Long way to "Terra". The development of combat lasers PRO USSR
Laser Locator
The idea of creating a laser locator to accurately determine the coordinates of air or other targets appeared before the start of Terra - Vympel Design Bureau took up this topic in 1962. In September, the 1963 project under the designation LE-1 received the approval of the Military Industrial Commission, which decided to build a prototype of such a locator. Then Vympel and the State Optical Institute completed the design, and in the second half of the seventies, construction began on the Sary-Shagan test site.
Complex "Terra 3" in the view of the American artist. Apparently, foreign analysts took the observed locator LE-1 or telescope TG-1 for the combat laser
In accordance with the proposed concept, the initial search for targets was to be carried out by radar. Then a laser locator was introduced that was distinguished by greater measurement accuracy. The data from the LE-1 locator should have been received by various consumers. After the start of the Terra program, among them was the combat laser.
At the stage of development and experimentation, the LE-1 project encountered difficulties. The design power of the laser emitter was supposed to reach 1 kW, but the available products were much weaker. Experiments were carried out with a laser and a cascade of amplifiers, but after a certain amplification the beam began to destroy the elements of such a system. An alternative was the “battery” of 196 J lasers with energy X alternating at work.
The transmitting device of such a locator was an assembly of individual laser elements with 196 with its own optical devices on each, placed by the 14 x14 square. For them had to develop a special electronic control system. Similarly, the receiving device had 196 photocells.
Telescope TG-1 from the locator
In 1969, work on LE-1 was transferred to the Luch Central Clinical Hospital. In the same period, the company LOMO developed a special telescope TG-1, designed to work as part of a laser locator. Creation of management and data processing tools continued.
In 1973, construction began on an experienced locator. The following year, LE-1 and TG-1 began work. Tests began with tracking and tracking of aircraft at distances of about 100 km. Then ballistic missiles and spacecraft became targets for the locator. Various studies and tests using LE-1 continued until the end of the eighties.
The average power of the radiating part of the locator LE-1 was 2 kW. Detection and tracking range - up to 400 km. The accuracy of determining the coordinates reached several angular seconds. Range error - less than 10 m.
Exploding laser
In 1965, several leading scientific organizations began research in the field of photodissociation lasers (PDL). It quickly became clear that the optical pumped ruby PDL cannot show high radiation power. To solve this problem, they suggested using a combination of high-power optical pumping and energy of the shock front in xenon. Almost immediately, work on explosive PDL (WFDL) was included in the Terra program.
Emitters of a laser locator LE-1
In the second half of the sixties, VNIIEF, FIAN and GOI developed and tested a number of VFDL of various designs and capacities. These products combined the principle of action. In addition, a common feature was disposability: the explosion provided pumping of the active medium, but destroyed the structure. Through various design changes, selection of materials, and optimization of the configuration, lasers with a short pulse power of hundreds of kilojoules were obtained.
The design VFDL differed simplicity. The laser received a tubular body of the necessary dimensions, inside of which were placed explosive charges. Gas was pumped into the body, which serves as the active medium. At the ends of the housing inside were mirrors of the optical resonator. Tests were carried out VFDL with a diameter of up to 1 m and a length of up to 20 m, which gave the maximum possible power.
VFDL tests have been conducted since the late sixties. In the early seventies, it was possible to establish small-scale production in the interests of promising programs. There were at least three production models. The largest product was F-1200 with 1 MJ radiant energy. With the use of similar devices and similar systems of lesser power, the effect of a laser beam on various materials was studied.
Raman scattering laser
Already in the early stages of the development of VFDL, it became clear that such products so far produce unacceptable radiation dispersion, which does not allow delivering sufficient energy to a given point of the target. FIAN offered a curious solution to this problem. It was necessary to make a more complex two-stage laser with several components, using the effect of the so-called. stimulated Raman scattering (WRC).
Explosive photodissociation laser FO-32
The emitter with the active medium in the form of a liquefied gas was to become the main unit of a laser with SRS. For optical pumping, two VFDLs were used. Soon, several types of two-stage LAS lasers were developed. For them, it was necessary to create from scratch some components, such as structural elements, and optical systems. In 1974, the first samples of this family with letters AJ went to the landfill.
The best results were obtained with AJ-5T and AJ-7T lasers. The first one showed the energy of 90 kJ and gave out a beam with a diameter of 400 mm. The system efficiency was 70%. AJ-7T product with higher characteristics was proposed to be used as part of the future scientific and experimental complex “Terra-3”.
Electric discharge lasers
The laser type VFDL was disposable and quite expensive. In 1974-75, alternative systems were tested that had some advantages. VNIIEF created a so-called. explosive magnetic generators are special devices that convert the energy of an explosion into a short and powerful electrical pulse. A FDL with such a generator was significantly cheaper than an explosive one, and besides, the radiator was not destroyed during operation.
In 1974, an electrical discharge PDL was tested with an explosive magnetic generator with a radiation power of 90 kJ. Soon, a project of a two-stage Raman laser appeared in the Luch Central Design Bureau, in which the VFDL for pumping was replaced by an electric-discharge system. This architecture allowed us to obtain characteristics not lower than the products of AJ-5T and AJ-7T.
Electroionization laser
In the mid-seventies, the Luch Central Design Bureau, on its own initiative, studied another version of the high-energy laser. In it, the gaseous active medium was ionized by an electron beam. Calculations showed that the electroionization laser will show certain advantages over others.
In 1976, the Central Design Bureau "Beam" built an experienced laser 3Д01. This product developed 500 kW of radiation power. However, it could do up to 200 pulses per second. However, the proactive nature of the development did not allow her to find a fitting place in the program "Terra".
"Terra-3"
The construction of the experimental research complex Terra-3 began in 1969 and took several years. As the construction and construction work was being carried out, the Terra-3 project was being finalized several times. First of all, various proposals were made and implemented concerning the type of laser used.
Abandoned complex "Terra-3", 2008
Initially, it was proposed to use VFDL as part of “Terra-3”, and the equipment of the complex was created just for such equipment. Later, the project was revised by introducing a high-power electric-discharge laser. However, the "Terra-3" did not receive such weapons.
An experimental complex of incomplete composition was built at the Sary-Shagan test site. It contained a locator, data processing and control tools, etc. At NEK, they managed to mount the installation for a laser with pointing devices, but the emitter itself did not appear. In the late seventies, the laser ABM program was curtailed due to a number of unrecoverable problems, and the Terra-3 complex was continued to be used in an unfinished form.
The goal of the Terra program was to create a promising laser complex for a strategic missile defense capable of covering important objects from attacks using various weapons. Such a task was not solved, and even the prototype could not be completed. However, the research and development work on the Terra made it possible to seriously advance domestic science and technology. A significant part of the Terra developments has subsequently found application in other projects of laser systems for various purposes.
- Ryabov Kirill
- United States Department of Defense, Militaryrussia.ru
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