Why did they abandon atomic bullets? Why did the USSR abandon atomic bullets? Project problems and ways to solve them

Atomic bullets have been described more than once in science fiction literature, but few people know that for the USSR such ammunition was not fantasy, but reality.

One such bullet melted armored tank, and several atomic bullets destroyed a multi-story building. So why Soviet Union had to curtail the production of such powerful ammunition.

It turns out that it was in our country, back in the days of the USSR, when we sought military parity (or even advantage) with the United States, atomic bullets were just created. And not only created, but also tested! It was about ammunition caliber 14.3 mm and 12.7 mm for heavy machine guns.

However, it was possible to create a 7.62 mm caliber bullet, but not for the Kalashnikov assault rifle, but for it heavy machine gun. This cartridge became the smallest nuclear one ammunition in the world.

As is known, in any nuclear ammunition fissile material must be present. For bombs, they use uranium 235 or plutonium 239, but in order for them to work, the weight of the charge from these metals must at least exceed one kilogram - that is, have a critical mass.

When the transuranium element californium was discovered - more precisely, its isotope with atomic weight 252, it turned out that its critical mass was only 1.8 grams!

In addition, its main type of decay was very efficient fission, which produced 5-8 neutrons at once (for comparison: uranium and plutonium only have 2 or 3). That is, it was enough to just squeeze a tiny “pea” of this substance to cause an atomic explosion! This is why there was a temptation to use californium in atomic bullets.

It is known that there are two ways to produce californium. The first and simplest is the production of californium during powerful explosions thermonuclear bombs stuffed with plutonium. The second is the traditional production of its isotopes in a nuclear reactor.

Are climate weapons a myth?

However thermonuclear explosion more efficient, since with it the neutron flux density is many times higher than in an operating reactor. On the other hand - no nuclear tests, no, and California, since for bullets it is necessary to have it in significant quantities. Myself ammunition it is incredibly simple: a tiny part weighing 5-6 grams is made from californium, shaped like a dumbbell with two hemispheres on a thin leg.

A tiny explosive charge inside the bullet crushes it into a neat ball, which for a 7.62 mm caliber bullet has a diameter of 8 mm, and a supercritical state arises and... that’s it - a nuclear explosion is guaranteed! To detonate the charge, a contact fuse was used, which was placed inside the bullet - that’s the whole “bomb for a gun”! As a result, the bullet, however, turned out to be much heavier than usual, so in order to maintain the usual ballistic characteristics, it was necessary to place a charge of high-power gunpowder in the cartridge case.

However the main problem, which ultimately decided the fate of this unique ammunition is the heat generation caused by the continuous decay of californium. The fact is that all radioactive materials decay, which means they heat up, and the shorter their half-life, the stronger the heating. A bullet with a Californian core produced about 5 watts of heat. At the same time, due to its heating, the characteristics of the explosive and the fuse changed, and strong heating was simply dangerous, since the bullet could get stuck in the chamber or in the barrel, or, even worse, spontaneously explode when fired.

Therefore, to store such bullets, a special refrigerator was required, which looked like a copper plate about 15 cm thick with slots for 30 rounds. Between them there were channels through which a coolant—liquid ammonia—circulated under pressure, providing the bullets with a temperature of about -15°. This installation consumed about 200 watts of power and weighed about 110 kg, so it could only be transported in a specially equipped jeep.

In classic atomic bombs, the charge cooling system is an important part of the design, but it is located inside the bomb itself. And here, out of necessity, it had to be placed outside. Moreover, even a bullet frozen to -15° could be used within only 30 minutes after it was removed from the refrigerator, and during this time it was necessary to have time to load it into the magazine, occupy firing position, choose the desired goal and fire a shot at her.

If it was not possible to fire during this time, the cartridge should be returned to the refrigerator and cooled again. Well, what if the bullet was outside the refrigerator? more than an hour, then it was strictly forbidden to use it, and it itself was subject to disposal using special equipment.

Another serious drawback was the spread of energy release values ​​during the explosion of each such bullet from 100 to 700 kilograms of TNT, which depended on both storage conditions and (and this is the main thing) on ​​the material of the target into which it hit.

