Bombs with affectionate names. Tactical bomb Natasha and howitzer Dana: the most “feminine” weapon in the army Soviet tactical atomic bomb Natasha
“Defense is our honor, it is a matter of the people, there are atomic bombs, there are also hydrogen bombs.” This information, which came from the pen of Sergei Mikhalkov in 1953, was comprehensive for citizens of the Soviet Union who were not privy to the relevant secrets.
They didn’t know too much abroad either. American military intelligence in April 1950, she presented a report to the US National Security Council, according to which by the beginning of that year the USSR allegedly had nine regiments of Tu-4 heavy bombers “with standard armament of 28 nuclear weapons, but the actual armament averaged 67 percent of the standard one.” But the report was not true. In 1952, the US Air Force Headquarters Intelligence Directorate stated that " Soviet Union has at its disposal a sufficient number of aircraft, trained pilots and bases to allow an attempt to deliver all available supplies to the United States nuclear bombs"(HQ USAF, Directorate of Intelligence, A Summary of Soviet Air Capabilities Against North America). And this was a fair exaggeration, since the initially obsolete Tupolev-4 aircraft, even after installing an in-flight refueling system on them, could not be guaranteed to hit targets on the continental United States, with the possible exception of Alaska, where there was nothing particularly important.
Nevertheless, back in the 50s, the American and Canadian military were concerned about the existence of a certain “loophole for Soviet bombers” that could attack from the side North Pole. Currently, some Western publicists call the existence of such a loophole a myth, although in the USSR at that time the possibility of creating secret ice bases in the Arctic was considered, and ordinary jump airfields were built in this direction. True, things never came to the point of deploying Tu-4 and Il-28 light front-line bombers at the pole (as expected). However, Avro Canada capitalized on these fears by receiving an order from the Canadian government to build almost 700 CF-100 Canuck all-weather jet fighter-interceptors with long range flight. Washington gave Canada so much great importance in providing air defense to the North American continent (for which the joint NORAD system was deployed), which handed over to its ally defensive nuclear weapons - BOMARC anti-aircraft missiles (nuclear charge with a yield of 7-10 kilotons) and unguided air-to-air missiles "Gini" "(1.5 kilotons). The carriers of the latter were the supersonic CF-101 “Voodoo” fighters of American origin, which replaced the subsonic Canucks that quickly went out of fashion. Of course, the nuclear charges themselves were under the exclusive control of the United States, although, say, to launch BOMARC, it was necessary to simultaneously turn two keys in the panel of the code-locking system, one of which was held by an American officer, and the other by a Canadian one.
The number of nuclear bombs in the USSR at the dawn nuclear project was small. In 1950 there were only five of them, in 1951 - 25, the next - 50, and when Mikhalkov composed his uplifting poems, inspired by the test in August 1953 of the first domestic thermonuclear warhead - 120, and this is against 1161 units the USA has such weapons. But for American bases in Europe and Asia nuclear potential Soviet aviation really posed a threat.
Subsequently, the balance of forces slowly, and from the 60s, changed quite quickly in favor of the USSR, and 30 years ago, according to the authors of the Soviet nuclear weapon reference book (NRDC publication, 1989), the number of Soviet nuclear bombs was estimated at 5,200 units. Overseas experts, citing information received from a private individual, reported the following: “Apparently, a nuclear bomb weighing 2,000 pounds and yielding 350 kilotons is a standard weapon. According to some reports, a new bomb, lighter in weight and with a yield of 250 kilotons, entered service in the early 1980s.”
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How was it really? ABOUT Soviet missiles With a nuclear charge, there is enough information in free circulation. Bombs were much less fortunate in this regard, but the Russian nuclear shield began with them (which is also, of course, a sword).The first series of Soviet “products 501” designed by KB-11, that is, the team of Yuli Khariton and his comrades, consisted of the same five pieces mentioned above. Domestic analogue American bomb“Fatman” had a plutonium charge with a yield of 20–22 kilotons. That whole series was the main military secret USSR and was kept in a special storage facility at the place of birth - in Arzamas-16, under the wing of its creators from KB-11 (now VNIIEF). As is known, the “secret” abbreviation RDS, which was subsequently assigned to other types of Soviet nuclear weapons (bombs, missile warheads and artillery shells), meant “special jet engine,” which, however, was interpreted by secret-protecting regime officials as “Stalin’s jet engine,” and by scientists (much more successfully) as “Russia does it itself.”
