SOI (Strategic Defense Initiative) - how much? "Star Wars" SOI: a mosquito bite against the backdrop of an inevitable disaster American president who put forward the soybean program 1983

The Cold War was not only the largest geopolitical event of the 20th century, but also became the strongest catalyst for scientific breakthroughs in the field of military technology. The rivalry between the two superpowers gave rise to a spiral of arms race, which resulted in a mass of breakthrough technologies and concepts.

Bright military concept became the program put forward by then US President Ronald Reagan “Strategic Defense Initiatives”. Also, such a program received a bright name in the press - SDI’s “Star Wars Program”.

Strategic Defense Initiative

The US Strategic Defense Initiative program provided for the active use of weapons in outer space. The Earth's near-Earth orbit has not been actively used for military purposes (except for the use of spy satellites).

The United States was the first to think about launching a weapons system into orbit.

To practice an attack or defense against an attack from the USSR. In addition, not only the military, but also private companies associated with space had high hopes for the Star Wars program, as it promised multi-billion dollar contracts.

The essence of the program was the destruction nuclear warheads enemy in low-Earth orbit, thereby creating a reliable system missile defense along the perimeter of the entire territory.

The US nuclear doctrine is calculated and assumes the delivery of a nuclear strike of both limited and full power first, in the event of a threat national interests even outside your own territory.

Soviet doctrine assumed a massive retaliatory strike.

The desire to completely secure the territory of the entire country also had many political benefits for the presidential administration. First of all, the Star Wars program is connected with the fact that the presence of such a defense system would allow the United States to confidently dictate its will not only Soviet Union, but also to the whole world, which would mean world hegemony.

After detente between the USSR and the USA in the 70s, another round of hostile confrontation and even greater armament of both countries began. The Americans, developing plans to strike the territory of the USSR, were only afraid of retaliatory actions, since a retaliatory strike with nuclear weapons from the USSR would with 100% probability completely destroy the United States as a state. That is why the United States began to take steps to create a guaranteed means of protection.

The project assumed the presence of a number of means of destroying warheads.

The development of the SDI program in the United States began at the end of the 70s, naturally, in strict secrecy. Reagan, announcing in his famous speech about the evil empire and the Star Wars program, was only making a publicity stunt - a concept neither then nor now can be realized at the current level of technology development.

The development also took place in high secrecy throughout the 80s and required funding of several tens of billions of dollars.

The political leadership in the person of Reagan hurried scientists and work on the Star Wars program went in several alternative directions at once. Electromagnetic, laser and weapons were tested on other physical principles.

Above American SDI All defense enterprises were operating.

The ultimate goal of the project was to completely cover the territory of North America and minimize damage as much as possible.

It was planned to complete the production and implementation of the complex by the end of the 90s, at which time the missile defense system covers most of the country's territory. However, the developers of the SDI program in 1983 faced a lot of problems that did not allow them to ultimately implement the project.

These problems were both financial in nature and purely applied - the impossibility of implementing certain stages of SDI in the United States at the level of technological development. The result was a complete fiasco of the Star Wars program.

Development of the program ended in the late 80s. According to some reports, about $100 billion was spent on it. However, despite the failure of the implementation of this system, the developments were successfully applied in other defense areas. The current missile defense system located in Europe is only a small part of the Americans' unrealized plans.

SOI Components

Reagan's Star Wars SDI program was a combination of several components, which included:

• The ground part constituted the framework of the system.

The automated processes of targeting and destroying warheads are controlled from the ground. These processes are controlled by the systems of the US missile defense system - NORAD. This control center coordinates the actions of space objects, monitoring threats in the form of single or massive launches enemy missiles and make the final decision on the retaliatory strike and the use of the missile defense system.

After receiving a signal from space or ground-based radars about the start of a mass launch, the missile defense system activates ground-based launch silos with nuclear warheads using the signal and prepares the missiles for launch.

The threat signal was sent to all authorities and military units.

In addition, the signal was also received by satellites in orbit, which were supposed to relay the signal to the orbital elements of the missile defense system to destroy incoming ballistic missiles. Orbital elements must be carried out in a certain way (electromagnetic, laser, wave, or interceptor missiles located on orbital combat platforms).

• The ground-based interception system was supposed to become the second and final echelon of destruction of enemy missiles, after their passage of space missile defense.

The system, under an agreement between the USA and the USSR, covers the operational areas - Washington and the base on Cheyenne Mountain (NORAD). In reality, only the second missile defense system is functioning.

