid);
• Choking action (phosgene);
• Psychochemical action;
• Irritant action (chloropicrin, adamsin).

Depending on the degree of impact of weapons of mass destruction, toxic substances are divided into lethal and those that temporarily incapacitate a person. Although, this division is somewhat arbitrary. There are also classifications of OS based on their resistance and speed of exposure to humans.

Biological or bacteriological weapons of mass destruction are classified according to the types of pathogenic organisms, as well as the methods of their use.

Nuclear weapons and their main damaging factors

The most powerful type of weapons of mass destruction is, without a doubt, nuclear weapons. Almost immediately after its appearance, it turned into the most important strategic factor, which it remains to this day. The power of nuclear weapons is capable of demolishing huge megacities and killing millions of people in a matter of seconds, and the radiation generated in the process of an explosion can infect vast territories for many years. At present, only a few states in the world have this weapon of mass destruction in their arsenals; the United States and Russia have the largest number of nuclear charges.

Below are the main damaging factors of nuclear weapons:

• light radiation;
• shock wave;
• penetrating radiation;
• electromagnetic pulse;
• long-term contamination of the area with radiation.

Of all the energy of a nuclear explosion, 50% is spent on a shock wave, 35% is spent on light radiation, 10% on radioactive contamination, and 5% on penetrating radiation. This must be taken into account when creating shelters from the effects of this type of weapons of mass destruction.

The shock wave is the main damaging factor of nuclear weapons. It is a front of extremely compressed air that spreads in all directions from the epicenter of the explosion at supersonic speed.

Light radiation is a flow of energy that spreads instantly after an explosion, but it acts for a rather short time. Radiation burns or ignites all combustible materials, causes burns, affects the organs of vision of people and animals. The intensity of light radiation decreases with distance from the epicenter of the explosion. You should also be aware that any opaque materials that give a shadow are an obstacle to this factor of damage.

Penetrating radiation is a stream of hard radiation, mainly composed of neutrons and gamma rays. Its impact is also short-term - 10-15 seconds after the explosion. However, even this time may be enough to lose health and "catch" radiation sickness. Well shielding radiation penetrating steel and concrete, earth and wood make it somewhat worse.

Another serious threat of nuclear weapons of mass destruction is the radioactive contamination of the area. It occurs due to the products of a nuclear reaction, as well as the impact of the explosion on objects and materials that were at the epicenter. At the time of a nuclear explosion, a cloud is usually formed, saturated with radioactive elements, which can be carried tens of kilometers away by the wind. This defeat factor bears the greatest danger in the first hours and days after the use of nuclear weapons, then it slightly decreases.

Another damaging factor of nuclear weapons is a powerful electromagnetic pulse that occurs at the time of the explosion. It destroys electronic equipment and disrupts the operation of communications.

Methods of protection against nuclear weapons

Is protection against weapons of mass destruction (WMD) of this type possible? It should be understood that if you find yourself near the epicenter of a powerful nuclear explosion, then no protection or shelter will save you. If the distance is significant, then using various methods of protection, you will be able not only to stay alive, but also significantly reduce the harmful effects of damaging factors on your body.

Back in Soviet times, a thermonuclear strike of high power (from 2 to 10 megatons) was simulated in the center of Moscow. At the epicenter of the explosion, a fiery sphere with a diameter of 1.5-2 km will appear, which will cover the area of ​​the Boulevard Ring - the Kremlin - Polyanka. Everything that is there will instantly turn into plasma. Light and thermal radiation will incinerate all organic matter at a distance of 3-4 km from the epicenter, within the radius of the Garden Ring the temperature will rise to tens of thousands of degrees and almost everything will burn there, from asphalt to brick and concrete walls. Within a radius of 25 km, all combustible materials and structures aimed at an explosion will flare up, a large-scale and massive fire will cover the entire city up to the Moscow Ring Road. The shockwave will transform the entire center within the Garden Ring into a leveled landscape dotted with crushed burning debris. Further, all ground structures will be destroyed, and the backward shock wave caused by the burning out of oxygen at the epicenter will lead to the so-called effect of a fire storm. Within the Moscow Ring Road, the city will be a leveled surface covered with burning coals and a sintered glassy mass. Neither bomb shelters, nor the subway, nor other underground communications will help the Muscovites - all this will inevitably be overwhelmed ... Large-scale fires will continue for at least several days, preventing the start of rescue work. The creators of this model came to the conclusion that it is advisable to save someone at a distance of at least 5-10 km from the Moscow Ring Road.

If the distance from the epicenter of the explosion is still great, then you can save your life by hiding in a shelter. Usually this is an underground room, which protects mainly from penetrating radiation and radioactive fallout. In addition, personal protection against weapons of mass destruction of this type is also used, as a rule, these are gas masks and special suits. They are effective against radioactive dust and precipitation.

Chemical weapons and their main features

Developments in the field of poisonous gases began actively in the last third of the 19th century. Even before the start of the large-scale use of this WMD, it was banned by international conventions as inhuman and inhuman. However, this absolutely did not stop anyone. As mentioned above, for the first time combat gases were used during the First World War, very soon all parties to the conflict began to use this weapon.

After the end of WWI, work on chemical weapons was continued, while protection against weapons of mass destruction of this type was also improved. Fortunately for humanity, war gases have never been used on a large scale again. During the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis used toxic substances (OV) to kill defenseless prisoners of concentration camps.