The weight of the RDS-1 reached almost five tons, which precluded its use from any aircraft other than long-range bombers. The system that ensures the use of “501 products” on heavy Tu-4A (“A” means “atomic”) was developed by Alexander Nadashkevich. But these piston bombers themselves, which were “pirate copies” of the American B-29 “Superfortress” (the same ones that burned Hiroshima and Nagasaki), as noted above, were already hopelessly outdated and, due to their low speed, were easy prey for enemy fighters . This, by the way, was proven by Soviet pilots who easily dispatched American B-29s on MiG-15s during the Korean War.
Further development of nuclear bomb weapons in the USSR followed the path of increasing the power of the charges while simultaneously ensuring their compactness, which would make it possible to place the ammunition on light jet bombers and even fighters of front-line aviation that solved tactical problems. In some situations (if particularly important targets on enemy territory were within the range of the aircraft), tactical winged vehicles acquired a certain strategic status.
Subsequently, improved nuclear bombs of the RDS-2 type (38 kilotons) with plutonium and RDS-3 (42 kilotons) with uranium-plutonium filling were created and put into production, and all previously released bombs of the RDS-1 type were converted into RDS-2. Progress was obvious: the power of the charges was doubled, and the mass, on the contrary, was reduced.
The RDS-3 bomb, which also received the female name “Maria,” became the first nuclear weapon in our country, tested not in an experimental ground version, but dropped from a Tu-4 aircraft on October 18, 1951.
Based on published materials by veteran of the domestic atomic project E.F. Korchagin, as of January 1, 1953 nuclear arsenal The USSR consisted of 59 RDS-2 and 16 RDS-3 bombs concentrated in KB-11 storage facilities.
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A landmark event was the creation at KB-11 of the compact nuclear bomb RDS-4 “Tatyana” for tactical aviation, namely for the Il-28 front-line jet bombers. In terms of its weight and size characteristics (the weight of the bomb was 1.2 tons), it did not differ from a conventional high-explosive one, and the nuclear charge for Tatyana was taken from the RDS-2. On August 23, 1953, it was tested by being dropped from an airplane. The power of the explosion was 28 kilotons. To some extent, this should be considered a response to the appearance of the B-45 Tornado tactical jet bombers in the US Air Force, from one of which the 19-kiloton Mk.7 Thor nuclear bomb was dropped on May 1, 1952. In principle, “Tatyana” could even be placed on Tu-2 piston bombers.Directly under the RDS-4, the Alexander Yakovlev Design Bureau created a “high-speed bomber special purpose» Yak-125B, but it did not go into production due to its subsonic flight speed.
Following Tatyana, Soviet scientists and designers created the 8U49 Natasha tactical nuclear bomb, the carrier of which was already a supersonic front-line aircraft - the Yak-26 light bomber. Yak-26 aircraft produced in small series and more advanced large-scale series frontline bombers Yak-28s were also armed with Tatyanas.
Further optimization nuclear charges allowed specialists from NII-1011 (now VNIITF) to create a low-power tactical atomic bomb (five kilotons) 8U69, intended for use from the external sling of supersonic aircraft. For this purpose, 8U69, also known as “product 244N,” had a special spindle-shaped shape with low aerodynamic drag. This bomb weighed only 450 kilograms.
Under the 8U69, modifications of the supersonic fighters MiG-19S (variant SM-9/9) and MiG-21F (E-6/9) of the Artem Mikoyan Design Bureau were finalized. These machines were successfully tested, but at the turn of the 50s and 60s the Air Force command chose Pavel Sukhoi's supersonic fighter-bomber Su-7B as the main carrier of the 8U69 nuclear bomb. It was he, and not the Yak-28, that became the main strike complex of Soviet front-line aviation for a whole decade.
