Forest fires could be bombed
But half-toned TSA-500 failed to break through the wall of bureaucratic indifference
Forest fires of an abnormally hot summer showed the weakness of today's fire fighters and forced them to look for more effective extinguishing agents. Among other things, remembered and "aviation fire extinguishing agent - 500 "- a half-ton" water bomb "ASP-500. In one of the commercials, the former head of the military reception, and now the chief designer of the Bazalt enterprise, twists a plastic model of a bomb in his hands, which he seems to see for the first time, and claims that it could replace all the firefighters of the country. Another activist claims that a “water bomb” urgently needs a certain certificate. Another expert said that one and a half billion rubles are needed in order to complete work on the bomb.
Must calm them down. The fire bomb ASP-500 has long been ready and even protected by patents in a number of countries, including the United States. No additional certificates and licenses are required at all.
UNEXPECTED EXPECTATIONS
Originally, in 1990, TSA-500 was conceived as a training ammunition. Basalt had already produced the X-NUMX-kilogram P-50T bomb to practice the practical skills of aerial bombing. In those days, training flights were intense, but the light-smoke effect, which the P-50T gave, lasted only 50 – 15 seconds and was not noticeable enough. Then designer Vladimir Korenkov got the idea to create a full-size analogue of the 30-kilogram bomb, but equipped with water. With the explosion of a cloud of spray would clearly demonstrate the accuracy of the hit. Naturally, the thought immediately arose of combining the useful with the even more useful - the training bombing with the extinguishing of forest fires.
The project was supported at the highest level. An interesting concept related to space technology was proposed. At this time, the NGO them. Lavochkina deployed a low-orbit satellite constellation and assumed the function of detecting forest fires at an early stage. The most flammable region was considered the Far East, where a small population, large forest areas and huge damage from fire every year. After the announcement of a fire, a combat training operation was to be carried out to extinguish by means of the Air Force, which solved two tasks. On the one hand, military pilots practiced bombing, and on the other hand, they performed an important economic function of preserving the unique Far Eastern ecosystem. The bomb allowed at least localize the fire and prevent its spread. After this, it was finally possible to extinguish it even with simple manual means.
The concept was adopted, supported at the level of the Ministry of Forestry. It was supposed to include its implementation in the state order. Moreover, the further development of the idea led to the concept of a system of three types of bombs for fighting wildfires at different stages. In addition to TSA-500, which stops the flame on the front and localizes the fire, a remedy was proposed against top fire. It was supposed to be a bomb of a volumetric explosion, which knocked down pine needles, dry and small branches within a radius of 30 – 40 m. And the bare flame is not thrown over bare branches.
The third bomb was assumed to be a cluster munition containing small ammunition. Camouflage - it means exploding in the ground. They had to create the so-called mineralized zone - a strip of tilled land. Usually such a strip is plowed by a tractor. But it is not always possible to quickly transfer heavy equipment into the taiga.
However, people who supported the project at the highest level, were involved in the Emergency Committee. And they resigned along with all the projects, ideas, concepts and plans. Instead of them came new statesmen, incompetent in technology, but attentively following budget flows.
However, after 10 years, work on the TSA-500 aviation extinguishing tool was resumed under the guidance of the director-chief designer of the SNNP Bazalt, Vladimir Korenkov, at its own expense. The know-how applied in the design was protected by patents No. 2242259 from 20.12.2004, No. 2254153 from 20.06.2005, No. 2245181 from 27.01.2005. Authors: Korenkov V.V., Tereshin A.A., Suprunov N.A., Vlasov V.F., Tikhomirov A.A., Kishkurno V.T., Kopylov N.P., Tsarichenko S.G.
In Russia, the fire-fighting bomb did not arouse interest, but abroad caused a real stir. After all, nothing like this in the world did not exist. TSA-500 was patented in the USA, Germany, Greece and many other countries where forests are burning every year. Delegations even from Australia and the USA came to familiarize themselves with the new extinguishing technology. Bulgaria was ready to open a joint venture for assembling our products on its territory in the interests of the common Balkan center for fighting fires. But this persistent desire ran into a stubborn misunderstanding of Russian officials.
The situation was aggravated by the prosecution of Vladimir Korenkov. Infinite story with his removal from office and the transfer of the enterprise "Basalt" in the wrong hands destroyed many international projects. Among others, the fire bombs also fell victim to bureaucratic raiders.