The fact is that the explosion of ultra-small nuclear charge not at all like a subversion of the classic atomic bomb and at the same time it does not resemble the explosion of an ordinary chemical explosive charge. In both cases, tons of hot gases are formed (with the first more, with the second, of course, less), uniformly heated to temperatures of millions and thousands of degrees. And here is a tiny ball - “nine grams in the heart”, which simply physically cannot convey environment all the energy of its nuclear decay due to its very small volume and mass.

It is clear that 700 or even 100 kg of chemical explosives is a lot. But still, the shock wave from the explosion of an atomic bullet was many times weaker than from the same amount of explosives, but the radiation, on the contrary, was very strong. Because of this, she should have only shot at maximum range, but even then the shooter could receive a noticeable dose of radiation. So the longest burst that was allowed to be fired at the enemy with atomic bullets was limited to only three shots.

However, one shot with such a bullet was usually more than enough. Despite the fact that active armor modern tank did not allow it to penetrate through it, so much thermal energy was released at the point of impact that the armor simply evaporated, and the metal around it melted to such an extent that both the tracks and the turret were tightly welded to the hull. Once in brick wall, it vaporized about a cubic meter of masonry, and three bullets - as many as three, after which the building usually collapsed.

True, it was noticed that a nuclear explosion did not occur when a bullet hit a tank of water, since the water slowed down and reflected neutrons. They immediately tried to use the resulting effect to protect their own tanks from ammunition with californium, for which purpose they began to hang “water armor” on them in the form of containers with heavy water. So it turned out that even against such a superweapon, protection can be found.

In addition, it turned out that the reserve of California, “exhausted” during superpower nuclear explosions, quickly disappears. Well, after the introduction of a moratorium on testing nuclear weapons the problem became even more acute: californium from the reactor was much more expensive, and its production volumes were small. Of course, the military would not be stopped by any expenses if they had an urgent need for these weapons. However, they did not test it (potential enemy tanks could be destroyed with less exotic ammunition!), which was the reason for curtailing this program shortly before the death of L. I. Brezhnev.

Well, the shelf life of these unique bullets did not exceed six years, so none of them have simply survived since then. Of course, no one will undertake to argue that the improvement of such weapons is not being carried out at the present time. However, it is very difficult to circumvent the laws of physics, and the fact that bullets filled with transuranium elements heat up very much, require cooling, and do not give the desired effect when entering a tank with heavy water is proven scientific fact. All this limits the possibilities for their use, and in the most serious way.

On the other hand, who knows - after all, our domestic portable anti-aircraft missile systems"Strela" and "Igla" also use a homing system, which is cooled to -200° with liquid nitrogen and... nothing. We have to put up with this. So maybe here, sooner or later, portable cooling systems will be created for magazines with such cartridges, and then almost every soldier will be able to shoot them at tanks!

Atomic bullets have been described more than once in science fiction literature, but few people know that for the USSR such ammunition was not fantasy, but reality. One such bullet melted an armored tank, and several atomic bullets destroyed a multi-story building. So why did the Soviet Union have to curtail the production of such powerful ammunition.

It turns out that it was in our country, back in the days of the USSR, when we were seeking military parity (or even advantage) with the United States, that atomic bullets were created. And not only created, but also tested! We were talking about 14.3 mm and 12.7 mm ammunition for heavy machine guns. However, it was possible to create a 7.62 mm caliber bullet, but not for the Kalashnikov assault rifle, but for his heavy machine gun. This cartridge became the smallest nuclear weapon in the world.

As is known, any nuclear weapon must contain fissile material. For bombs, they use uranium 235 or plutonium 239, but in order for them to work, the weight of the charge from these metals must at least exceed one kilogram - that is, have a critical mass. When the transuranium element californium was discovered - more precisely, its isotope with atomic weight 252, it turned out that its critical mass was only 1.8 grams! In addition, its main type of decay was very efficient fission, which produced 5-8 neutrons at once (for comparison: uranium and plutonium only have 2 or 3). That is, it was enough to just squeeze a tiny “pea” of this substance to cause an atomic explosion! This is why there was a temptation to use californium in atomic bullets.