In 1962, Su-7B aircraft were involved in actual dropping of nuclear bombs at the Semipalatinsk test site. To use the 8U69 (one such thing was suspended on the ventral pylon), the Su-7B aircraft was equipped with a clever PBK-1 device. The abbreviation stood for “device for bombing from a pitched position.” It was an electromechanical mechanism that determined the moment the bomb was dropped. One of the main methods of its use from the Su-7B aircraft was a drop at a speed of 1050 kilometers per hour during a maneuver with a sharp climb to 3500–4000 meters (this is pitching). Having unhooked at an angle of 45 degrees to the horizon at a distance of 6–8 kilometers from the ground target, the bomb flew towards it along a ballistic curve, and during this time the fighter-bomber itself came out of the attack with a sharp turn so as not to get hit by the shock wave nuclear explosion. On the way back, having met with enemy planes, he could also have started a maneuver air battle, using a pair of their 30-mm cannons.
In addition to the USSR Air Force, the Air Forces of Poland and Czechoslovakia were also equipped with Su-7B aircraft adapted for nuclear weapons. Of course, the atomic bombs for them were in Soviet special storage facilities and could be issued to the allies only in case of war. At the same time, Czechoslovak and Polish Su-7B pilots constantly improved their skills in the possible use of nuclear weapons. This, for example, is described in the book published in 1996. interesting book Czech author Libor Reznjak Atomovy bombarder Su-7 ceskoslovenskeho vojenskeho letectva. To other countries (India, Egypt, North Korea etc.) Su-7B was delivered in a commercial version without a special suspension unit and without the PBK-1 device. However, “third-party buyers” were keenly interested in the range of capabilities of the Su-7B and things got to the point that, as the American press claimed, some Soviet engineers told the Egyptian general that the aircraft could carry nuclear weapons.
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As for heavy thermonuclear aerial bombs, the first samples to enter service with the long-range (strategic) aviation of the Soviet Air Force were the RDS-6s and RDS-37, tested in 1953–1955.The ground test on August 12, 1953 of the RDS-6s combat thermonuclear charge became possible thanks to the use of lithium-6 deuteride by its creators, led by Andrei Sakharov, as a solid fuel for the fusion reaction of deuterium and tritium. Lithium-6, when bombarded by neutrons, forms the second component necessary for the thermonuclear reaction - tritium. At the same time, to ensure that the required power of the RDS-6s charge is achieved, a certain amount of tritium was introduced into it along with lithium deuteride. When testing the RDS-6s, a yield of 400 kilotons of TNT was recorded - 10 times more than the maximum yield of the then Soviet nuclear weapons based on a fission chain reaction. The letter “c” in the abbreviation RDS-6s meant “layered” - the charge alternated thermonuclear fuel with uranium-238. This scheme ensured equalization of pressures in the “thermonuclear” and uranium during their ionization as a result of the explosion of a nuclear fuse and, accordingly, high speed thermonuclear reaction.
The RDS-6s became the first domestic hydrogen bomb to enter service with heavy (turboprop Tu-95 designed by Andrei Tupolev and jet M-4 by Vladimir Myasishchev) and medium (jet Tu-16) bombers.
In 1955, the USSR continued testing samples of combat hydrogen bombs improved by Sakharov’s group. On November 6, a 250-kiloton RDS-27 aerial bomb with a charge in which only lithium deuteride was used as thermonuclear fuel was tested in an air explosion, and on November 22, a Tu-16 bomber dropped a particularly powerful RDS-37 aerial bomb with a fundamentally new charge of the so-called two-stage type with radiation implosion (compression) of nuclear and thermonuclear material enclosed in a separate “layered”, as in RDS-6s, “secondary” module. Radiation compression was provided by X-ray radiation during the explosion of the “primary” nuclear module. The charge body was made of natural uranium-238, and no tritium was used in the charge. In this bomb, the fusion reaction of deuterium and tritium was combined with the fission of uranium-238 nuclei. The total energy release during the RDS-37 test was 1.6 megatons of TNT equivalent.