In 2005, the state administration of Avialesookhrana was ready to use the ASP-500 fire brigade. This was stated in the media by the head of this department, Nikolay Kovalev. He was present at the stationary tests, when a bomb exploded on the ground, successfully eliminating the fire on the square in 1000 square. But the forest conservation department would like to increase the power of the bomb so that its area of operation would be at least 10 ha. It was supposed to test an improved bomb, dropping it onto a burning forest area with the Su-25. However, funding did not appear, and the question was hushed up ...
MOE did not show much interest. The Air Force completely forgot that they once wanted to have a training "water bomb." Naturally, the state order for TSA-500 never existed. And the bomb itself is not in the arsenals. Only a couple of samples remained at the ruining "Basalt".
Work on a heavy bomb not intended for destruction is a new design ideology. As a result, TSA-500 received a new form, radically different from the previous construction schemes. It can be considered a prototype of the future free-fall air bombs (ABSS).
First, it does not have a pointed nose, characteristic of aerial bombs. It is a cylinder, which allowed to increase the internal volume. Stabilizes the bomb in flight a small disk in front - design know-how.
Length АСП-500 - 3295 mm, diameter - 500 mm, weight - 525 kg, internal volume for filling with flame retardant liquid - 400 liters.
Application mode: altitude - 300 – 1000 m, speed - up to 600 km / h.
The body of the bomb is made of plastic. The amount of explosive is only 6 – 8 kg. The bomb does not give fragments and does not cause environmental damage. Another of the know-how applied: the metal parts of the suspension system are separated in flight, but fly after it, since they are connected to the bomb by a special cord. After the explosion, they fall into the center of the funnel. That is, their expansion and hit in people are completely excluded.
Another security know-how is a bomb that cannot be used for terrorist purposes. It can be equipped only with water or other flame-retardant liquid. If you try to pour gasoline, other fuel or explosive, spontaneous combustion will occur, and the terrorists themselves will suffer. If you try to fill the case with a poisonous substance, the result will be about the same - holes will appear in the plastic shell, and the contents will flow out. This is guaranteed by special components inside the case.
In 2005 prices, the selling price for ASP-500 was about 30 thousand rubles. Even if production and materials have doubled in price since then, the fire-bomb remains an extremely effective and relatively cheap extinguishing agent.
FIRST IMPACT TOOL
Fire bombs have always had opponents. First of all, it is a cheap product, you cannot make millions on it, you will not get serious kickbacks. Secondly, to many it seems to be some kind of alternative means of extinguishing, opposing the existing technological solutions for fire fighting. Thirdly, there are also purely ideological opponents, who seem to be trying to draw traditional soviet costly work to the level of today's decisions, to knock out money for it, to spend and not to report.
The biggest misconception is to assume that the “water bomb” is an independent means of extinguishing. Nothing like this! It is used in combination with other extinguishing agents. This means a first strike on the flame, after which a localized fire can be crushed by dropping water from planes and helicopters.
Extinguishing a forest fire using Il-76 and Be-200 aircraft looks impressive, but the real effectiveness of this extinguishing technique is extremely low. Especially when it comes to powerful riding fires, turning into a firestorm. Ascending convection currents of hot air over a burning forest reach speeds of 25 – 30 m / s. At this speed, the wind is considered to be on the verge of a hurricane, it breaks trees.
The aircraft is forced to fly at a dangerously low altitude, experiencing a strong bumpiness. Discharged tons of water, scattering into millions of drops, run into a hurricane headwind. Part of the water simply evaporates in the hot jets. From the hot airbag a significant amount of water rolls to the edges of the fire. In fact, only about 5 – 7% of the dumped falls into the fire.
"Water bomb" TSA-500 does not flow in a counter flow. It falls exactly as intended. After the explosion, an aerosol cloud of a flame-retarding liquid with an area of 1000 square is formed. m and height 5 – 6 m. As a result, burning material is isolated and insulated. The shock wave knocks down the flame. The air temperature drops sharply, and the speed of the convection air flow drops to several meters per second.
After this first strike, when, in military terms, the enemy’s main fire weapons are suppressed, the second strike is delivered by fire aviation. Since the cushion of hot air is no longer there, 90 – 95% of the water reaches the combustion zone. That is, the extinguishing efficiency due to АСП-500 increases tenfold.