It is known that there are two ways to produce californium. The first and simplest is the production of californium during the explosions of powerful thermonuclear bombs filled with plutonium. The second is the traditional production of its isotopes in a nuclear reactor.

However, a thermonuclear explosion is more effective, since in it the neutron flux density is many times higher than in an operating reactor. On the other hand, there are no nuclear tests, and there is no California, since for bullets it is necessary to have it in significant quantities. The ammunition itself is incredibly simple: a tiny part weighing 5-6 grams is made from californium, shaped like a dumbbell with two hemispheres on a thin leg. A tiny explosive charge inside the bullet crushes it into a neat ball, which for a 7.62 mm caliber bullet has a diameter of 8 mm, and a supercritical state arises and... that's it - a nuclear explosion is guaranteed! To detonate the charge, a contact fuse was used, which was placed inside the bullet - that’s the whole “gun bomb”! As a result, the bullet, however, turned out to be much heavier than a regular one, so in order to maintain the usual ballistic characteristics, it was necessary to place a charge of high-power gunpowder in the cartridge case.

However, the main problem, which ultimately decided the fate of this unique ammunition, was the heat generation caused by the continuous decay of californium. The fact is that all radioactive materials decay, which means they heat up, and the shorter their half-life, the stronger the heating. A bullet with a Californian core generated about 5 watts of heat. At the same time, due to its heating, the characteristics of the explosive and the fuse changed, and strong heating was simply dangerous, since the bullet could get stuck in the chamber or in the barrel, or, even worse, spontaneously explode when fired.

Therefore, to store such bullets, a special refrigerator was required, which looked like a copper plate about 15 cm thick with slots for 30 rounds. Between them there were channels through which a coolant circulated under pressure - liquid ammonia, which provided the bullets with a temperature of about -15°. This installation consumed about 200 watts of power and weighed about 110 kg, so it could only be transported in a specially equipped jeep. In classic atomic bombs, the charge cooling system is an important part of the design, but it is located inside the bomb itself. And here, out of necessity, it had to be placed outside. Moreover, even a bullet frozen to -15° could be used within only 30 minutes after it was removed from the refrigerator, and during this time it was necessary to load it into the magazine, take a firing position, select the desired target and fire at it.

If it was not possible to fire during this time, the cartridge should be returned to the refrigerator and cooled again. Well, if the bullet was outside the refrigerator for more than an hour, then it was strictly forbidden to use it, and it itself had to be disposed of using special equipment.

Another serious drawback was the spread of energy release values ​​during the explosion of each such bullet from 100 to 700 kilograms of TNT, which depended on both storage conditions and (and this is the main thing) on ​​the material of the target into which it hit.

The fact is that the explosion of an ultra-small nuclear charge is not at all similar to the explosion of a classical atomic bomb and at the same time it is not similar to the explosion of an ordinary chemical explosive charge. In both cases, tons of hot gases are formed (with the first more, with the second, of course, less), uniformly heated to temperatures of millions and thousands of degrees. And here is a tiny ball - “nine grams in the heart”, which simply physically cannot transfer all the energy of its nuclear decay to the environment due to its very small volume and mass.

It is clear that 700 or even 100 kg of chemical explosives is a lot. But still, the shock wave from the explosion of an atomic bullet was many times weaker than from the same amount of explosives, but the radiation, on the contrary, was very strong. Because of this, she should only shoot at the maximum range, but even then the shooter could receive a noticeable dose of radiation. So the longest burst that was allowed to be fired at the enemy with atomic bullets was limited to only three shots.

However, one shot with such a bullet was usually more than enough. Despite the fact that the active armor of a modern tank did not allow it to penetrate through it, so much thermal energy was released at the point of impact that the armor simply evaporated, and the metal around it melted to such an extent that both the tracks and the turret were tightly welded to the hull. Once it hit a brick wall, it vaporized about a cubic meter of masonry, and three bullets - as many as three, after which the building usually collapsed.

