Long way to "Terra". The development of combat lasers PRO USSR

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In 1965, several scientific, design and production organizations of the USSR began work in the framework of the Terra program. The purpose of the latter was to create a promising missile defense system, hitting targets with a laser beam. Active work and field testing continued until the end of the seventies. For a decade and a half, specialists have managed to create and build a research and experimental complex "Terra-3" (Sary-Shagan test site), as well as to conduct several auxiliary research and projects.

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.

Long way to "Terra". The development of combat lasers PRO USSR
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.


Experimental Electron-Ionization Laser 3D01


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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25 comments
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  1. Lad
    0
    22 June 2019 19: 28
    Does anyone know at the site with which number in Sary-Shagan this Terra was installed?
    1. 0
      22 June 2019 19: 36
      Forty-eight bis (With an exclamation mark after the third capital vowel).
    2. 0
      23 June 2019 14: 21
      Quote: Lad
      Does anyone know at the site with which number in Sary-Shagan this Terra was installed?

      All the information in the article and a little more is in the d / f "Lords of the Ray". If you are interested, I recommend it.
  2. -1
    22 June 2019 19: 31
    The hyperboloid of engineer Garin in the described sizes and power was never built.

    Either the laser in compact dimensions is not powerful enough, or powerful, but completely insufficiently compact and consuming the energy of an entire power plant.
    1. -1
      23 June 2019 14: 30
      Quote: Horse, lyudovѣd and soulѣlyub
      Either the laser in compact dimensions is not powerful enough, or powerful, but completely insufficiently compact and consuming the energy of an entire power plant.

      And even when firing, he does not emit the sounds "piu-piu". The laser, like a hand weapon, is the lot of science fiction writers, with the exception of the "space" laser pistol, and that one was not intended to destroy the armor, so, to burn through the hermetic shell of the spacesuit was enough. And "laser guns", as a military weapon, are hopeless for the next few years ... in terms of efficiency / cost. Lasers have other uses than hand weapons. hi
    2. 0
      24 June 2019 01: 14
      Hyperboloid engineer Garin

      this is no no laser.
      and the design described in the book has nothing to do with the laser.
      1. 0
        24 June 2019 12: 30
        This is a beam weapon, and a laser or not a laser - it does not matter.

        laughing
        1. 0
          24 June 2019 23: 30
          special properties of the laser are associated with the fact that its radiation is coherent and monochromatic.
          Garin’s invention had nothing of the kind. by design, the hyperboloid is much closer to a pocket flashlight than to a laser with its stimulated emission.
          so a flashlight is the first low-power beam weapon with a blinding effect laughing
          1. 0
            24 June 2019 23: 42
            No one argues that the Hyperboloid is not a laser. But the beam weapons are compact enough to manually carry and blow up the aniline plant from the window of a passing train - this has not been created. Neither a laser nor any other beam weapons. That's about it.
            1. -1
              24 June 2019 23: 45
              yes, in fact, Garin’s hyperboloid is impossible.
              until there are enough compact and powerful sources of energy, and they’re not created.
              and with such sources the question is still.
              but now they have taken the path of increasing the number of individual lasers to form a single beam.
              1. 0
                25 June 2019 11: 17
                yes, in fact, Garin’s hyperboloid is impossible.
                until there are enough compact and powerful sources of energy, and they’re not created.
                and with such sources the question is still.


                Yes, actually, that’s what we are talking about.

                laughing

                The hyperboloid of engineer Garin in the described sizes and power was never built.
  3. +8
    22 June 2019 20: 03
    On October 10, 1984, during the passage of the Challenger over the Balkhash region at an altitude of 365 kilometers, in order to track the target, the 5H26 laser locator began to work at a minimum radiation power. Communication on the shuttle was suddenly cut off, equipment malfunctioning, and the astronauts felt unwell. The Yankes, guessing what the matter was, expressed an official protest to the USSR.
    1. -1
      22 June 2019 22: 56
      Hike, "Challenger" this flight was not in vain.
      January 28, 1986 on take-off ...

      ...
      1. +3
        23 June 2019 08: 01
        Quote: Horse, people and soul
        Hike, "Challenger" this flight was not in vain.
        January 28, 1986 on take-off ...
        ...

        Black wings do not dare to fly over their homeland ...
  4. -1
    23 June 2019 03: 21
    At the moment, is something being done in this direction, or not? Who knows?
    1. +1
      23 June 2019 03: 47
      Quote: Igor Shcherbina
      At the moment, is something being done in this direction, or not? Who knows?

      Yes.
    2. 0
      23 June 2019 07: 45
      Complex "Peresvet"
  5. -2
    23 June 2019 08: 08
    Quote: knn54
    in order to accompany the goal,

    It seems that it was still a demonstration of opportunities. There was no particular need for escorting their shuttle with a laser, I think we took all the telemetry parameters, but to show what we can do if necessary ... At the same time, they said about a low energy level, but at the maximum .... Politics never seem to admitted the guilt of the Union in that incident.
  6. +1
    23 June 2019 11: 39
    An interesting review. There is an inaccuracy
    with a short pulse power of hundreds of kilojoules.

    Power is measured in watts, in the text should be - with energy hundreds of kJ
  7. +1
    23 June 2019 12: 13
    Well, thank God!
    Moved from the stage of denial:
    "Laser - Cutting the American Budget"
    To the stage: "Russia was the first in laser technologies!"
    Behind it, the next - third - stage is inevitable:
    "Our Russian combat laser will be better, more powerful, more precisely American, German, Israeli systems!"
    drinks
    1. 0
      24 June 2019 20: 01
      You did not notice at the end the phrase about the termination of work in force unrecoverable problems? There are these problems, they are fundamental, everyone knows about them, including the state people. That is why they talk about sawing. I gave a documentary example of testing a Soviet marine laser, which gave an efficiency at the point of contact of the beam of 5 (five!) Percent. And this cannot be avoided with commercials and choreographed tests. The laser has a military application: rangefinders, missile defense control lines, target designation, blinding. But talking about the destruction of a ship, plane, missile or tank with a laser is a deception. No, theoretically, within the framework of a "technology demonstration", choosing a clear sunny day in a place with a transparent atmosphere, you can light some kind of jeep. But in a real war, in dusty and smoky conditions, given the rain and snow, destroying lasers, this is utopia.
      Here in space or from an airplane into space - this is realistic.
      I think so.
  8. 0
    24 June 2019 01: 23
    1991 led to a break in many promising developments in which the USSR occupied leading positions, such as for lasers, space or helmet-mounted target designation systems in military aviation.
    I remember in the 90s I watched a movie about an American helicopter in which the weapon was controlled by turning the head, perceived it as fiction, and only after that I learned that such systems were in service in the USSR.
    And now Israel is doing for the Americans what is a logical development of the Soviet NSC.
    The same with lasers. What was perceived by science fiction then really existed in iron.
    and it developed completely until 1991 and even a little later.
    but then, a failure in the development. sad
  9. 0
    24 June 2019 09: 40
    and again not a word about the Kumakhovskiy laser, but developments were underway, very much underway.
    X-ray range.
    1. -1
      24 June 2019 16: 21
      So still underway. I even met gamma-ray lasers among science fiction ...
  10. 0
    3 August 2019 09: 53
    Are HF chemical lasers too secret to mention?

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