Some of them are launchers with specialized missiles that are capable of intercepting carriers at low altitude. Such ammunition is itself equipped with a nuclear charge (since the interception accuracy at the enormous speed of the warhead is low and area coverage is required for reliable interception).

• The main component was to be a grouping of spacecraft of different operating principles.

The devices were supposed to be divided into two main types: satellites that signal the start of a nuclear attack and devices that should disable incoming warheads in low-Earth orbit using a certain type of radiation.

The type of destruction of nuclear weapons remained open on the agenda - various experiments were carried out with laser weapons, radiation of electromagnetic waves and others. As a result, none of the types guaranteed 100% destruction of the warhead, which was the main reason for the cancellation of the entire program.

None of the types guaranteed 100% destruction of the warhead.

Satellites must shoot down missiles while still approaching, without causing significant damage to US territory.

After the destruction of the warheads, it was planned to destroy strategic objects on the territory of the USSR with a direct strike, or in the case of striking first and repelling the residual strike of the Soviet army. Also, these devices were supposed to disable the Soviet space orbital group, thereby blinding the enemy.

After Reagan's announcement in 1983 that work on the Star Wars project had begun, the Soviet leadership became greatly concerned about the threat of neutralizing a nuclear retaliatory strike and decided to develop countermeasures. Well-known defense design bureaus of the country participated in the creation of this system.

The changes concerned the development of a new type intercontinental missiles, capable of overcoming most missile defense components. Improvements have also been made to the troop control system in the event of the main control units failing.

this year a new missile under the designation r-36M “Voevoda” was put into service

Such work was crowned with complete success. By 1985, a new missile was put into service under the designation R-36M “Voevoda”, which received the name “Satan” in the West, modernized since its introduction in 1970. Nuclear ammunition is endowed with high speed characteristics.

The missile is based in a silo and during launch has a mortar type of ejection, which allows it to reach a launch speed of 230 km/h (thanks to the design of the engines, the missile launches even in a nuclear cloud).

After acceleration, the rocket enters low-Earth orbit and shoots off heat traps (the Americans were unable to solve the problem of combating false targets). Descending in orbit, the warhead is divided into 10 warheads, each of which carries a charge with a power of 1 megaton (the equivalent of TNT is enough to destroy a city of a million people).

A strategic weapons control system has also been developed, called “Perimeter”, and in the west “Dead Hand”. The principle of its operation was as follows: two missiles with hardware that signal the launch of missiles from enemy territory are patrolling in orbit in a constant monitoring mode.

The missiles are equipped with sensors that constantly monitor the situation for changes atmospheric pressure, weather conditions, change magnetic field and other parameters that indicate the beginning of a massive nuclear attack. The information is transmitted to the control center.

Also, in the absence of a response from the center (if command posts are destroyed by the enemy), the elements of the complex themselves send warhead launch codes to silos, strategic bombers and nuclear submarines, where the launch is carried out either with the help of crews or automatically.

The principle of operation is the inevitability of a retaliatory strike even without human participation, which is why the American side, after the end of the Cold War, insisted on the abolition of the Perimeter complex.

As history shows, the adoption of the SDI program in fact turned out to be an operation to disinform the enemy in order to involve the USSR in the arms race. The Cold War inflicted a crushing defeat on the mighty power, destroying its economy and country.

What was planned to trample the red empire into dust...

The modern generation remembers little (and most likely simply does not know) about the Strategic Program that existed in the 1980s. Defense Initiative. IN English version it sounded like the Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI for short. In the Soviet Union, another name took root - SDI.

So, with March 23, 1983 This SDI scared both Soviet and American citizens. But if in the first case this meant a violation of parity in missile defense, then in the second “Soviet nuclear threat” has reached a new qualitative level.

For people unfamiliar with SDI, I will give a short educational program. The meaning of the program, initiated by the US Department of Defense and the administration of President R. Reagan, was to deploy an entire army of satellites in orbit, the purpose of which was to destroy Soviet ballistic missiles. Americans have been convinced for a long time that Soviet missiles will definitely go to the United States, but it was the “Reaganites” who convinced everyone that this was inevitable. Films like “Red Dawn” (1984) seemed to subtly warn ordinary people that they absolutely could not relax.

Several options were considered at once defensive systems, including ground-based and space-based anti-missiles, but the most odious project was, of course, combat lasers (!) Some of these developments were implemented in the form of prototypes, but not all of them reached the level of full-fledged testing in outer space. I remember in the late 1980s. The Vremya program showed a report about an accident in orbit - an American combat satellite mistakenly shot down a communications satellite. Even computer animation was present with the fact that the unfortunate “signalman” was hit by a missile.