True, it was noticed that a nuclear explosion did not occur when a bullet hit a tank of water, since the water slowed down and reflected neutrons. They immediately tried to use the resulting effect to protect their own tanks from ammunition with californium, for which purpose they began to hang “water armor” on them in the form of containers with heavy water. So it turned out that even against such a superweapon, protection can be found.

In addition, it turned out that the supply of californium, “exhausted” during super-powerful nuclear explosions, is quickly disappearing. Well, after the introduction of a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing, the problem became even more acute: californium from the reactor was much more expensive, and its production volumes were small. Of course, the military would not be stopped by any expenses if they had an urgent need for these weapons. However, they did not test it (potential enemy tanks could be destroyed with less exotic ammunition!), which was the reason for curtailing this program shortly before the death of L. I. Brezhnev.

Well, the shelf life of these unique bullets did not exceed six years, so none of them have simply survived since then. Of course, no one will undertake to argue that the improvement of such weapons is not being carried out at the present time. However, the laws of physics are very difficult to circumvent, and the fact that bullets filled with transuranium elements heat up very much, require cooling, and do not give the desired effect when they fall into a tank of heavy water is a proven scientific fact. All this limits the possibilities for their use, and in the most serious way.

On the other hand, who knows - after all, our domestic man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems “Strela” and “Igla” also use a homing system, which is cooled to -200° with liquid nitrogen and... nothing. We have to put up with this. So maybe here, sooner or later, portable cooling systems will be created for magazines with such cartridges, and then almost every soldier will be able to shoot them at tanks!

Atomic bullets have been described more than once in science fiction literature, but few people know that for the USSR such ammunition was not fantasy, but reality. One such bullet melted an armored tank, and several atomic bullets destroyed a multi-story building. So why did the Soviet Union have to curtail the production of such powerful ammunition.

It turns out that it was in our country, back in the days of the USSR, when we were seeking military parity (or even advantage) with the United States, that atomic bullets were created. And not only created, but also tested! We were talking about 14.3 mm and 12.7 mm ammunition for heavy machine guns. However, it was possible to create a 7.62 mm caliber bullet, but not for the Kalashnikov assault rifle, but for his heavy machine gun. This cartridge became the smallest nuclear weapon in the world.

As is known, any nuclear weapon must contain fissile material. For bombs, they use uranium 235 or plutonium 239, but in order for them to work, the weight of the charge from these metals must at least exceed one kilogram - that is, have a critical mass. When the transuranium element californium was discovered - more precisely, its isotope with atomic weight 252, it turned out that its critical mass was only 1.8 grams! In addition, its main type of decay was very efficient fission, which produced 5-8 neutrons at once (for comparison: uranium and plutonium only have 2 or 3). That is, it was enough to just squeeze a tiny “pea” of this substance to cause an atomic explosion! This is why there was a temptation to use californium in atomic bullets.

It is known that there are two ways to produce californium. The first and simplest is the production of californium during the explosions of powerful thermonuclear bombs filled with plutonium. The second is the traditional production of its isotopes in a nuclear reactor.

However, a thermonuclear explosion is more effective, since in it the neutron flux density is many times higher than in an operating reactor. On the other hand, there are no nuclear tests, and there is no California, since for bullets it is necessary to have it in significant quantities. The ammunition itself is incredibly simple: a tiny part weighing 5-6 grams is made from californium, shaped like a dumbbell with two hemispheres on a thin leg. A tiny explosive charge inside the bullet crushes it into a neat ball, which for a 7.62 mm caliber bullet has a diameter of 8 mm, and a supercritical state arises and... that's it - a nuclear explosion is guaranteed! To detonate the charge, a contact fuse was used, which was placed inside the bullet - that’s the whole “gun bomb”! As a result, the bullet, however, turned out to be much heavier than a regular one, so in order to maintain the usual ballistic characteristics, it was necessary to place a charge of high-power gunpowder in the cartridge case.