Currently, the most lethal type of chemical weapon is nerve gases, which were first synthesized in Germany in the mid-1930s. Why Hitler did not use this OB against his opponents is still a mystery.

It should be understood that modern types of these weapons of mass destruction of toxic substances are much more terrible than their counterparts a century ago. Nerve gases are capable of infecting the human body not only through the respiratory system, but also simply by getting on the skin. Moreover, the toxicity of these substances is simply monstrous.

If you open a tube of nerve gas soman for just a few seconds and hold your breath, you will still die. You will be killed by the OM vapors that enter the body through the skin.

It should be noted that soman was synthesized back in the 40s of the last century. Since then, chemists have been able to create more deadly gases. Immediately after the war, specialists from private Western companies discovered VX gases, which today are considered one of the most poisonous substances on the planet. They are several hundred times more toxic than phosgene.

Currently, there are several types of delivery of chemical weapons to the point of use. Most often, ammunition is equipped with toxic substances: artillery shells, rockets or aerial bombs. It is also possible to spray OM from special aviation containers.

Protection against chemical weapons of mass destruction

Since the first use of chemical weapons, work has been going on continuously on ways to protect against them. And I must say that noticeable results have been achieved in this area. The most famous and widespread method of protection against OM is the use of gas masks. The first samples of such devices appeared in the 19th century, they were used in hazardous industries and when extinguishing fires. However, gas masks were really widespread already during the First World War. Through numerous trials and errors, the optimal design of this protective device was developed, which has not fundamentally changed to this day. Currently, there are dozens of models of gas masks designed for military personnel, civilians, children, etc.

With the advent of toxic substances that can penetrate the human body through the skin, various protective suits began to be used in addition to the gas mask.

The complex of protective equipment also includes a variety of systems for determining the organic matter in the environment, as well as antidotes that are introduced into the body of victims of a chemical attack. Moreover, these elements of protection are no less important than the reliability of a gas mask - many of modern gases are practically colorless and odorless, therefore, it is very difficult to detect a mortal danger without special devices. Antidotes are no less important: if you introduce an antidote at the first sign of poisoning, then a person can easily save a life.

In general, we can say that in our time, chemical weapons are gradually losing their relevance. And there are several reasons for this:

• Indiscriminate. Chemical weapons are highly unpredictable and extremely difficult to control. This process is strongly influenced by meteorological factors: wind direction and speed, temperature, humidity, precipitation. By using chemical weapons, one cannot be sure that the civilian population will not suffer - the gas does not "go to individuals" and kills everyone in a row. The recent events in Syria are a clear confirmation of this;
• Low efficiency. The generals have been preparing for chemical warfare for more than half a century, so the army is protected from poisonous substances reliably enough. Each serviceman has a set of chemical protection, military equipment is equipped with filtering and ventilation units. The composition of any armed forces includes chemical defense troops. So you can't poison the military with much gas. What OVs are really suitable for almost ideally is for the genocide of civilians, but such actions in the modern world usually have very serious consequences for their organizers;
• Problems with production and storage. Explosions in warehouses with conventional ammunition are a serious man-made disaster, fraught with numerous casualties and great destruction. It is scary to even imagine what would happen if shells filled with, for example, sarin began to explode. The storage of chemical weapons is very expensive, and the same can be said for their production.

Nevertheless, unfortunately, it is too early to write off chemical weapons to the museum. Many third world countries, which cannot afford nuclear weapons, are engaged in developments in this area. An even greater danger is the possibility of the OM falling into the hands of terrorists. It is quite simple to make this type of weapons of mass destruction in our age of the Internet, but the consequences of a terrorist attack with its use in a peaceful city can be dire.

Biological weapons and features of its use

Biological weapons use the pathogenic properties of pathogens of various diseases for mass destruction of enemy manpower, its population, agricultural plants and animals. Since ancient times, humanity has suffered from various epidemics, and the military has long dreamed of using disease as a weapon. However, it was possible to do this only in the last century.

This type of weapons of mass destruction consists of the pathogenic organisms themselves and their means of delivery, which can be shells, missiles, bombs, mines, and aviation containers. The spread of pathogens can be carried out with the help of infected rodents or insects. The causative agents of plague, cholera, Ebola, anthrax, typhoid, influenza, malaria, smallpox are used as pathogens.

The British thought about the possible use of biological weapons during World War II, during the same period the Japanese used them in Mongolia and China. There is unconfirmed information about the use of biological weapons by the Americans in the Korean War. In the Soviet Union, anthrax leaked from a secret laboratory in 1979, resulting in more than 60 deaths.

Means of protection against biological weapons of mass destruction can be divided into several groups. First of all, these are, of course, all the same gas masks and protective suits - that is, personal protective equipment. Vaccination of the population is also very important. In the focus of infection, a complex of sanitary and hygienic and anti-epidemic measures is carried out, including quarantine, sanitization and disinfection.

The main disadvantage of biological weapons is their indiscrimination. Moreover, in this it is significantly superior to the chemical one. It is possible to organize an epidemic behind enemy lines, but then how can it be controlled? And in today's globalized world, the likelihood that in a matter of din the causative agent of plague or anthrax will be on your own territory is very high. Moreover, biological weapons will first of all hit the civilian population, the armed forces are quite reliably protected from them.

Viruses and disease-causing bacteria can become the most dangerous weapons in the hands of terrorists. The Americans calculated that several hundred kilograms of anthrax spores, sprayed in a large city, could cause the death of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of citizens during the day.

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