Threat coming from the sky
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It all started with politics
The idea of writing this article arose after reading the next news about the next report, voiced by the US Congress (15.11.2018 passed TASS), about the alleged military threat from Russia and China. And that the United States should increase its military allocations in order to exert military pressure on these countries, and in the case of open confrontation cope with both at once. That is, such a country as the United States of America, not only does not want to live peacefully and pursue a peace-loving policy, but is not going to. And here, like any sensible person who understands that this colossus, in addition to conventional weapons, is ready to put into action weapon mass destruction (nuclear, chemical, bacteriological and binary (otherwise what's the point in its threats?)), there was a desire to voice ideas that could contain and bring to mind such swaggering turkeys. And given that modern weapons are now expensive, I will read out the answer to the US military machine in the form of asymmetric and inexpensive means of production, long known to most citizens interested in the military theme and able to equalize chances. And at once I will make a reservation that these decisions have already been massively applied. That is why they belong to the category of proven and inexpensive, because these technologies have already been developed. So, let's try to save the world from madmen with a nuclear cudgel.
The project of the Russian civilian wig. Photo from the magazine "Popular Science".
Combat ekranoplans
As is known, a ground-effect vehicle is a high-speed aircraft flying within the limits of an aerodynamic screen (the effect of a sharp increase in lift when there is a shielding surface). That is, at a relatively small height, within ten meters. At first glance, a very dubious design in combat terms. After all, it is extremely difficult to use it over the forest, houses in towns and cities, in the mountains. It turns out that the restrictions are so great that the coastal waters remain. Today it is, it is a tool for border guards and customs officers, and the military is not very seriously considering it. And I must say in vain.
It is possible to illustrate this material in different ways. But in this case, it seems that it will be interesting for VO readers to look at ... the covers of the American magazine Popular Science, which for many years has placed images of the most fantastic machines and mechanisms on them. Most of the covers did not go further. But ... some were embodied (although not always successfully!) In metal. In any case, it was a great training for the mind. Here, for example, the project of a high-speed speedboat, whose hull form is such that at a certain speed it comes out of the water and slides along the crests of the waves.
Let's start with the very “sharp increase in lift". That is, the payload of these aircraft can be significantly higher than that of aircraft. In addition, some designs of ekranoplanes are able to go into airplane mode, and they are usually called ekranolet. But the main thing is that it is an apparatus capable of moving at the speed of an airplane at the very surface (water, land, swamp, etc.), transferring the payload more than an airplane or rocket. Or vice versa, to have smaller dimensions to move the same payload as airplanes and missiles (in this case, we mean winged, flying, enveloping the earth's surface, so hiding from the radar notch). But this applies to ground and ship radar stations, which are somewhere from 20 meters and lower to the surface, they can’t see anything and can’t detect it. By the way, the Israeli Air Force still often uses this trick with moving away from the all-seeing eye of the radar to suddenly attack its Middle Eastern targets. The Argentine Air Force used a shaving flight to attack fleet UK using top mast bombing. And I must admit, they attacked quite successfully. According to official sources, about 30 ships of Her Majesty's army in the Falkland War were damaged in this way by Argentinean pilots. Now back to the issue of invisibility in front of the radar. Where they do not see the ground posts of radar surveillance, they will see the air. And by the way, the very same USA has abundant AWACS (Russian analogue AWACS) aircraft. That is, it is not so easy to get to coastal bases or aircraft carrier groups, cruise missiles or ekranoplanes. Moreover, the Israelis today use a high-raised radar on a balloon. She guards their nuclear power plant. Well, so that such craftsmen as Israeli pilots, or cruise missiles could not suddenly attack the same nuclear power plant. And it seems to be a dead end. But, as we remember, science does not stand still and, fleeing detection by radar, the same Americans became the pioneers in the development of STELS technologies (in Russia these are low-visibility technologies, or TMZ). Logically, if these technologies can be applied to large-sized aircraft and ships, then they can be used all the more whilst creating missiles and ekranoplanes. And in this case, it is significant that their wing span is often less than that of airplanes, with the same payload.
Steam airplane! Original, is not it?
And here we come to the most important thing. Any state that has coastal waters through which an attack can be carried out is able to build and use ekranoplan-projectiles made according to the TMZ-technologies. Moreover, there is no need to achieve stealth from all angles, because under the ekranoplane there will often be waves that perfectly absorb radio emission. The radio wave reflected in the water from the stealth aircraft will not return back to the reconnaissance aircraft. And it significantly reduces the cost of construction and operation of such devices, on the principle of use similar to cruise missiles.
Airship aircraft carrier. Even two were built: Akron and Mekon.