However, the main problem, which ultimately decided the fate of this unique ammunition, was the heat generation caused by the continuous decay of californium. The fact is that all radioactive materials decay, which means they heat up, and the shorter their half-life, the stronger the heating. A bullet with a Californian core generated about 5 watts of heat. At the same time, due to its heating, the characteristics of the explosive and the fuse changed, and strong heating was simply dangerous, since the bullet could get stuck in the chamber or in the barrel, or, even worse, spontaneously explode when fired.

Therefore, to store such bullets, a special refrigerator was required, which looked like a copper plate about 15 cm thick with slots for 30 rounds. Between them there were channels through which a coolant circulated under pressure - liquid ammonia, which provided the bullets with a temperature of about -15°. This installation consumed about 200 watts of power and weighed about 110 kg, so it could only be transported in a specially equipped jeep. In classic atomic bombs, the charge cooling system is an important part of the design, but it is located inside the bomb itself. And here, out of necessity, it had to be placed outside. Moreover, even a bullet frozen to -15° could be used within only 30 minutes after it was removed from the refrigerator, and during this time it was necessary to load it into the magazine, take a firing position, select the desired target and fire at it.

If it was not possible to fire during this time, the cartridge should be returned to the refrigerator and cooled again. Well, if the bullet was outside the refrigerator for more than an hour, then it was strictly forbidden to use it, and it itself had to be disposed of using special equipment.

Another serious drawback was the spread of energy release values ​​during the explosion of each such bullet from 100 to 700 kilograms of TNT, which depended on both storage conditions and (and this is the main thing) on ​​the material of the target into which it hit.

The fact is that the explosion of an ultra-small nuclear charge is not at all similar to the explosion of a classical atomic bomb and at the same time it is not similar to the explosion of an ordinary chemical explosive charge. In both cases, tons of hot gases are formed (with the first more, with the second, of course, less), uniformly heated to temperatures of millions and thousands of degrees. And here is a tiny ball - “nine grams in the heart”, which simply physically cannot transfer all the energy of its nuclear decay to the environment due to its very small volume and mass.

It is clear that 700 or even 100 kg of chemical explosives is a lot. But still, the shock wave from the explosion of an atomic bullet was many times weaker than from the same amount of explosives, but the radiation, on the contrary, was very strong. Because of this, she should only shoot at the maximum range, but even then the shooter could receive a noticeable dose of radiation. So the longest burst that was allowed to be fired at the enemy with atomic bullets was limited to only three shots.

However, one shot with such a bullet was usually more than enough. Despite the fact that the active armor of a modern tank did not allow it to penetrate through it, so much thermal energy was released at the point of impact that the armor simply evaporated, and the metal around it melted to such an extent that both the tracks and the turret were tightly welded to the hull. Once it hit a brick wall, it vaporized about a cubic meter of masonry, and three bullets - as many as three, after which the building usually collapsed.

True, it was noticed that a nuclear explosion did not occur when a bullet hit a tank of water, since the water slowed down and reflected neutrons. They immediately tried to use the resulting effect to protect their own tanks from ammunition with californium, for which purpose they began to hang “water armor” on them in the form of containers with heavy water. So it turned out that even against such a superweapon, protection can be found.

In addition, it turned out that the supply of californium, “exhausted” during super-powerful nuclear explosions, is quickly disappearing. Well, after the introduction of a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing, the problem became even more acute: californium from the reactor was much more expensive, and its production volumes were small. Of course, the military would not be stopped by any expenses if they had an urgent need for these weapons. However, they did not test it (potential enemy tanks could be destroyed with less exotic ammunition!), which was the reason for curtailing this program shortly before the death of L. I. Brezhnev.

Well, the shelf life of these unique bullets did not exceed six years, so none of them have simply survived since then. Of course, no one will undertake to argue that the improvement of such weapons is not being carried out at the present time. However, the laws of physics are very difficult to circumvent, and the fact that bullets filled with transuranium elements heat up very much, require cooling, and do not give the desired effect when they fall into a tank of heavy water is a proven scientific fact. All this limits the possibilities for their use, and in the most serious way.