Naturally, it is possible to use “water bombs” not only against forest fires, but also against any fire storm — while putting out tire depots, petrochemical facilities, and various buildings.
WANT TO HOST
One of the reasons why TSA-500 is not used in extinguishing forest fires is the absence of an authorized body that could apply it. Now the situation is rather ridiculous. The Ministry of Defense and the Air Force of the Russian Federation have aircraft that carry such bombs, but their function does not include the extinguishing of forest fires. Which, however, it also goes sideways - let us recall the base of the Navy Air Force that burned down in the Moscow Region. MOE is engaged in extinguishing, but does not have a suitable fleet. The same applies to all structures involved in the protection of forests.
It is absolutely obvious that there should be a single authorized body in the country that can perform forest protection tasks on behalf of the state. Including privately owned forests, if a fire in their territory begins to threaten people's lives or may spread to other territories. This body could accumulate resources and properly distribute them, as well as have the right to attract aircraft carriers, that is, the Air Force. The interests of the Air Force in this matter are combat training tasks due to allocations for fighting fires. And the defense facilities of the Ministry of Defense.
Calculations were made in 1990, and the required number of stocks of ASP-500 bombs were determined in 5 – 10 thousand pieces for the entire territory of the USSR. Now, of course, it will take a few less. Stocks can be dispersed in regional warehouses. Guaranteed shelf life of a plastic bomb, not equipped with a flame-retardant liquid, in unheated rooms for at least five years. Including year it can be stored under the open sky at temperatures from + 50 to –50. That is, the high costs of creating special storage does not require. Bombs that have expired warranty period can be used as training in the Air Force.
Such a single authorized body to fight fires could be the Ministry of Emergency Situations, given its experience and developed structures throughout Russia. It should be mentioned that TSA-500 has a serious commercial potential. After all, forests are burning not only in Russia. And it is possible to extinguish them for the currency in a complex way: the helicopter drops bombs from the pylons, and the Be-200 floods the localized fire zone with water. Among other things, such effective actions strengthen the prestige of the country and ministries.
However, it is easier for the ASP-500 bomb to break through the convection pillow of a fiery storm than a pillow of bureaucratic indifference and self-interest.
Forest fires of an abnormally hot summer showed the weakness of today's fire fighters and forced them to look for more effective extinguishing agents. Among other things, remembered and "aviation fire extinguishing agent - 500 "- a half-ton" water bomb "ASP-500. In one of the commercials, the former head of the military reception, and now the chief designer of the Bazalt enterprise, twists a plastic model of a bomb in his hands, which he seems to see for the first time, and claims that it could replace all the firefighters of the country. Another activist claims that a “water bomb” urgently needs a certain certificate. Another expert said that one and a half billion rubles are needed in order to complete work on the bomb. Must calm them down. The fire bomb ASP-500 has long been ready and even protected by patents in a number of countries, including the United States. No additional certificates and licenses are required at all.
UNEXPECTED EXPECTATIONS
Originally, in 1990, TSA-500 was conceived as a training ammunition. Basalt had already produced the X-NUMX-kilogram P-50T bomb to practice the practical skills of aerial bombing. In those days, training flights were intense, but the light-smoke effect, which the P-50T gave, lasted only 50 – 15 seconds and was not noticeable enough. Then designer Vladimir Korenkov got the idea to create a full-size analogue of the 30-kilogram bomb, but equipped with water. With the explosion of a cloud of spray would clearly demonstrate the accuracy of the hit. Naturally, the thought immediately arose of combining the useful with the even more useful - the training bombing with the extinguishing of forest fires. The project was supported at the highest level. An interesting concept related to space technology was proposed. At this time, the NGO them. Lavochkina deployed a low-orbit satellite constellation and assumed the function of detecting forest fires at an early stage. The most flammable region was considered the Far East, where a small population, large forest areas and huge damage from fire every year. After the announcement of a fire, a combat training operation was to be carried out to extinguish by means of the Air Force, which solved two tasks. On the one hand, military pilots practiced bombing, and on the other hand, they performed an important economic function of preserving the unique Far Eastern ecosystem. The bomb allowed at least localize the fire and prevent its spread. After this, it was finally possible to extinguish it even with simple manual means.