The design of the RDS-37 charge formed the basis for subsequent developments. Thus, the way was opened to the creation of ultra-high-power thermonuclear ammunition. It was not up to the scientists and designers, and on October 30, 1961, a specially prepared Tu-95 heavy bomber (in a unique modification of the Tu-95B) dropped Shar in the area of the Matochkin Strait on Novaya Zemlya hydrogen bomb“product 602” (aka AN602 or “Ivan”, weight - 26.5 tons). The power of the explosion exceeded 50 Mt, which, however, was only half of the calculated one - they did not dare to test “Ivan” at full power. But it was still the most ambitious weapons test in human history.
At Khrushchev’s suggestion, “Ivan” was also nicknamed “Kuzkina’s Mother,” but this product, which did not fit in the bomb bay of the carrier (“Kuzka’s Mother” hung under the fuselage of the Tu-95V), was not accepted for service - it was intended solely to demonstrate the capabilities of the Americans and their allies. Soviet atomic science and technology.
Subsequently, several more samples of nuclear and nuclear weapons entered service with the Air Force. thermonuclear bombs tactical and strategic purpose. For example, the “gentleman’s set” of the Su-7B was replenished with new special aviation bombs - the 500-kilogram RN-24 and the quite miniature (250 kilograms) RN-28. It is known that in addition to the Su-7B in the 60s, the Mikoyanites, whose projects did not pass in the late 50s, also continued to develop their “nuclear fighter”. In 1965, they created the MiG-21N (aka E-7N) aircraft for the new generation RN-25 nuclear bomb. High-speed operational-tactical reconnaissance bombers of the MiG-25RB family were also considered as carriers, and, notably, Western analysts for a long time and had no idea about their potential.
As stated in the American magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology (issue of May 2, 1988) with reference to the US Department of Defense, of the 4,000 Soviet fighter aircraft, about a third were intended to deliver nuclear bombs. Among the ammunition mentioned is the RN-40 with a capacity of 30 kilotons, which was carried by the MiG-29 front-line fighter. According to information provided by the American reference book on Soviet military aviation Russia’s Top Guns (Aerospace Publishing, 1990), one TN-1000 nuclear bomb was suspended on the Su-17 fighter-bomber, and two TN-1200 on the MiG-27. Bombs TN-1000 and TN-1200 (and others) were included in the standard armament of the front-line Su-24. These aircraft (Su-24M), which can carry up to four “special” bombs, still form the basis of the strike power of Russian tactical aviation, although they are already being replaced by Su-34s.
As for Russian long-range aviation, thermonuclear bombs (presumably of the megaton class) can be considered as carriers of heavy bombers Tu-160, Tu-95 and medium Tu-22M. However, the main weapons of these masterpiece machines are not bombs, but nuclear-tipped cruise and aeroballistic missiles. In this series, I would like to see – in a reasonable quantity, of course – a Russian analogue of the inconspicuous American B-2 (the global “surgical” means of using B-83 thermonuclear bombs)...
Konstantin Chuprin
In army terminology, there are not only menacing names like “Tornado” or “Hurricane”. There are a lot of women's names here too...
"Nona"
The 2S9 “Nona” airborne self-propelled gun can swim, can accelerate to 60 km/h and is armed with a 120-mm rifled gun-howitzer-mortar 2A51.
This weapon is capable of firing not only high-explosive fragmentation shells, like a howitzer, but also cumulative direct fire, like a cannon, as well as adjustable (“Kitolov-2”) ammunition.
In addition, the Nona gun can fire all types of mines of similar caliber for smoothbore and rifled mortars, including illumination, smoke and incendiary ammunition.
Maximum range The firing range is about 12 km, but when using active-reactive ammunition, for example, the APCM projectile for the French RT-61 rifled mortar, the 2S9 firing range can be increased to 17 km.