On the other hand, who knows - after all, our domestic man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems “Strela” and “Igla” also use a homing system, which is cooled to -200° with liquid nitrogen and... nothing. We have to put up with this. So maybe here, sooner or later, portable cooling systems will be created for magazines with such cartridges, and then almost every soldier will be able to shoot them at tanks!

Sensational information about the USSR's successful testing of miniature atomic warheads for small arms first became known only after the collapse of the great state.

She raised a number of questions to which experts still cannot give unambiguous answers.

The end of the 50s - the beginning of the 70s of the last century was a time of an unprecedented arms race, when the two most powerful countries world, the USSR and the USA were intensively preparing for direct confrontation and were developing the most unusual weapons.

It is reliably known that the leadership of the Soviet Union, which was significantly inferior to the Americans in terms of the number of launch vehicles for nuclear warheads and the warheads themselves, decided to rely on the creation of tactical nuclear weapons.

Our scientists designed atomic warheads for large-caliber howitzer guns and for self-propelled guns, the news of which instantly cooled the ardor of the “military hawks” of the West.

Many experts agree that the presence of tactical nuclear weapons, the movement of which was almost impossible to track, was one of the arguments that forced the United States to reconsider its concept of confrontation with the USSR.

It was the growing atomic power of our country that became the reason that the Americans moderated their military ambitions and themselves proposed signing a number of agreements in 1969-1972, better known as common name"Treaty of Limitation strategic weapons(OSV).”

Nuclear bullets for an aggressive enemy

But until recently, practically nothing was known about another unique project of Soviet designers, the implementation of which was suspended solely due to the high cost of production.

In the mid-1960s, domestic designers presented to the State Commission projects for miniature nuclear warheads, which were installed in 14.3 and 12.7 mm caliber cartridges and were suitable for firing from heavy machine guns and special sniper rifles.

When such a bullet hits the turret heavy tank emission occurred large quantity thermal energy, and the metal in the lesion simply evaporated. The temperature rose to such an extent that the tracks and turret were tightly welded to the hull, and the tank warhead detonated, leaving nothing alive within a radius of several meters.

An atomic bullet hitting brickwork caused the evaporation of up to 1 cubic meter of reinforced concrete or other building material. Typically, in order to cause the complete destruction of a building, it was necessary to fire only three precise shots in the area of ​​​​its foundation.

The Americans who learned about the existence of such weapons called it a simple “duck”, since to start a chain reaction it is necessary to bring together a critical mass of plutonium-239 or uranium-235, which is approximately 1 kilogram. It's easy enough to do artillery shells and mines, but not for small arms ammunition.

However, Pentagon experts did not take into account the resourcefulness of Soviet designers who proposed using transuranium for the production of bullets. chemical element californium-252, the critical mass of which is 1.8 grams.

The main difficulty was obtaining this element, which required the use of nuclear reactor or carrying out regular nuclear explosions. According to one version, it was precisely because of the need to obtain California-252 that regular nuclear tests were carried out at the Semipalatinsk test site in the mid-1960s.

USSR atomic bullets were a nuclear warhead, made in the form of a dumbbell, and covered with a protective shell. When the two parts collided with an obstacle, both parts came into contact with each other, creating an excess of the critical mass of California-252. A chain reaction of decay began, and a miniature nuclear explosion occurred, releasing a huge amount of energy.

The success of the project allowed the development of special 7.62 mm ammunition for light machine gun Kalashnikov, but due to the radiation it spreads, it was not recommended to use such cartridges for real shooting from an AKM assault rifle.

Project problems and ways to solve them

The main disadvantage of nuclear bullets was the high cost of their production, as well as difficulties with storage and use. California constantly generated heat, and cartridges containing it had to be stored in special portable refrigerators and used no later than half an hour after loading the weapon.

But for the defense industry nothing is impossible! A refrigeration unit weighing 110 kg with liquid ammonia was specially created, maintaining a temperature of –15°C. The cartridges were stored in special copper plates 15 cm thick with slots for 30 cartridges. If the cartridge was on outdoors more than 1 hour, then it could no longer be returned to the refrigerator, but had to be destroyed.

