US militarizes space
At present, only episodic, fragmentary cooperation has been established in the sphere of “military space” between the USA and Russia, the head of the US Air Force Space Command, General William Shelton, notes. In a recent interview with an ITAR-TASS correspondent, Shelton stated that he was not going to attend an international missile defense conference in person, which should be held in Moscow in early May and organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. Then the general spoke about a number of US military projects in space, without revealing, however, any special secrets.
According to Ulyam Shelton, the secret mission of the American experimental space plane X-37В, which has been in a near-earth orbit for more than a year, is going well, the military are extremely pleased with it. At the same time, he did not name the exact date of the apparatus’s return to Earth. Disclose any information about the tasks that the spacecraft, which is a smaller version of the shuttle, solves, as well as to disclose the budget of this project to Hives Shelton refused. According to him, in order to remain silent, as long as possible, there are good reasons. As for the budget, its disclosure could lead to the publication of the amount of technology and opportunities created in this program.
The X-37B was launched into orbit from the Atlas-5 5 launch vehicle in March 2011. All information about him and his devices, as well as the cargo, which is in his cargo compartment, is secret. Initially it was assumed that the flight of the spacecraft will last about 9 months. Launched in 2011 X-37V became the second, which is at the disposal of the US Air Force Space Command. The first spaceplane was tested in the 2010 year. Then the unit spent 225 days in space and returned safely to California. Landing and flight of the device were completely offline. According to experts, the flight would be extremely successful, the only trouble awaited the spaceplane when landing. When the runway touched, the tire of one of the wheels X-37В scattered, but in general, the spaceplane did not receive any significant damage.
The X-37B space plan was developed by Boeing. The device has a take-off weight of almost 5 tons and reaches 8,9 m. In length and 2,9 m. In width. The span of the small wings of the apparatus is equal to 4,5 m. The ship is equipped with solar panels, which act as sources of electricity when it is in orbit. According to previously published information, X-37B can be used at altitudes from 200 to 750 km and is able to maneuver and change orbits. This unit can deliver small loads into orbit, perform reconnaissance tasks, and also serve as a platform for testing new instruments that could later be used on spy satellites. A number of experts now see the spaceplane as a future space interceptor, which can, if necessary, disable enemy satellites or launch missile and bomb strikes while in orbit. Currently, the Pentagon denies this, stating that the device is only a platform for developing new technologies. The third test mission of the X-37B space plane is scheduled for the autumn of 2012.
According to Shelton, the Pentagon currently has neither financial resources nor plans to increase the number of X-37В space plans. At the same time, the head of the space command refused to answer the journalist’s question about whether the US military has only 2 with such devices.
The general also touched upon the creation of the newest US military satellite operating in the infrared range and intended for use in the missile launch warning system. According to Shelton, the full operation of this system is postponed until the 2016-17 of the year. According to the general, the US Air Force had problems with creating software that allows receiving real-time information from the second infrared satellite sensor, as well as problems with financing.
7 May 2011 of the United States launched the Geo-1 satellite, which is the first satellite to be deployed as part of the Space-based Infrared System (ISKB-Sbirs) program. The sbirs satellite system will include 24 satellites, which will be located in geostationary orbits, and 5 satellites called heo-1, which will be placed in a highly elongated elliptical orbit. According to some information, the top echelon of US satellites began to form from the 2006 year. Therefore, it is likely that a number of active satellites are already in the elliptical orbit.
Space Plane X-37B
Launched satellite geo-1, intended for the geostationary orbit, is the first satellite in its echelon. The satellite will have to go to a given orbit within 9 days, after which it will be certified 1,5 for the year to permit the use of the device for military purposes. The launch of the satellite into orbit was carried out using the Atlas-5 launch vehicle. Once it would have been difficult to imagine, but the first stage of the rocket with the American military satellite on board was overclocked by the Soviet liquid-powered RD-180 engine, which is still the best in its class and surpasses American analogues in almost all parameters. Technology on this engine was transferred to the United States in 1990-s.
In the coming years, the remaining geo-1 satellites will also be launched into orbit. By the 2016 year, the orbital grouping of the early infrared detection will be ready, according to sbirs commander Roger Teague. This early detection system should complement the general system for detecting missile launches and other hostile activity. This system is not designed to defeat the detected targets, its purpose is to transfer information to the missile defense system and fighters. In fact, sbirs is an addition to the US missile defense system.