"Dana"
Dana is also an iconic name for the military, and not only because of the once popular program “Army Store”. After all, “Dana” is a 152-mm self-propelled gun-howitzer vz.77.
The self-propelled gun is built on the 8x8 wheeled chassis of the Tatra 815 truck, all tires have automatic inflation, and the suspension itself is independent. The crew of the self-propelled gun is 5 people, who are located in three sealed armored cabins, equipped with air conditioning and protected by bulletproof armor.
The maximum fire range is 20 km; shells can be fired either automatically or manually. For translate artillery installation It takes about two minutes from the traveling position to the combat position, and leaving the position after firing takes no more than 60 seconds. The heavy self-propelled gun is superior in maneuverability to the BTR-70.
The twelve-cylinder V-shaped TATRA turbodiesel accelerates the 29-ton self-propelled gun to 80 km/h and has a cruising range of 600 km.
"Dana" is one of the few types of foreign equipment adopted by the USSR army - in 1988, 100 such self-propelled guns were purchased.
"Natasha"
Underneath this female name hiding tactical atomic bomb. 8U49 "Natasha" was adopted by Soviet long-range aviation in the 50s of the last century. A special feature of this bomb was the possibility of its use at supersonic speeds - up to 3000 km/h.
8U49 "Natasha". Photo: topwar.ru 450 kg "Natasha" weapons were used to arm the low-volume supersonic front-line bombers "Yak-26".
Bombing was possible from altitudes in the range of 0.5-30 km when performing both horizontal flight and complex maneuvering.
"Katyusha"
Without this name the list would be incomplete. "Katyusha" is one of the types of weapons that brought us victory in the Great Patriotic War.
The appearance of BM-13 guards rocket mortars among the Red Army was an unpleasant surprise for the Germans. Volley of one rocket launcher rained down 16,132-mm shells or 32 82-mm shells on the enemy’s head.
Due to the fundamental feature of the detonation of Katyusha rockets (counter detonation - explosive detonation is carried out from two sides, and when two waves of detonation meet, they create much more high values gas pressure) the fragments had much greater initial speed and got very hot.
For this reason, BM-13 rockets had such a high incendiary effect - fragments sometimes reached temperatures of 800 ° C.
"Tatiana"
“Product 244N” or RDS-4, also known as “Tatyana”, was the first Soviet tactical atomic bomb to be mass-produced. The power of the ammunition, which used the implosion principle (there was a core containing plutonium-239 inside a hollow sphere), was about 30 kilotons. Bomb weight - 1200 kg.
“Tatyana” (“product 244N”). Photo: topwar.ru The first tests of the bomb took place at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on August 23, 1953. Product 244 was dropped from an Il-28 aircraft at an altitude of 11 km, the explosion occurred at an altitude of 600 m, and a power of 28 kt was achieved.
"Tatyana" was in service for only two years - from 1954 to 1956.
Developed by NII-1011 (Snezhinsk), adopted by the front-line and long-range aviation of the USSR Air Force in the 1960s and intended for bombing at supersonic flight speeds of the carrier aircraft (up to 3000 km/h). Initially, the 8U49 was carried by the low-volume supersonic front-line bomber Yak-26, but subsequently the list of carriers was significantly expanded.
The design of the bomb body is made according to the tailless aerodynamic design, with an X-shaped tail of the “free feather” type. The charge power was 40 kt, and the mass was 450 kg. Bomb length 3365 mm, maximum diameter 580 mm. Bombing is possible from altitudes in the range of 0.5-30 km when performing both horizontal flight and complex maneuvering.
Where to see
The body of the 8U49 atomic bomb is on display at the RFNC-VNIITF museum in Snezhinsk.
see also
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Notes
Links
- (Russian) . Of. RFNC-VNIITF website. Retrieved December 13, 2011. .
