Strange история started on November 9. On this day, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting on the development of the armed forces and the defense industry. During the event, various issues affecting certain types of armed forces were discussed. The next day, Russian television channels broadcast their reports on a recent meeting. At the same time, the plots of the First Channel and the NTV channel were of the greatest interest, since it was in them that the curious and unexpected documents appeared.
In one of the reporting plans, a high-ranking military commander was shown, examining the presentation slide. It is this paper that attracted the attention of specialists and the public. On the slide behind the 3 number (on the table at the unknown army general there were several sheets in the cover) information about the project of the ocean multi-purpose system “Status-6” was presented. As the developer of this project, the Central Design Bureau of Marine Engineering (CDB MT) Rubin was indicated. In addition, the slide contained general information about the purpose of the project and several drawings.
The appearance of information about new projects of military equipment, including submarines, always causes a stir. At this time, increased public attention was also caused by another factor - the intended purpose of the Status-6 system. It was clearly and clearly written on the slide that the goal of the prospective development is “defeat of important objects of the enemy’s economy near the coast and causing guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country’s territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination unsuitable for military, economic and other activities in these zones During a long time".
Footage from television reports instantly scattered across the media, relevant resources, blogs and other sites. Immediately began the most active discussion of published information. Experts and amateurs of military affairs instantly remembered some proposals of this kind, expressed a few decades ago, and also began to speculate about the prospects of such projects at the present time. In addition, there were suspicions that it really was an accidental leak of information, and not a planned "plum" by the military.
The situation demanded urgent comments from officials. Already in the evening of November 11, the press secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov appeared. According to the official, in recent television reports, there was indeed a demonstration of classified data, which so far cannot be disclosed. Secret data got into the camera lens, which is why the authorities demanded that the TV channels rewire their stories. Thus, in the next news bulletins there were no shots with the commander familiarizing himself with the presentation on the promising project.
D. Peskov expressed the hope that such misunderstandings would not recur. A spokesman for the president said he did not know whether any measures related to data leakage had been taken. At the same time, he said that further preventive measures will be taken to eliminate such situations.
After the authorities noticed the data leakage, the frame with the presentation slide disappeared from the reports. However, it was too late. Personnel from NTV and Channel One plots were distributed over the Internet, and no statements by the press secretary of the president or other officials could stop the discussion. Due to the lack of high-profile news, discussions on the Status 6 project are still ongoing and are unlikely to end as soon as possible.
It should be noted that the increased interest in the Status-6 project is not only associated with the sudden appearance of information about it. Despite the poor quality of the picture, in the reports it was possible to consider some of the information given on the slide. Information about the project can also be a great cause for controversy.
According to slide №3, the main element of the promising complex is a self-propelled underwater vehicle. As follows from the available data, it should be a submarine with a set of special equipment. The slide indicates that the device will be able to dive to a depth of 1000 m, overcome distances to 10 thousand km and move at high speed. It is difficult to establish the exact value of the latter, but the slide clearly has a three-digit number, which may be a topic for a separate discussion.
The dimensions of the device, with the exception of the diameter, remain unknown. The “Status-6” caliber can be more than 5 (or 7) m. The length and displacement remained on the part of the slide that did not fit into the frame.
The special submarines Belgorod of the 09852 project and Khabarovsk of the 09851 project are indicated in the presentation as potential carriers of the self-propelled underwater vehicle. In both cases, the device must be transported under the bottom of the submarine carrier.
According to the slide, before the 2018 (or 2019) of the year should complete the first phase of project development. Before 2025, specialists will be engaged in conducting various tests and fine-tuning the project. Plans for later periods were closed in the literal sense of the word.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the project is its purpose and some nuances of the layout. The diagram shows that a relatively large compartment with a warhead is provided in the nose of the underwater vehicle. The purpose of the apparatus, in turn, is to destroy enemy targets on the coast and create a zone of radioactive contamination. Such features of the project made professionals and amateurs recall the projects that had been proposed several decades ago.
Back in the fifties (according to some data, from the late forties) in our country the preliminary development of a promising large-size torpedo was carried out, which was supposed to carry a large-capacity nuclear warhead. It was assumed that the submarine carrier will have to run such weapon in the direction of the coast of the enemy. The defeat of the enemy’s onshore facilities, according to the authors, was to occur at the expense of a large wave formed after a deep nuclear explosion.
Such a proposal remained at the preliminary research stage. Its implementation was associated with a number of serious difficulties, and the efficiency left much to be desired. As a result, the idea of a heavy torpedo capable of causing a tsunami was abandoned, focusing on real and promising projects.