But most importantly, detailed diagrams were drawn up and hundreds of drawings were drawn, colorfully depicting the destruction of ballistic missiles by combat satellites. From the stands of the Congress and the Senate it was repeatedly stated that only with the help of SDI can the aggression of the Soviets be stopped. Billions of dollars have been spent on development and...

As it turned out, all this was done only to undermine the economy of the USSR, which simply could not stand the new race. American design engineers were not very clear about how to implement all the developments on SDI at a technical level, although this was not particularly required of them.

In 1984-1986 The prevailing opinion in the Soviet government was that SDI required an adequate response. Despite the fact that agents warned about the insolvency of the Star Wars program, huge financial resources were allocated and, interestingly, some success was achieved. In some aspects, Soviet specialists even overtook the Americans, because they did everything seriously and for a long time. And here came a new blow - Gorbachev’s Perestroika...

However, we will talk about SDI in detail below, but for now, as they say, slides.

This project was called the “Strategic Defense Initiative” (SDI), but with light hand journalists, it became better known to the public as the “Star Wars program.” There is a legend that the idea for such a project came to Reagan’s head after watching the next episode of George Lucas’s space opera. Although SDI was never implemented, it became one of the most famous military programs in human history and had an impact significant influence on the outcome of the Cold War.

This program involved the creation of a powerful anti-missile “umbrella”, the main elements of which were located in low-Earth orbit. The main goal The strategic defense initiative was to gain complete dominance in outer space, which would make it possible to destroy Soviet ballistic missiles and warheads at all stages of their trajectory. “Who owns space, owns the world,” the defenders of this program liked to repeat.

Initially, the “Star Wars program” was carried out exclusively by the Americans, but a little later the main allies of the United States in the NATO bloc, primarily Britain, joined it.

To say that the Strategic Defense Initiative was an ambitious project is an understatement. In terms of its complexity, it cannot be compared even with such famous programs as the Manhattan Project or Apollo. Only a small part of the SDI components was supposed to use more or less known and proven military technologies (anti-missiles) at that time, while the basis of the striking power of Star Wars was supposed to be weapons developed on new physical principles.

The Strategic Defense Initiative was never put into practice. The scale of the technical problems faced by the developers forced the American leadership to quietly shut down the program ten years after its spectacular presentation. However, it gave practically no real results. The amounts spent on the implementation of Star Wars are impressive: some experts believe that SDI cost the American taxpayer $100 billion.

Naturally, in the course of work on the program, new technologies and design solutions were obtained and tested, however, given the amount of investment and the extensive PR campaign, this clearly looks insufficient. Many developments were later used to create the existing US missile defense system. The main thing that American designers and the military understood is that at the current level of technology development, unconventional methods of intercepting ICBMs are not effective. Therefore, the current missile defense is built on old, proven missile defenses. Lasers, railguns, kamikaze satellites today are more of a curious exotica than a real and effective weapon.

However, despite almost complete absence technical results, SDI had very important political consequences. Firstly, the start of development of a space-based missile defense system further worsened relations between the two superpowers - the USA and the USSR. Secondly, this program further intensified the controversy surrounding ballistic missiles medium range, which at that moment were actively deployed by both warring sides. Well, the most important thing is the fact that the Soviet military and political leadership believed in the reality of the implementation of the Strategic Defense Initiative and even more desperately joined the arms race, for which the USSR simply did not have the strength at that moment. The result was sad: the economy of a huge country could not withstand such overstrain, and in 1991 the USSR ceased to exist.

Soviet scientists repeatedly informed management about the impossibility of implementing the SDI program, but the Kremlin elders simply did not want to listen to them. So if we consider the Strategic Defense Initiative as a large-scale bluff of the American intelligence services (this is a favorite topic of domestic conspiracy theorists), then this strategy was truly a success. However, it is likely that the truth is somewhat more complex. It is unlikely that the United States would have started such an expensive program just to ruin the Soviet Union. It brought significant political bonuses to President Reagan and his team, as well as huge profits for the bigwigs in the military-industrial complex. So, probably, few people grieved about the lack of real results of the Strategic Defense Initiative.

Finally, we can say that the United States has not abandoned the idea of ​​​​creating a missile defense “umbrella” capable of protecting their country from a possible nuclear strike (including a massive one). Currently, the deployment of a multi-layered missile defense system is in full swing, which is much more realistic than President Reagan's Star Wars. Such American activity causes no less concern and irritation in the Kremlin than it did thirty years ago, and there is a high probability that now Russia will be forced to join a new arms race.