Excerpt characterizing Natasha (atomic bomb)
Fleeing from Moscow, the people of this army took with them everything that was looted. Napoleon also took with him his own tresor [treasure]. Seeing the convoy cluttering the army. Napoleon was horrified (as Thiers says). But he, with his war experience, did not order to burn all the extra carts, as he did with the marshal’s carts, approaching Moscow, but he looked at these carriages and carriages in which the soldiers were riding, and said that it was very good that These crews will be used for provisions, sick and wounded.The position of the entire army was like that of a wounded animal, feeling its death and not knowing what it was doing. Studying the skillful maneuvers of Napoleon and his army and his goals from the time of his entry into Moscow until the destruction of this army is like studying the meaning of the dying leaps and convulsions of a mortally wounded animal. Very often, a wounded animal, hearing a rustle, rushes to shoot at the hunter, runs forward, backward and itself speeds up its end. Napoleon did the same under pressure from his entire army. Rustle Tarutino battle scared the beast, and he rushed forward to the shot, ran to the hunter, came back, forward again, back again, and finally, like any animal, he ran back, along the most unfavorable, dangerous path, but along a familiar, old trail.
Napoleon, who seems to us to be the leader of this entire movement (how wild the figure carved on the bow of the ship seemed to be, with the power guiding the ship), Napoleon during all this time of his activity was like a child who, holding on to the ribbons tied inside the carriage, imagines that he ed.
On October 6, early in the morning, Pierre left the booth and, returning back, stopped at the door, playing with a long purple dog on short crooked legs that was spinning around him. This little dog lived in their booth, spending the night with Karataev, but sometimes she went somewhere in the city and returned again. It had probably never belonged to anyone, and now it was owned and had no name. The French called her Azor, the soldier storyteller called her Femgalka, Karataev and others called her Gray, sometimes Visly. Its non-belonging to anyone and the absence of a name and even a breed, even a certain color, it seemed, did not make it difficult for the purple little dog. Her furry tail stood firmly and roundly up, her crooked legs served her so well that often she, as if neglecting the use of all four legs, gracefully raised one hind leg and very deftly and quickly ran on three legs. Everything was a matter of pleasure for her. Now, squealing with joy, she lay on her back, now she was basking in the sun with a thoughtful and significant look, now she was frolicking, playing with a sliver of wood or a straw.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Viktor Bondarev, revealed the main “aircraft” intrigue in mid-August recent years- first name Russian fighter fifth generation. He said that the promising aviation complex front-line aviation (PAK FA) will go to mass production like Su-57. The aircraft has not yet managed to earn an unofficial nickname, unlike its “ideological” predecessor - the Su-47 prototype, which the creators dubbed “Berkut” at the design stage. NATO is also puzzling over the “nickname” for the new “stealth” fighter: from the beginning cold war Soviet aircraft in the West have always been assigned special designations, the so-called NATO reporting names. What names do Russian gunsmiths give to their equipment and what does our potential enemy “call” it?
"Traumatism" is coming to you
Traditionally, any weapon in Russia, be it a tank, a pistol, or an airplane, is assigned an official letter or alphanumeric designation. It can “encrypt” the type of weapon, name design bureau or the name of the general designer, year of creation, project number and much more. In addition, most types of rifles and military equipment are assigned complex indices from the ordering departments of the Ministry of Defense. But in everyday life, official and unofficial “nicknames” are most often used, which are given to weapons either by the creators or by the military.
A system can be traced in a number of directions in such notations. Most shining example- “flower” series of Soviet and Russian self-propelled guns, howitzers and mortars: “Cornflower”, “Carnation”, “Acacia”, “Peony”, “Tulip”. Rocket artillery traditionally named after destructive natural phenomena: “Hail”, “Hurricane”, “Tornado”, “Tornado”. Powerful reactive systems salvo fire, capable of destroying an entire locality, such names, you see, are very suitable.
The names of rivers are extremely popular among gunsmiths - they were especially often used to name air defense systems: the Shilka and Tunguska complexes, the Dvina, Neva, Pechora and Angara air defense systems. There are, however, many exceptions to this rule - self-propelled and towed artillery systems “Msta”, “Khosta”, MLRS “Kama” (modification of “Smerch”) and others.