The concept was adopted, supported at the level of the Ministry of Forestry. It was supposed to include its implementation in the state order. Moreover, the further development of the idea led to the concept of a system of three types of bombs for fighting wildfires at different stages. In addition to TSA-500, which stops the flame on the front and localizes the fire, a remedy was proposed against top fire. It was supposed to be a bomb of a volumetric explosion, which knocked down pine needles, dry and small branches within a radius of 30 – 40 m. And the bare flame is not thrown over bare branches.
The third bomb was assumed to be a cluster munition containing small ammunition. Camouflage - it means exploding in the ground. They had to create the so-called mineralized zone - a strip of tilled land. Usually such a strip is plowed by a tractor. But it is not always possible to quickly transfer heavy equipment into the taiga.
However, people who supported the project at the highest level, were involved in the Emergency Committee. And they resigned along with all the projects, ideas, concepts and plans. Instead of them came new statesmen, incompetent in technology, but attentively following budget flows.
However, after 10 years, work on the TSA-500 aviation extinguishing tool was resumed under the guidance of the director-chief designer of the SNNP Bazalt, Vladimir Korenkov, at its own expense. The know-how applied in the design was protected by patents No. 2242259 from 20.12.2004, No. 2254153 from 20.06.2005, No. 2245181 from 27.01.2005. Authors: Korenkov V.V., Tereshin A.A., Suprunov N.A., Vlasov V.F., Tikhomirov A.A., Kishkurno V.T., Kopylov N.P., Tsarichenko S.G.
In Russia, the fire-fighting bomb did not arouse interest, but abroad caused a real stir. After all, nothing like this in the world did not exist. TSA-500 was patented in the USA, Germany, Greece and many other countries where forests are burning every year. Delegations even from Australia and the USA came to familiarize themselves with the new extinguishing technology. Bulgaria was ready to open a joint venture for assembling our products on its territory in the interests of the common Balkan center for fighting fires. But this persistent desire ran into a stubborn misunderstanding of Russian officials.
The situation was aggravated by the prosecution of Vladimir Korenkov. Infinite story with his removal from office and the transfer of the enterprise "Basalt" in the wrong hands destroyed many international projects. Among others, the fire bombs also fell victim to bureaucratic raiders.
In 2005, the state administration of Avialesookhrana was ready to use the ASP-500 fire brigade. This was stated in the media by the head of this department, Nikolay Kovalev. He was present at the stationary tests, when a bomb exploded on the ground, successfully eliminating the fire on the square in 1000 square. But the forest conservation department would like to increase the power of the bomb so that its area of operation would be at least 10 ha. It was supposed to test an improved bomb, dropping it onto a burning forest area with the Su-25. However, funding did not appear, and the question was hushed up ...
MOE did not show much interest. The Air Force completely forgot that they once wanted to have a training "water bomb." Naturally, the state order for TSA-500 never existed. And the bomb itself is not in the arsenals. Only a couple of samples remained at the ruining "Basalt".
Work on a heavy bomb not intended for destruction is a new design ideology. As a result, TSA-500 received a new form, radically different from the previous construction schemes. It can be considered a prototype of the future free-fall air bombs (ABSS).
First, it does not have a pointed nose, characteristic of aerial bombs. It is a cylinder, which allowed to increase the internal volume. Stabilizes the bomb in flight a small disk in front - design know-how.
Length АСП-500 - 3295 mm, diameter - 500 mm, weight - 525 kg, internal volume for filling with flame retardant liquid - 400 liters.
Application mode: altitude - 300 – 1000 m, speed - up to 600 km / h.
The body of the bomb is made of plastic. The amount of explosive is only 6 – 8 kg. The bomb does not give fragments and does not cause environmental damage. Another of the know-how applied: the metal parts of the suspension system are separated in flight, but fly after it, since they are connected to the bomb by a special cord. After the explosion, they fall into the center of the funnel. That is, their expansion and hit in people are completely excluded.
Another security know-how is a bomb that cannot be used for terrorist purposes. It can be equipped only with water or other flame-retardant liquid. If you try to pour gasoline, other fuel or explosive, spontaneous combustion will occur, and the terrorists themselves will suffer. If you try to fill the case with a poisonous substance, the result will be about the same - holes will appear in the plastic shell, and the contents will flow out. This is guaranteed by special components inside the case.