It should be noted that the old proposal has noticeable differences from the Status-6 system in its current form. Published information clearly says that the new self-propelled underwater vehicle should not create a large wave. To hit targets, it should be equipped with a nuclear warhead of "ordinary" action. It should be recognized that this method of application, despite its complexity and a limited range of potential targets, is much more effective than undermining a warhead under water with the expectation of a large wave.
It should be recalled that a promising underwater vehicle with the possibility of carrying a nuclear warhead is not the first time becoming a topic of discussion. Just a couple of months ago, foreign, primarily American, mass media actively discussed rumors about a new Russian project “Canyon”. It was argued that Russia could build new unmanned submarines that would be armed with nuclear warheads with a capacity of several tens of megatons.
The lack of confirmed data on the hypothetical project of Russian underwater weapons, as well as the emergence of new relevant topics gradually led to the fact that the project "Canyon" was almost forgotten. Now, the Russian military has allowed (or deliberately staged) a leak of information, which has already become a reason for the resumption of discussions among foreign experts and journalists. Various analytical articles have already appeared in a number of foreign publications, the authors of which are trying to study unexpected data that have appeared, to draw some conclusions, and also to link them with recent rumors about the Canyon project.
The testing of the Status-6 system — if the project reaches this stage — will be completed no earlier than the middle of the next decade. This fact, however, does not prevent experts and amateurs from making predictions about the consequences of the appearance of such weapons. It is easy to see that a self-propelled underwater vehicle with remote or automatic control, capable of traveling up to 10 thousand km, can be a very formidable weapon. When such a device is equipped with a nuclear warhead, it is possible to plan operations for the destruction of naval bases of a potential enemy almost worldwide. The device will be able to get closer to the base and destroy it or cause serious damage.
Already expressed assumptions about the real prospects of such systems. In particular, an opinion emerged that submarines with nuclear weapons could render all existing anti-submarine systems useless. In addition, the emergence of such weapons will force the likely enemy to begin full-scale development of promising systems for protection against underwater attack. Due to some features of the Status-6 or similar devices, the construction of a protection system will be extremely difficult and expensive.
To effectively protect against such weapons, it is required to build a system for tracking the underwater situation along the entire length of the sea borders. In addition, funds are required for timely response to the detected threat with its subsequent destruction. All this will require the implementation of the mass of new projects, which, in turn, will be associated with enormous spending.
Such a feature of a promising project, perhaps, may even be useful for some structures and enterprises. It is quite possible that after the appearance of the first reports on the Status-6 system, some American generals and leaders of defense enterprises began to rub their hands happily, anticipating the start of new projects and their financing.
A program to build defense systems against advanced Russian weapons can be extremely expensive and complicated. However, not all responsible officials from foreign countries are worried about this fact. Publication of data on new Russian weapons will again allow them to call Russia an aggressor and, in this connection, request additional funding to protect against it.
Such consequences of the Russian project have already become the pretext for the appearance of a version according to which last week there was a deliberate “discharge” of information. The goal of such a “operation” could be the intention to provoke potential adversaries to start expensive programs that could hit the military budgets and cause some damage to their defenses.
In general, the situation around the Status 6 project looks extremely interesting and unusual. It all started with a random leak of information about a secret project, the result of which was a massive discussion of a new topic on domestic and foreign sites. With a slight delay, the press secretary of the Russian president said that there was a publication of secret data that are still closed to the general public, but such statements did not affect the nature of the disputes. The image of the slide from the presentation continues to diverge on the Internet, involving more and more new participants in the discussion.
About the project itself and the appearance of information about it, there are a variety of versions that receive one or another confirmation. The participants in the discussions suggest that the Status-6 system can seriously affect the situation in the world, not only due to its high characteristics, but also due to its existence alone. In addition, there are doubts about the reality of such a project. Proponents of this version believe that it is impossible to exclude an attempt to “mislead” false information made by the Russian military to influence foreign specialists. Finally, officials say it was an accidental leak of information about a secret project.
It is not difficult to guess that the military or the defense industry will in no way comment on the existing situation after D. Peskov made his statement. One can only hope for unconfirmed data obtained by the press from anonymous and other dubious sources. Therefore, anyone who wants to know the real details of the new project will have to wait. Judging by the slide, it is necessary to wait at least until the middle of the next decade.
On the materials of the sites:
http://ria.ru/
http://tass.ru/
http://interfax.ru/
http://vz.ru/
http://freebeacon.com/
http://bmpd.livejournal.com/