Many types of weapons, equipment and equipment receive names that are in one way or another connected with their “individual characteristics.” The heaviest Russian intercontinental ballistic missile The R-36M2 deservedly bears the proud name “Voevoda”. This “general of all ICBMs” is capable of throwing as many as ten warheads with a capacity of up to a megaton each into enemy territory. Attack helicopter Mi-28 " Night Hunter", as you might guess, is "tailored" for combat work in dark time days. The Shkval high-speed missile-torpedo is an absolute record holder in its class for speed. Tank dynamic protection "Contact" is triggered upon contact with enemy ammunition. The winter camouflage coat was nicknamed “Blob” for its characteristic colors, and sniper camouflage suits popular in special forces were called “Leshim” and “Kikimora”. Indeed, a fighter in such an outfit looks like anyone, but not a person.
However, the overwhelming majority of Soviet and Russian weapons were named by their creators without any logic, guided, rather, by the principle of the heroes of the film “Operation Y” - “so that no one would guess.” For reasons of secrecy, humor, or just randomly. How else to explain the fact that the experimental automatic grenade launcher TKB-0134 was nicknamed “Kozlik”? Or the heavy flamethrower system TOS-1 - “Buratino”? What motivated the people who called the patrol ship “Gepard” and the experimental amphibious vehicle UAZ-3907 “Jaguar”? Felines are not known to be big fans of water. Armored medical vehicles for Airborne troops and was completely “baptized” by a great lover of black humor. Comrade wounded, Aibolit is coming to you. Or be patient, fighter, “Traumatism” is already close.
The names of various ammunition, which were clearly invented by very poetic people, deserve special mention. Thermobaric warhead "Volnenie" for MLRS "Smerch" projectiles, 122 mm 9M22K "Ornament" rocket projectile for "Gradov", 240 mm MS-24 rocket projectile with "Laska" chemical warhead and 220 mm "Paragraph" propaganda projectile " Apparently full. Against this background, the Phantasmagoria 30-mm aviation target designation station somehow even gets lost aircraft cannon“Ballerinka”, portable artillery reconnaissance radar “Aistenok” and the Soviet tactical atomic bomb “Natasha”.
"Hooligan" and "Mitten"
Naturally, any Western military man will go crazy if he tries to understand all the intricacies of our weapons-linguistic diversity. However, it is not easy for a Russian to understand why, for example, the strategic missile carrier Tu-160 (“ White Swan") in the American press is called "Blackjack", the MiG-29 light fighter is called the "Fulcrum", and the Ka-25 anti-submarine helicopter is called "Hormone". It would seem that in the West things are even better with fantasy than here. However, the NATO code classification of Soviet and Russian aircraft based on a very simple system.
In the West, aircraft and helicopters of the Russian Aerospace Forces are given names whose first letters correspond to their type. For example, fighters are given “nicknames” starting with the letter F. The Su-27 and all its “descendants” up to the Su-35 received the “nickname” Flanker - “Flanker”, high-speed interceptors MiG-31 - Foxhound hound"), and Su-34 fighter-bombers became "Football Defenders" (Fullback). Exactly according to the same principle, the Americans give names to our bombers: Tu-95 and its modifications - Bear, Tu-22M Backfire, Tu-22 early versions - Blinder ") etc.
The letter M (miscellaneous - miscellaneous) in the NATO classification designates all other types of aircraft: reconnaissance, combat training, long-range radar detection and others. These include the Yak-130 Mitten fighter-trainer, the A-50 Mainstay AWACS aircraft, and the Il-78 Midas tanker. Transport designations begin with C (cargo - cargo): Il-76 Candid (“Sincere”), An-124 Condor (“Condor”), An-12 Cub (“Puppy”). The names of the helicopters, as you might guess, begin with H (helicopter): Mi-24 Hind (Doe), Mi-28 Havoc (Devastator), Mi-26 Hoodlom (Hooligan).