Now remember the range of flight. It will probably be superfluous to remind that the ekranoplan is capable of sliding along the surface as far as airplanes and rockets. And this means that any ship, naval and coastal base within a radius of thousands of nautical miles from the launch point (almost 2 thousands of kilometers) turns out to be in the affected area with such an inconspicuous ekranoplan-projectile. And here it is curious to remember that straight-through rocket engines are quite suitable for movement with the use of a screen effect, which you will not often see in modern combat vehicles. This type of engine is much simpler and cheaper to manufacture, which is important for a disposable aircraft. For the same cruise missiles, it is of little use, but here it will come down completely to create a screen effect and with sufficient speed to move the low-profile aircraft to the point of attack.
But such a “flying aircraft carrier” remained in the project ...
Then someone may notice that the majority of modern warships are equipped with short-range defenses — rapid-fire cannons and machine guns. Able to shoot down approaching aircraft and missiles, fire guns and machine guns. But that is if they have spotted them and see them on the devices. The same apparatus flies just above the waves and, as previously determined, it is better to design it using STELS technology. That is, devices will not help. But today, video surveillance systems can be used, which incorporate an object recognition program (similar to that used in shopping centers, facial recognition), and the usual surveillance of watch-keeping through binoculars and pipes, with instant notification. This is yes, but we turn to the Soviet military stories. Back in 1937, in the USSR, “mirror aircraft” were tested. Someone from the designers proposed the idea to cover the plane with mirror surfaces, and then it will reflect the surrounding sky, which will make it invisible to observers from the ground and unobtrusive to enemy fighter pilots. Such a property would be very useful for Soviet bombers. No sooner said than done. Instead of aluminum and thin plywood, plexiglass was used, from the inside it was chemically treated with a silver mirror. And from the first flights of these several prototypes it was established that, having risen to a height of more than two hundred meters, the plane just visually disappears. The decision seemed ingenious. But he also revealed significant shortcomings. First of all, the planes strongly blinked in the sun. And soon it became clear that the plexiglas of those years in the process of intensive use under the influence of weather conditions quickly loses its transparency and begins to grow turbid. And this immediately makes the plane noticeable. Then this technical problem could not be solved, but with modern coatings it is quite possible to get rid of the sun glare and reduce visual visibility up to a hundred meters when it is too late to notify and grab the machine gun. Moreover, when approaching the target of an attack on a kilometer 3-4, solid fuel boosters can be launched, increasing the flight speed to 500 meters per second. And that means 4 km such an ekranoplan projectile, fly for 8 seconds. Given these factors invisibility, late to respond to it.
Again something water and, in principle, very fast ...
To accelerate such an aircraft is quite capable of using a mobile catapult and conventional powder accelerators, which are soon discarded. The result is a fairly inexpensive aircraft by modern standards (when compared with modern missiles, in terms of the high cost of their components and production as a whole), capable of attacking a naval base, a missile cruiser or an aircraft carrier at a considerable distance from its shores. And in order to counter such a threat, it is necessary to begin the urgent development of new means of detecting and rearming the entire army. And as you understand, even a superpower, economic pants from such requests will jump very quickly. And if you rearm as slowly as modern Russia, technical superiority over the enemy is lost. Which at all times made the most significant contribution to the victory over the enemy. Moreover, instead of 500 kg of explosives, such an inconspicuous screen can fly a small nuclear charge. And here the United States of America and their naval allies in the face of Britain, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Australia becomes quite sad. For the launch of only one such apparatus is capable of destroying an entire fleet, or a large naval base. And given that on an aircraft carrier that has fallen under such a nuclear explosion, its own atomic reactor will also explode, the power of the strike increases immediately. And what's more, theoretically nothing prevents such an invisible WIG even to the shores of the USA. And since this aircraft and its launcher are much cheaper than the same ballistic missile and its launch station, it is logical to assume that more ICBMs will be built like this.
1949 magazine of the year. On the cover of the launch of missiles from containers in the body of the aircraft. The project has found its use on modern stealth aircraft.