At the same time, the refrigerator consumed up to 200 W of electricity and special transport was required to transport it. Batteries in those years were very heavy and low-capacity, which made the use of atomic cartridges expensive and inconvenient.

Another problem was ordinary water. When a bullet hit a body of water, there was no collision of parts and no detonation of a nuclear charge, which means that the bullet remained intact and could easily fall into the hands of foreign intelligence services.

Frozen Peacemaker

Development is very promising project was literally “frozen” personally Leonid Brezhnev at the very beginning of the 1980s. The country then abandoned a number of military projects that were considered secondary, and the freed up funds were redirected to the development of systems missile weapons, including the intercontinental ballistic missile SS-20 "Satan".

Currently, a small number of special cartridges with nuclear warheads stored in highly classified military warehouses located in remote areas of the Urals and Siberia. These cartridges can be used at any time Russian snipers for carrying out special operations to destroy the most protected by concrete and armor command posts the enemy, as well as his armored groups. Modern technologies allow the production of such ammunition to be restored within several years.

The terrifying effect of direct hits from miniature nuclear charges of 14.3, 12.7 and 7.62 mm caliber can make any enemy think about an immediate cessation of aggression and a transition to a peaceful resolution of even the most complex conflict situation.

Why did the USSR abandon atomic bullets? 18.09.2017 14:34

Atomic bullets have been described more than once in science fiction literature, but few people know that for the USSR such ammunition was not fantasy, but reality. One such bullet melted an armored tank, and several atomic bullets destroyed a multi-story building. So why did the Soviet Union have to curtail production of such powerful ammunition?

It turns out that it was in our country, back in the days of the USSR, when we were seeking military parity (or even advantage) with the United States, that atomic bullets were created. And not only created, but also tested! We were talking about 14.3 mm and 12.7 mm ammunition for heavy machine guns. However, it was possible to create a 7.62 mm caliber bullet, but not for the Kalashnikov assault rifle, but for his heavy machine gun. This cartridge became the smallest nuclear weapon in the world.

As is known, any nuclear weapon must contain fissile material. For bombs, they use uranium 235 or plutonium 239, but in order for them to work, the weight of the charge from these metals must at least exceed one kilogram - that is, have a critical mass. When the transuranium element californium was discovered - more precisely, its isotope with atomic weight 252, it turned out that its critical mass was only 1.8 grams! In addition, its main type of decay was very efficient fission, which produced 5-8 neutrons at once (for comparison: uranium and plutonium only have 2 or 3). That is, it was enough to just squeeze a tiny “pea” of this substance to cause an atomic explosion! This is why there was a temptation to use californium in atomic bullets.

It is known that there are two ways to produce californium. The first and simplest is the production of californium during the explosions of powerful thermonuclear bombs filled with plutonium. The second is the traditional production of its isotopes in a nuclear reactor.

However, a thermonuclear explosion is more effective, since in it the neutron flux density is many times higher than in an operating reactor. On the other hand, there are no nuclear tests, and there is no California, since for bullets it is necessary to have it in significant quantities. The ammunition itself is incredibly simple: a tiny part weighing 5-6 grams is made from californium, shaped like a dumbbell with two hemispheres on a thin leg. A tiny explosive charge inside the bullet crushes it into a neat ball, which for a 7.62 mm caliber bullet has a diameter of 8 mm, and a supercritical state arises and... that’s it - a nuclear explosion is guaranteed! To detonate the charge, a contact fuse was used, which was placed inside the bullet - that’s the whole “gun bomb”! As a result, the bullet, however, turned out to be much heavier than a regular one, so in order to maintain the usual ballistic characteristics, it was necessary to place a charge of high-power gunpowder in the cartridge case.

However, the main problem that ultimately decided the fate of this unique ammunition was the heat generation caused by the continuous decay of californium. The fact is that all radioactive materials decay, which means they heat up, and the shorter their half-life, the stronger the heating. A bullet with a Californian core produced about 5 watts of heat. At the same time, due to its heating, the characteristics of the explosive and the fuse changed, and strong heating was simply dangerous, since the bullet could get stuck in the chamber or in the barrel, or, even worse, spontaneously explode when fired.