Below will be a description of the main components of the SOI system, the reasons why this or that component was never implemented in practice, as well as how the ideas and technologies contained in the program subsequently developed.

History of the SDI program

The development of missile defense systems began almost immediately after the end of World War II. The Soviet Union and the United States appreciated the effectiveness of the German “weapons of retaliation” - the “” and “” missiles, so already at the end of the 40s, both countries began to create protection against the new threat.

Initially, the work was more theoretical in nature, since the first combat missiles did not have intercontinental range and could not hit the territory of a potential enemy.

However, the situation soon changed dramatically: in the late 50s, both the USSR and the USA acquired intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of delivering a nuclear charge to the other hemisphere of the planet. From that moment on, missiles became the main means of delivering nuclear weapons.

In the United States, the first strategic missile defense system MIM-14 Nike-Hercules was put into operation at the end of the 50s. The destruction of ICBM warheads occurred due to anti-missiles with a nuclear warhead. The Hercules was replaced by a more advanced LIM-49A Nike Zeus complex, which also destroyed enemy warheads using thermal nuclear charges.

Work on the creation of strategic missile defense was also carried out in the Soviet Union. In the 70s, the A-35 missile defense system was adopted, designed to protect Moscow from a missile attack. Later it was modernized, and until the very moment of the collapse of the USSR, the capital of the country was always covered with a powerful anti-missile shield. To destroy enemy ICBMs, Soviet missile defense systems also used anti-missiles with a nuclear warhead.

Meanwhile, the buildup of nuclear arsenals proceeded at an unprecedented pace, and by the early 70s a paradoxical situation had developed, which contemporaries called a “nuclear deadlock.” Both warring sides had so many warheads and missiles to deliver them that they could destroy their opponent several times. The way out of it was seen in the creation of a powerful missile defense that could reliably protect one of the parties to the conflict during a full-scale exchange nuclear missile strikes. A country possessing such a missile defense system would gain a significant strategic advantage over its opponent. However, the creation of such a defense turned out to be an unprecedentedly complex and expensive task, surpassing any military-technical problems of the twentieth century.

In 1972, the most important document was signed between the USSR and the USA - the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense Systems, which today is one of the foundations of international nuclear security. According to this document, each side could deploy only two missile defense systems (later the number was reduced to one) with a maximum ammunition capacity of one hundred interceptor missiles. The only Soviet missile defense system protected the country's capital, and the Americans covered the deployment area of ​​their ICBMs with anti-missiles.

The point of this agreement was that, without the ability to create a powerful missile defense system, each side was defenseless against a crushing retaliatory strike, and this was the best guarantee against rash decisions. It is called principle of mutually assured destruction, and it is he who has been reliably protecting our planet from nuclear Armageddon for many decades.

It seemed that this problem decided on long years and the established status quo suits both sides. That was until the beginning of the next decade.

In 1980, the US presidential election was won by Republican politician Ronald Reagan, who became one of the most principled and irreconcilable opponents of the communist system. In those years, Soviet newspapers wrote that “the most reactionary forces of American imperialism, led by Reagan,” came to power in the United States.

Chemical lasers. Another “non-traditional” component of SDI was to be chemically pumped lasers placed in low-Earth orbit, in the air (on airplanes) or on the ground. The most notable were the “death stars” - orbital stations with laser systems with a power of 5 to 20 mW. They were supposed to destroy ballistic missiles in the early and middle sections of their trajectory.

The idea was quite good - in the initial stages of flight, the missiles are very noticeable and vulnerable. The cost of one laser shot is relatively small and the station can produce many of them. However, there was one problem (it has not been solved to this day): the lack of sufficiently powerful and light power plants for such weapons. In the mid-80s, the MIRACL laser was created, and quite successful tests were even carried out, but the main problem was never solved.

Airborne lasers were planned to be installed on transport aircraft and used to destroy ICBMs immediately after takeoff.

The project of another component of the Strategic Defense Initiative - ground-based lasers - was interesting. To solve the problem of low power supply of laser combat systems, it was proposed to place them on the ground, and transmit the beam into orbit using complex system mirrors that would direct it to taking off missiles or warheads.