Tethered aerostat-radar
As is known, tethered balloons have been used in military science for a very long time. In the last quarter of the 20 of the 20th century, they were also adapted to carry radar for detecting low-flying targets inaccessible to ground-based radars. The result was a very effective combination. And the above-mentioned example of an Israeli aerostat-radar, a vivid confirmation of this. Now airplanes on low-level flight, cruise missiles enveloping the terrain, and maneuvering missiles turning into low-altitude flight are perfectly visible. And then the main question is how to shoot down these offensive weapons. The solution to this issue has already been proposed and practically worked out. First of all, it is worth remembering the Soviet-Russian ZRPK “Tunguska” and the more ancient “Shilka”. If you set up their connection with aerostatic radar, you can get a good interaction of different types of weapons. The Americans in Afghanistan have gone even further. They used their radar with rapid-fire machine guns on the road to protect military bases from artillery attack dushmans. Where the Soviet troops suffered casualties, the Americans learned quite successfully to deal with shelling from mortars and mobile rocket launchers. Rapid fire machine guns simply knocked down all the flying mines and missiles. This experience in the fight against shelling, was used by the Israelis, although less successfully. After all, hiding in the mountains to the military base of the occupying forces, you can’t pull a big load of ammunition. Short shelling and run away. But on the borders with Israel, the situation is different. Thousands of cheap rockets are launched simultaneously. Some of them reach the addressee due to the fact that the machine guns simply do not have enough ammunition to shoot down everything. And it turns out that it is necessary to increase the number of such installations, but the military budget of a small country is very limited. You buy more of this, which means something less. But the idea itself is beautiful and, I repeat, it is able to show good results against low-flying attacking means “air-to-surface” and “surface-to-surface”. Russia and China may well protect dangerous areas with these, in fact, inexpensive means. And quite effectively.
Journal of our day. "Flying Warrior" with jet engines and its own wings.
Long-range shells and rockets
As is known, in the system of artillery and rocket armament all aspects of the flight of shells to the target have long been studied. It has long been squeezed what they could. It remains to fight only with aerodynamic drag and to increase the thrust / power of the accelerator.
Most readers who are interested in military subjects know the high-speed Shkval underwater missile that can move under water at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour. We also know from the physics course that water is 800 (!) Times denser than air. And what if you try to overcome air resistance in a similar way? If it worked out with water, maybe for projectiles and air traffic missiles, would it also work? And in this subtitle, we will try to answer this question.
At high speeds of the body flying through the air, there is a significant counter-resistance from friction with the air. Adding resistance to side surfaces located along the flow, we get an air wall through which it is difficult to break. In fact, each aircraft or projectile is smashed like a man through a dense shrub. But it seems that there is a solution if you look at this process differently. By the way, probably, this is why many effective engineering solutions are often used by dropouts, from the point of view of scientists. Scientists seem to understand everything, but inquiring minds compare different known processes with each other, thus obtaining new promising developments.
Eckranolet from 1961 magazine of the year. Not yet such, and is not expected!
Let us recall such a thing widely known today as the jet engine. It has a compressor, forcing the required air pressure. And what if the idea of this compressor is applied to rotating artillery shells and rocket projectiles? Of course, in the open air, turbine blades will create a high counter-resistance to the air flow, which negates all their useful work. But you can also put the turbine blades horizontally, with its upper end against the air flow, thus reducing the counter-air resistance to the minimum. On the elongated head of the projectile, or a rocket designed to overcome oncoming air resistance, the rows of these recumbent turbine blades can be positioned in the 2-3 series, in steps. And when the projectile has already started, they will simply chase the oncoming air through themselves, “throwing” it aside. Thereby reducing oncoming air resistance. Of course, the effectiveness of this design should be checked in special laboratories, in wind tunnels. We will remember that, flying out of the barrel, the projectile makes up to several thousand revolutions per minute. And, probably, this rotation can be used to disperse oncoming airflow. Moreover, a number of similar turbine blades can be positioned in the tail section of the projectile, which will reduce the area of discharged space behind the flying body (a kind of suction cup, which reduces the speed of flight). And it will also reduce overall resistance and increase flight speed. But we will go further and consider an option inaccessible to barreled artillery. Missiles are convenient because they, as such, do not need a barrel, but only guides. This is both their plus and minus. We will try to increase the number of pluses of multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS). Slightly reducing the caliber of the rocket and the mass, we place the long blades along the whole body (except the head part), remotely resembling helicopter blades. Move them away from the body of the projectile by a few millimeters and arrange it at an angle, which also makes it possible to drive the air stream away from the rocket projectile. Arranging this way around the 6-8 blades, we will get another “fan” that has a small counter-resistance to air and provides a discharged air space in which the missile is flying.
Anti-submarine hydrofoil! Original, but unreal!