In 2005 prices, the selling price for ASP-500 was about 30 thousand rubles. Even if production and materials have doubled in price since then, the fire-bomb remains an extremely effective and relatively cheap extinguishing agent.
FIRST IMPACT TOOL
Fire bombs have always had opponents. First of all, it is a cheap product, you cannot make millions on it, you will not get serious kickbacks. Secondly, to many it seems to be some kind of alternative means of extinguishing, opposing the existing technological solutions for fire fighting. Thirdly, there are also purely ideological opponents, who seem to be trying to draw traditional soviet costly work to the level of today's decisions, to knock out money for it, to spend and not to report.
The biggest misconception is to assume that the “water bomb” is an independent means of extinguishing. Nothing like this! It is used in combination with other extinguishing agents. This means a first strike on the flame, after which a localized fire can be crushed by dropping water from planes and helicopters.
Extinguishing a forest fire using Il-76 and Be-200 aircraft looks impressive, but the real effectiveness of this extinguishing technique is extremely low. Especially when it comes to powerful riding fires, turning into a firestorm. Ascending convection currents of hot air over a burning forest reach speeds of 25 – 30 m / s. At this speed, the wind is considered to be on the verge of a hurricane, it breaks trees.
The aircraft is forced to fly at a dangerously low altitude, experiencing a strong bumpiness. Discharged tons of water, scattering into millions of drops, run into a hurricane headwind. Part of the water simply evaporates in the hot jets. From the hot airbag a significant amount of water rolls to the edges of the fire. In fact, only about 5 – 7% of the dumped falls into the fire.
"Water bomb" TSA-500 does not flow in a counter flow. It falls exactly as intended. After the explosion, an aerosol cloud of a flame-retarding liquid with an area of 1000 square is formed. m and height 5 – 6 m. As a result, burning material is isolated and insulated. The shock wave knocks down the flame. The air temperature drops sharply, and the speed of the convection air flow drops to several meters per second.
After this first strike, when, in military terms, the enemy’s main fire weapons are suppressed, the second strike is delivered by fire aviation. Since the cushion of hot air is no longer there, 90 – 95% of the water reaches the combustion zone. That is, the extinguishing efficiency due to АСП-500 increases tenfold.
Naturally, it is possible to use “water bombs” not only against forest fires, but also against any fire storm — while putting out tire depots, petrochemical facilities, and various buildings.
WANT TO HOST
One of the reasons why TSA-500 is not used in extinguishing forest fires is the absence of an authorized body that could apply it. Now the situation is rather ridiculous. The Ministry of Defense and the Air Force of the Russian Federation have aircraft that carry such bombs, but their function does not include the extinguishing of forest fires. Which, however, it also goes sideways - let us recall the base of the Navy Air Force that burned down in the Moscow Region. MOE is engaged in extinguishing, but does not have a suitable fleet. The same applies to all structures involved in the protection of forests.
It is absolutely obvious that there should be a single authorized body in the country that can perform forest protection tasks on behalf of the state. Including privately owned forests, if a fire in their territory begins to threaten people's lives or may spread to other territories. This body could accumulate resources and properly distribute them, as well as have the right to attract aircraft carriers, that is, the Air Force. The interests of the Air Force in this matter are combat training tasks due to allocations for fighting fires. And the defense facilities of the Ministry of Defense.
Calculations were made in 1990, and the required number of stocks of ASP-500 bombs were determined in 5 – 10 thousand pieces for the entire territory of the USSR. Now, of course, it will take a few less. Stocks can be dispersed in regional warehouses. Guaranteed shelf life of a plastic bomb, not equipped with a flame-retardant liquid, in unheated rooms for at least five years. Including year it can be stored under the open sky at temperatures from + 50 to –50. That is, the high costs of creating special storage does not require. Bombs that have expired warranty period can be used as training in the Air Force.
Such a single authorized body to fight fires could be the Ministry of Emergency Situations, given its experience and developed structures throughout Russia. It should be mentioned that TSA-500 has a serious commercial potential. After all, forests are burning not only in Russia. And it is possible to extinguish them for the currency in a complex way: the helicopter drops bombs from the pylons, and the Be-200 floods the localized fire zone with water. Among other things, such effective actions strengthen the prestige of the country and ministries.
However, it is easier for the ASP-500 bomb to break through the convection pillow of a fiery storm than a pillow of bureaucratic indifference and self-interest.
Information