In this way, a whole range of problems were solved: with energy pumping, heat removal, and security. However, placing the laser on the earth's surface led to huge losses as the beam passed through the atmosphere. It was calculated that to repel a massive missile attack, it is necessary to use at least 1 thousand gigawatts of electricity, collected at one point in just a few seconds. The US energy system simply would not be able to handle such a load.

Beam weapon. This means of destruction was understood as systems that destroy ICBMs with a stream of elementary particles accelerated to near-light speeds. Such complexes were supposed to be incapacitated electronic systems missiles and warheads. With sufficient flow power, beam weapons are capable of not only disabling enemy automation, but also physically destroying warheads and missiles.

In the mid-80s, several tests of suborbital stations equipped with beam installations were carried out, but due to their considerable complexity, as well as unreasonable energy consumption, the experiments were discontinued.

Railguns. This is a type of weapon that accelerates a projectile using the Lawrence force; its speed can reach several kilometers per second. Railguns were also planned to be placed on orbital platforms or in ground-based complexes. Within the framework of SDI, there was a separate program for railguns - CHECMATE. During its implementation, the developers managed to achieve noticeable success, but they failed to create a working missile defense system based on electromagnetic guns.

Research in the field of creating railguns continued after the closure of the SDI program, but only a few years ago the Americans received more or less acceptable results. In the near future, electromagnetic guns will be placed on warships and ground-based missile defense systems. It will not be possible to create an orbital railgun even today - too much energy is needed for its operation.

Interceptor satellites. Another element that was planned to be included in the SOI system. Having realized the complexity of creating laser systems for intercepting missile weapons, in 1986 the designers proposed making miniature interceptor satellites that would hit targets with a direct collision as the main component of the SDI system.

This project was called "Diamond Pebbles". They planned to launch a huge number of them - up to 4 thousand pieces. These “kamikazes” could attack ballistic missiles on takeoff or during the separation of warheads from ICBMs.

Compared to other SDI projects, the Diamond Pebble was technically feasible and reasonably priced, so it was soon seen as a core element of the system. In addition, unlike orbital stations, tiny interceptor satellites were less vulnerable to attack from the ground. This project was based on proven technologies and did not require serious scientific research. However, due to the end of the Cold War, it was never implemented.

Anti-missiles. The most “classical” element of the SDI program, it was originally planned to be used as the last frontier missile defense. Even at the beginning of the program, it was decided to abandon the traditional nuclear warheads of anti-missile missiles at that time. The Americans decided that exploding megaton charges over their territory was not a good idea and began developing kinetic interceptors.

However, they required precise aiming and target determination. To make the task a little easier, Lockheed created a special folding structure that unfolded outside the atmosphere like an umbrella and increased the likelihood of hitting a target. Later, the same company created the ERIS anti-missile missile, which as an interceptor had an octagonal inflatable structure with weights at the ends.

Projects to create anti-missile missiles were closed in the early 90s, but thanks to the SDI program, the Americans received a wealth of practical material, which was already used in the implementation of missile defense system projects.

The Soviet answer to Star Wars

But how did the Soviet Union react to the deployment of the SDI system, which, according to its creators, was supposed to deprive it of the opportunity to deliver a crushing nuclear strike on its main enemy?

Naturally, the activity of the Americans was immediately noticed by the top Soviet leadership and was perceived by them, to put it mildly, nervously. The USSR began preparing an “asymmetric response” to the new American threat. And, I must say, the best forces of the country were thrown into this. The main role in its preparation was played by a group of Soviet scientists under the leadership of the Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences E.P. Velikhov.

As part of the USSR’s “asymmetric response” to the deployment of the SDI program, it was primarily planned to increase the security of ICBM launch silos and strategic nuclear missile carriers, as well as the overall reliability of the control system of Soviet strategic forces. The second direction of neutralizing the overseas threat was increasing the ability of Soviet strategic nuclear forces to overcome a multi-echelon missile defense system.

All tactical, operational and military-strategic means were gathered into a single fist, which made it possible to deliver a sufficient blow even in the event of a preemptive attack by the enemy. The “Dead Hand” system was created, which ensured the launch of Soviet ICBMs even if the enemy destroyed the country’s top leadership.

In addition to all of the above, work was also carried out on the creation special tools to fight the American missile defense system. Some elements of the system were considered vulnerable to electronic jamming, and space-based SDI elements were developed to destroy Various types anti-missile missiles with kinetic and nuclear warheads.

High-energy ground-based lasers, as well as spacecraft with a powerful nuclear charge on board, which could not only physically destroy enemy orbital stations, but also blind its radar, were considered as means of countering the space component of the SDI system.