It is worth giving the potential enemy his due: many of the nicknames were chosen quite aptly. But for the life of me it is unclear why NATO called our Su-25 fighter-attack aircraft, armored like a tank and armed to the teeth, “Frogfoot”?
In army terminology, there are not only menacing names like “Tornado” or “Hurricane”. There are a lot of women's names here too. By March 8, we made a selection of “women’s” military equipment.
"Nona"
The 2S9 “Nona” airborne self-propelled gun can swim, can accelerate to 60 km/h and is armed with a 120-mm rifled gun-howitzer-mortar 2A51.
This weapon is capable of firing not only high-explosive fragmentation shells, like a howitzer, but also cumulative direct fire, like a cannon, as well as adjustable (“Kitolov-2”) ammunition.
In addition, the Nona gun can fire all types of mines of similar caliber for smoothbore and rifled mortars, including illumination, smoke and incendiary ammunition.
The maximum firing range is about 12 km, but when using active-reactive ammunition, for example, the APCM projectile for the French RT-61 rifled mortar, the 2S9 firing range can be increased to 17 km.
"Dana"
Dana is also an iconic name for the military, and not only because of the once popular program “Army Store”. After all, “Dana” is a 152-mm self-propelled gun-howitzer vz.77.
The self-propelled gun is built on an 8×8 wheeled chassis of a Tatra 815 truck, all tires have automatic inflation, and the suspension itself is independent. The crew of the self-propelled gun is 5 people, who are located in three sealed armored cabins, equipped with air conditioning and protected by bulletproof armor.
The maximum fire range is 20 km; shells can be fired either automatically or manually. It takes about two minutes to transfer an artillery installation from a traveling position to a combat position, and to leave the position after firing - no more than 60 seconds. In terms of maneuverability, a heavy self-propelled gun is superior to the BTR-70.
The twelve-cylinder V-shaped TATRA turbodiesel accelerates the 29-ton self-propelled gun to 80 km/h and has a cruising range of 600 km.
"Dana" is one of the few types of foreign equipment adopted by the USSR army - in 1988, 100 such self-propelled guns were purchased.
"Natasha"
This female name hides a tactical atomic bomb. 8U49 "Natasha" was adopted by Soviet long-range aviation in the 50s of the last century. A special feature of this bomb was the possibility of its use at supersonic speeds - up to 3000 km/h.
8U49 "Natasha".
450 kg "Natasha" weapons were used to arm the low-volume supersonic front-line bombers "Yak-26".
Bombing was possible from altitudes in the range of 0.5-30 km when performing both horizontal flight and complex maneuvering.
"Katyusha"
Without this name the list would be incomplete. "Katyusha" is one of the types of weapons that brought us victory in the Great Patriotic War.
The appearance of BM-13 guards rocket mortars among the Red Army was an unpleasant surprise for the Germans. A salvo of one rocket launcher brought down 16,132-mm shells or 32 82-mm shells onto the enemy’s head.
Due to the fundamental feature of the detonation of Katyusha rockets (counter detonation - explosive detonation is carried out from two sides, and when two waves of detonation meet, they create much higher gas pressure values), the fragments had a much higher initial velocity and were very hot.
For this reason, BM-13 rockets had such a high incendiary effect - fragments sometimes reached temperatures of 800 ° C.
"Tatiana"
“Product 244N” or RDS-4, also known as “Tatyana”, was the first Soviet tactical atomic bomb to be mass-produced. The power of the ammunition, which used the implosion principle (there was a core containing plutonium-239 inside a hollow sphere), was about 30 kilotons. Bomb weight - 1200 kg.
"Tatyana" (product 244N)
The first tests of the bomb took place at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on August 23, 1953. Product 244 was dropped from an Il-28 aircraft at an altitude of 11 km, the explosion occurred at an altitude of 600 m, and a power of 28 kt was achieved.
"Tatyana" was in service for only two years - from 1954 to 1956.