Each of the satellites has a complex scanning system consisting of two infrared devices. One of them is scanning and can cover a significant area of the Earth, the second infrared device is narrowly focused and keeps a specified area in its field of view. According to the US military, the tests of the infrared system demonstrated its very high performance, which previously simply could not be achieved. The sbirs satellites will be able to significantly increase the capabilities of space reconnaissance and situational awareness of ground units on the battlefield.
Satellite Geo-1 from Sbirs system
Assumptions about the appointment of X-37B
Today, in the absence of available information on the tasks and objectives of the X-37В flights and the program as a whole, we can try to move away from shaky specifics and highlight the general trend in the development of cruise means of warfare. For this, it is necessary to answer the question - why is the X-37В wing and tail assembly, consisting of 2-x whole-turn planes, which give the spaceplane a high maneuverability in the atmosphere? For most tasks in orbit, the military today completely dispenses with a wing. The answer to this question may be the fact that for civilian specialists with their “capsules” the atmosphere is only an annoying obstacle to the delivery of the apparatus into orbit and an equally short area when it is returned, while the military consider the atmosphere and outer space as a single space warfare.
Today, humanity is confidently using altitude ranges from 0 to 20 km and above 140 km. While the gap between these two ranges is practically not used due to the lack of technologies that would allow flights at these altitudes. At the same time, for the military, this altitude range is a promising theater. That is why they master the data of heights immediately from 2 directions: “from below”, by increasing the speeds and heights of the “traditional” aviation, as well as “from above”, by reducing the flight altitude of promising spacecraft, as well as expanding their capabilities (at the first stage - maneuverability) with immersion and / or short-term flight in the atmosphere. In the long term, the combination of these two directions should lead to the emergence of "two-medium" vehicles, which can be called aerospace aircraft (VKS), which will operate with equal efficiency both in the atmosphere and in space.
In addition, videoconferencing can quite rationally use the advantages of one of the two environments to perform tasks in the other. For example, they will be able to accelerate in the atmosphere on the wings, using atmospheric oxygen as an oxidizer to put satellites into orbit or go into space to more quickly achieve the goal (intercept, attack, reconnaissance) at a remote (antipodal) point on the earth’s surface or airspace above it. In the latter case, it will be the practical implementation of the idea of hostilities proposed by the Austrian engineer Zenger, who put it into projects first generation rocket gliders still in fascist Germany.
X-51A Waverider with hypersonic ramjet engine
In the light of the above, the X-37В space plan can be considered as the first concrete steps that are aimed at implementing the strategy “from above”, without interrupting the implementation of another strategy “from below”. At present, it is represented by practical steps to test an unmanned prototype of the X-51A Waverider hypersonic high-altitude bomber, whose cost is estimated at 246 million dollars.
The Pentagon tested 25 on May 2010 of the year, after which it was announced that after dropping the B-52 carrier aircraft, the X-51 demonstration model was able to accelerate over the surface in 6 minutes of the scramjet - hypersonic ramjet engine. Pacific to speeds in 6000 km / h. The report of the military about the X-51 tests emphasizes that over time, various vehicles can be designed based on this model: from cruise missiles and boosters to launch cargoes into orbit, to aircraft for rocket-bombing and reconnaissance. The future meeting of devices from two directions - “from above” and “from below” is close enough.
The appearance in the foreseeable future of atmospheric hypersonic aircraft capable of speeding up in 6-16 Max and having a range of altitudes in 40-60 km. Put on the agenda methods of dealing with them. In this case, the analysis shows that it will be easier to deal with such devices from space than from the earth's surface. That is why the already launched technology demonstrator X-37B is becoming even more important. The most logical step in creating a two-medium military apparatus for the end-to-end flight range of altitudes 20-2000 km. will be the appearance in the foreseeable future version of X-37 with scramjet unit.
Sources used:
www.rodon.org/polit-120402101141/
www.buran.ru/htm/x-37b.htm
www.warsonline.info/raketi-i-artilleriya/ssha-zapustili-sputnik-rannego-raketnogo-obnaruzheniya.html
www.redstar.ru/index.php/component/k2/item/688-kosmicheskaya-sostavlyayuschaya-pro
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