Velikhov’s group also proposed using metal shrapnel launched into orbit against orbital stations, and aerosol clouds that absorb radiation to combat lasers.

However the main thing was something else: at the time President Reagan announced the creation of the SDI program, the Soviet Union and the United States each had 10-12 thousand nuclear warheads only on strategic carriers, which even theoretically cannot be stopped by any missile defense even today. Therefore, despite a wide advertising campaign for the new initiative, the Americans never withdrew from the ABM Treaty, and Star Wars quietly sank into oblivion in the early 90s.

A copy of someone else's materials

Konstantin Bogdanov, RIA Novosti columnist.

Thirty years ago, US President Ronald Reagan launched the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as the Star Wars program. The project turned out to be largely inflated, the declared results were never achieved.

The United States has not created a multi-layered missile defense umbrella. However, this did not make the Soviet Union any easier: the burden of military expenditures and structural imbalances in industry were confidently leading the country towards a crisis.

The Soviet "defense industry" lived in abundance: the country's leadership gave almost everything it asked for in those areas that seriously worried the highest spheres of the Central Committee. By 1988, up to 75% of all R&D expenditures in the USSR were carried out within the framework of defense issues.

Let us refer to the opinion of Anatoly Basistov, designer of the Moscow A-135 missile defense system. In the late 1970s, the Central Committee asked him whether it was possible to create a reliable system for repelling a massive nuclear missile attack. And then, according to Basistov’s recollections, he realized one thing: if the designer now answers the party “yes, it’s possible,” they will lay out any requested resources directly on his table for experiments to solve this problem.

That time Basistov said “no, you can’t.” But the industry mechanism could no longer be altered; it worked according to its own laws. Moreover, the Americans say - you can...

And, most importantly, the ivory tower, inside which at the end of the 1980s at least ten million people constantly worked (not counting those occasionally fed from military programs under treaties) - the most ordinary, but very well paid people - created a sense of stability. That this is how it should be in the future.

And the reasons for this became increasingly elusive.

Golden locksmiths of a poor country

The last head of the Soviet foreign intelligence Leonid Shebarshin recalled how they, the top leadership of the KGB, at the end of perestroika, were sent to meetings with workers of large factories. Shebarshin arrived at the Moscow aircraft manufacturing plant "Znamya Truda" - the leading enterprise in the MiG cooperation.

“How much do you get, Comrade General?” — they asked venomously from the audience after the performance. “1300 rubles,” Shebarshin admitted honestly. After some excitement, a voice was heard from the gallery: “Yes, our mechanic can earn so much”...

Yuri Yaremenko, director of the Institute of National Economic Forecasting since the late 1980s, describing this situation, noted that the main “damage” from the Soviet “defense industry” of the 1980s was not even in the money that went into it. The military-industrial complex took upon itself all the best that the poor country had. First of all, qualified personnel, but he also claimed high-quality materials and demanded the most advanced equipment and technologies.

In second place in the system of priorities were the needs of raw materials and energy workers. The civil engineering and consumer goods industry got leftovers: from people - whom the military did not take, from equipment - what they managed to knock out, materials - well, take what you have... This did not slow down the impact on the quality of products, as well as on the worsening lag in the technological level of industry from West and Japan.

Provide transfer high technology Soviet defense engineering was not allowed into the civilian sector not only by the deep-rooted feudal logic of the directorate, which was accustomed, under the pretext of solving problems of national importance, to “cut down” isolated domains of cooperation for itself and sit on them as sovereign barons, responsible only to the heads of the relevant ministries and the party. The fact is that the central leadership and the party also did not want to hear anything.

The same Yaremenko recalled that comprehensive programs to reduce military spending with a simultaneous well-thought-out conversion of high-tech defense capabilities and trained personnel for the mass production of civilian durable goods (high-quality household appliances, in other words) were promoted from the first half of the 1980s. There they were pointedly ignored... and then more and more resources were allocated to the military-industrial complex.

Defense directors took programs for the production of civilian products at their enterprises “as a load”, but did not see them as a priority and worked with them on a residual basis. Military programs paid better and were of more interest to them.

The icon of the domestic defense industry, Yuri Dmitrievich Maslyukov, a man who did a lot of good for the industry of the USSR and for the Russian economy, - and in 1987, according to Yaremenko, he said that talk about excessive allocation of resources to military production is empty, because the Soviet "defense industry" lagged behind and, on the contrary, requires additional injections.