Now, remember that today the Smerch rocket launcher is capable of launching its 12 projectiles to a distance of 70 km. And given the upgrades of shells specified here, it is quite possible to increase the firing range to 100 km. And this is the usual rocket projectiles. That is, the Kuril Islands, for which Japan and the United States are endeavoring, or any safe haven, which modern missile cruisers often use, become accessible for conventional weapons. And as we remember, this weapon in its mass production is much cheaper than special anti-ship and cruise missiles. Imagine how an enemy cruiser approached and “hid” behind the island, preparing to launch its missile attack. To get it, you need to send ships that will bypass the island or launch expensive missiles that can maneuver, and "pick out" such foes. In contrast to these actions, an ordinary MLRS battery with the specified long-range missiles can go to the beach and produce a volley. The number of missiles in the Tornado 12 installation package, multiply by the 6 machines in the artillery battery and we get a one-time low-cost volley at a long distance from the 72 missiles. Given that the Ereses will fly at once, at small intervals and at speeds close to hypersound, there is not a single ship protection system in the world today that can repel such a massive attack. But such missiles can also have simple systems of semi-active guidance, aiming at the radiation of the cruiser itself in the final stage of the flight. And even if there are those who claim that the superstructures of the ship will be amazed, and the hull itself can remain intact. We remember that the ship will lose controllability, and the fires inside from multiple hits are able to get to the artillery cellars, with all the consequences. Or until help arrives, the uncontrolled ship will hit the next storm on the rocks of that island.
As you can see, the dream of an “invisible plane” has not gone anywhere in our time!
As a result, the ships of the likely enemy will have to steer far into the sea to avoid such a scenario. And there they become prey of submarines, with the very same squall missiles.
Stealth submarine is awesome!
I would like to complete the description of low-cost rational proposals with the phrase: “As long as the Russian land is full of Ivan Kulibins, the answer to the increase in the military budgets of the countries of potential opponents will always be found!”
It is wiser to finish politics
In addition to the one described at the beginning of the article. It is alarming the bargaining of the Russian government with Japan. It is clear that in these negotiations we are talking about a peace treaty and economic agreements. The peace treaty will allow establishing more clearly defined relations with Japan and will limit the possibilities of influence on the territory of the Russian Federation from the US military bases located on the Japanese islands. But the process of this bargaining itself is suspicious. It is not excluded that the hysteria is intensified specifically by our “sleeping patriots”, by the way, described recently on the website of the Military Review in the article “Bulk and“ sleeping patriots ”. In any case, the issue in the dispute with the Japanese side stands cardinally. From Russia require to give the Kuril Islands. The ones for which our grandfathers shed their blood. For which hundreds of thousands of our compatriots risked their lives. And in turn, while psychological pressure is being exerted on the citizens of the Russian Federation by the media, the Kremlin does not respond to its fellow citizens with anything clear and intelligible. Most often just silent. It was because of the reasons outlined in this article that the thought was born to come up with an answer for the “beloved” American side, which invisibly stands behind the talks with Tokyo. That is, even if Russian diplomats let you down, having given up the islands, for which so much of our blood has been spilled, the gains of opponents can be miserable and unworthy of the effort spent on it.
The next-generation strike aircraft will be unmanned ?!
As a result, I believe that the development of these technologies will greatly level the chances of the parties, even against a stronger enemy, in all coastal zones of conflict. Moreover, it will be advantageous for Russia to share the groundwork on these topics with the same China. Then all the military bases of the United States and its allies in the Indian Ocean and the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean will become not just reachable, but will lose all strategic advantage in their favor. They can be attacked with impunity (within Pacific forces) and destroyed by the enemy. And when such a balance of forces arises in the Southeast Region of the Earth, the United States of America will lose its global strategic superiority over the enemy, because they have many military theaters). And after the lost military superiority in the region, economic and political changes will drag. In fact, in the case of a military-political equilibrium, each country will no longer choose in favor of a stronger one, but in favor of a more favorable economically and politically. And considering that American goods and transactions offered by American corporations are far from the most profitable, and the same China is easily able to offer much more profitable and cheap contract terms, at least in order to squeeze Americans out of Asian markets, it becomes quite interesting. Another superpower may disappear before our eyes, quite possibly dividing the fate of the ancient superpower known to us - Ancient Rome.
An interesting inscription on the cover: "How can the United States realize its superpowers in the field of technology to ensure its dominance at the last line?"
And finally, let's think about what the US can oppose to the development of the technologies mentioned here. As we understand, you can win and beat any army and any weapon. But the question of price arises! How much will it cost the rearmament of the American army with new means of protection capable of adequately and successfully combating new threats ?! Probably, even people far from the economy will see the amount of astronomical. The cost of an expedition to Mars planned by the United States here looks like a grain of sand compared to a sandbox. Although, of course, it is necessary to talk not only about the costs of the American State Department, but also about the will of our politicians, who should give the command to finance these programs. And here again those "sleeping" climb into the head. But this is from another opera and will not be affected here.
Postscript
Now for the United States is a very important historical moment, and more correctly, a turn. If he is arrogantly missed, it is likely that we will be able to talk about this powerful state in the past tense. And apparently for the United States of America, the time has come to apply urgent efforts to revive two or three polar worlds, where each of the superpowers in its area of responsibility limits the spread of advanced weapons, obliging them to acquire their equipment and technology. Otherwise, it may soon turn out that the superpowers will completely disappear in the world.
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