Therefore, to store such bullets, a special refrigerator was required, which looked like a copper plate about 15 cm thick with slots for 30 rounds. Between them there were channels through which a coolant—liquid ammonia—circulated under pressure, providing the bullets with a temperature of about -15°. This installation consumed about 200 watts of power and weighed about 110 kg, so it could only be transported in a specially equipped jeep. In classic atomic bombs, the charge cooling system is an important part of the design, but it is located inside the bomb itself. And here, out of necessity, it had to be placed outside. Moreover, even a bullet frozen to -15° could be used within only 30 minutes after it was removed from the refrigerator, and during this time it was necessary to load it into the magazine, take a firing position, select the desired target and fire at it.

If it was not possible to fire during this time, the cartridge should be returned to the refrigerator and cooled again. Well, if the bullet was outside the refrigerator for more than an hour, then it was strictly forbidden to use it, and it itself had to be disposed of using special equipment.

Another serious drawback was the spread of energy release values ​​during the explosion of each such bullet from 100 to 700 kilograms of TNT, which depended on both storage conditions and (and this is the main thing) on ​​the material of the target into which it hit.

The fact is that the explosion of an ultra-small nuclear charge is not at all similar to the explosion of a classical atomic bomb and at the same time it is not similar to the explosion of an ordinary chemical explosive charge. In both cases, tons of hot gases are formed (with the first more, with the second, of course, less), uniformly heated to temperatures of millions and thousands of degrees. And here is a tiny ball - “nine grams in the heart”, which simply physically cannot transfer all the energy of its nuclear decay to the environment due to its very small volume and mass.

It is clear that 700 or even 100 kg of chemical explosives is a lot. But still, the shock wave from the explosion of an atomic bullet was many times weaker than from the same amount of explosives, but the radiation, on the contrary, was very strong. Because of this, she should only shoot at the maximum range, but even then the shooter could receive a noticeable dose of radiation. So the longest burst that was allowed to be fired at the enemy with atomic bullets was limited to only three shots.

However, one shot with such a bullet was usually more than enough. Despite the fact that the active armor of a modern tank did not allow it to penetrate through it, so much thermal energy was released at the point of impact that the armor simply evaporated, and the metal around it melted to such an extent that both the tracks and the turret were tightly welded to the hull. Once it hit a brick wall, it vaporized about a cubic meter of masonry, and three bullets - as many as three, after which the building usually collapsed.

True, it was noticed that a nuclear explosion did not occur when a bullet hit a tank of water, since the water slowed down and reflected neutrons. They immediately tried to use the resulting effect to protect their own tanks from ammunition with californium, for which purpose they began to hang “water armor” on them in the form of containers with heavy water. So it turned out that even against such a superweapon, protection can be found.

In addition, it turned out that the supply of californium, “exhausted” during super-powerful nuclear explosions, is quickly disappearing. Well, after the introduction of a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing, the problem became even more acute: californium from the reactor was much more expensive, and its production volumes were small. Of course, the military would not be stopped by any expenses if they had an urgent need for these weapons. However, they did not test it (potential enemy tanks could be destroyed with less exotic ammunition!), which was the reason for curtailing this program shortly before the death of L. I. Brezhnev.

Well, the shelf life of these unique bullets did not exceed six years, so none of them have simply survived since then. Of course, no one will undertake to argue that the improvement of such weapons is not being carried out at the present time. However, it is very difficult to circumvent the laws of physics, and the fact that bullets filled with transuranium elements heat up very much, require cooling, and do not give the desired effect when they fall into a tank of heavy water is a proven scientific fact. All this limits the possibilities for their use, and in the most serious way.

On the other hand, who knows - after all, our domestic man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems “Strela” and “Igla” also use a homing system that is cooled to -200° with liquid nitrogen and... nothing. We have to put up with this. So maybe here, sooner or later, portable cooling systems will be created for magazines with such cartridges, and then almost every soldier will be able to shoot them at tanks!