This was said by the head of the Military-Industrial Commission of the Council of Ministers - the chief of staff of the "nine" defense ministries, the main sectoral coordinator and responsible for determining the directions of work on defense issues. Next year, without leaving this position, Maslyukov will become the head of the entire Soviet State Planning Committee...

“In general, it burst”...

What kind of SDI is that? The effect of wastefulness from countering the far-fetched threats of SDI is a mosquito bite against the background of the resource-consuming flywheel, accelerated in the second half of the 1970s by the joint efforts of the defense complex and another icon of the military-industrial complex, former secretary Central Committee for Defense Issues, Minister of War Dmitry Fedorovich Ustinov.

So Reagan had little knowledge of the Soviet directorate and the leadership of the Nine. Even if the SDI program had not been proclaimed, it would have been invented in one way or another.

The essence of the economic catastrophe of the USSR lay not in oil, not in SDI, and not in the Americans. Not in “traitors to the motherland”, “young reformers”, “Judas Gorbachev and Yeltsin”, etc. The problem was that a huge self-enclosed sector had formed in the economy, accustomed to pulling the blanket over itself and demanding more, more, more...

It had to be carefully opened, a significant part of its enormous capabilities should be smoothly transferred to meet the daily needs of the entire country. But those who understood the big picture—the leaders of the military-industrial complex from factories through ministries to the Council of Ministers and the Central Committee—were silent. Because they were happy with everything, and they didn’t want to fight their way through the interdepartmental squabbling during the structural restructuring of the economy. Was there such a possibility?

And no one wanted to make decisions in the system of collective irresponsibility that developed in the late USSR. And everyone was afraid of a new round of the Cold War, so they maneuvered between the harsh pressure of Washington, who “smelled blood” at the disarmament negotiations, and the joint request of their own directorate - they gave in, dodged, and shelved it.

As a result, if we use military analogies, instead of careful demining of the “defense” industry, it turned out to be liquidation by demolition, which destroyed not only the military-industrial complex, but the entire Soviet economy in general - along with the country.

Reagan could record victory for himself. And who cares if it’s completely undeserved?

Year long-term program of research and development work. The main goal of SDI was to create a scientific and technical basis for the development of a large-scale missile defense (BMD) system with space-based elements, excluding or limiting the possible destruction of ground and sea targets from space. The program looked so incredible in its goals and methods of achieving them that the media (at the instigation of Senator Edward Moore Kennedy) dubbed it the “Star Wars” program, after the name of the famous science-fiction film project “Star Wars” directed by George Lucas.

Its ultimate goals are to gain dominance in space, to create a US anti-missile “shield” to reliably cover the entire territory of North America through the deployment of several echelons of strike space weapons capable of intercepting and destroying ballistic missiles and their warheads in all areas of flight.

According to some military experts, a name that more accurately conveys the essence of the program would be “strategic initiative defense,” that is, defense that involves performing independent active actions, up to and including an attack.

Description

The main elements of such a system were to be based in space. To defeat large number targets (several thousand) within a few minutes, the missile defense system under the SDI program provided for the use of active weapons based on new physical principles, including beam, electromagnetic, kinetic, microwave, as well as a new generation of traditional ground-to-space missile weapons, "air-to-space".

The problems of launching missile defense elements into reference orbits, recognizing targets in conditions of interference, convergence of beam energy over long distances, targeting high-speed maneuvering targets, and many others are very complex. Such global macrosystems as missile defense, which have a complex autonomous architecture and diversity functional connections, inherent instability and the ability to self-excite from internal faults and external disturbing factors. Possible unauthorized operation in this case individual elements space echelon of the missile defense system (for example, bringing it to increased combat readiness) can be regarded by the other side as preparation for a strike and can provoke it into preemptive actions.

Work under the SDI program is fundamentally different from the outstanding developments of the past - such as, for example, the creation of the atomic bomb (the Manhattan Project) or landing a man on the moon (the Apollo project). When solving them, the authors of the projects overcame fairly predictable problems caused only by the laws of nature. When solving problems with a promising missile defense system, the authors will also be forced to fight an intelligent adversary capable of developing unpredictable and effective countermeasures.

An analysis of the capabilities of SDI shows that such a missile defense system does not fully solve the problem of protecting US territory from ballistic missiles and is strategically inappropriate and economically wasteful. In addition, the very deployment of missile defense under the SDI program is undoubtedly capable of initiating a strategic offensive arms race by Russia/USSR and other nuclear states. In particular, the SDI project caused serious concern among the leadership of the USSR in 1983-86.

The creation of a missile defense system with space-based elements, in addition to solving a number of complex and extremely expensive scientific and technical problems, is associated with overcoming a new socio-psychological factor - the presence of powerful, all-seeing weapons in space. It was the combination of these reasons (mainly the practical impossibility of creating SDI) that led to the refusal to continue work on creating SDI in accordance with its original plan. At the same time, with the Republican administration of George W. Bush coming to power in the United States, this work was resumed as part of the creation of a missile defense system - see US Missile Defense.

see also

Literature

• Tarasov E. V. et al., “US Strategic Defense Initiative. Concepts and problems" M.: VINITI, 1986. - 109 p.
• Zegveld V. Strategic Defense Initiative: technological breakthrough or an economic adventure? : Per. from English / W. Zegveld, K. Enzing; General ed. and after. I. I. Isachenko. - M.: Progress, 1989. - 302, p. ISBN 5-01-001820-9
• Kireev A.P. Who will pay for Star Wars? : Econ. aspects of the imperialist. plans for the militarization of space / A. P. Kireev. - M.: International. relations, 1989. - 261, p. ISBN 5-7133-0014-5
• Kokoshin A. A. SOI. 5 years are behind us. What's next? : [Translation] / Andrey Kokoshin, Alexey Arbatov, Alexey Vasiliev. - M.: Publishing House of the Novosti Press Agency, 1988. - 78, p.
• Kotlyarov I. I. « Star world“against “star wars”: (Political and legal problems) / I. I. Kotlyarov. - M.: International. relations, 1988. - 221, p. ISBN 5-7133-0031-5

Links

• Shmygin A. I. SOI through the eyes of a Russian colonel (also review by RAS Academician V.S. Burtsev)

Categories:

• War economy
• US military history
• Military-industrial complex
• US foreign policy
• Ronald Reagan
• US nuclear missile weapons
• Space weapons

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See what the “Strategic Defense Initiative” is in other dictionaries:

- (SOI) a long-term program to create a missile defense system (BMD) with space-based elements, which also makes it possible to hit ground targets from space. Proclaimed by US President R. Reagan in March 1983. See Treaty on ... ... Big encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Strategic Defense Initiative) See: Cold War. Policy. Dictionary. M.: INFRA M, Ves Mir Publishing House. D. Underhill, S. Barrett, P. Burnell, P. Burnham, etc. General editor: Doctor of Economics. Osadchaya I.M.. 2001 ... Political science. Dictionary.

- (SOI), a long-term program to create a missile defense system (BMD) with space-based elements, which also makes it possible to hit ground targets from space. Proclaimed by US President R. Reagan in March 1983. See Treaty on ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE- a long-term R&D program announced by US President R. Reagan on March 23, 1983, the main goal of which was to create a scientific and technical basis for the development of a large-scale missile defense system with space-based elements,... ... War and peace in terms and definitions

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)- Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a US-proposed system for protecting against a possible nuclear attack. Start of development on the SOI project, known as. Star Wars, was started by President Reagan... The World History

SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative)- (SDI, Strategic Defense Initiative), research, creation and deployment in space of missile defense systems equipped with lasers, electromagnetic. cannons, beam weapons, etc. The program, popularly known as star wars, was... ... Peoples and cultures

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI Strategic Defense Initiative), announced by US President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983, is a long-term research and development program, the main goal of which is ... ... Wikipedia

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI Strategic Defense Initiative), announced by US President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983, is a long-term research and development program, the main goal of which is ... ... Wikipedia

SKB- (Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)) 1983 AҚШ president Reagan bastagan, zhogary damygan ballisticalyk missile қorganysyn zhasauga bagyttalgan bagdarlama… Kazakh explanatory terminological dictionary on military affairs

According to some military experts, a name that more accurately conveys the essence of the program would be “strategic initiative defense,” that is, defense that involves performing independent active actions, up to and including an attack.

Encyclopedic YouTube

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✪ COSMIC REVELATION About the secret space program with Corey Goode and David Wilcock

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✪ Phil Schneider about secret underground alien bases

Subtitles

THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE FOLLOWING BROADCAST DO NOT NECESSARILY COINCIDE WITH THE VIEWS AND VIEWS OF GAIAM TV, PARENTS AND SUBSIDIARIES COSMIC REVELATION About the Secret Space Program with Corey Goode and David Wilcock A MESSAGE TO HUMANITY We are interviewing a remarkable man . DAVID WILCOCK Corey Goode, 45, is a native of Texas. You still live in Texas. What did he do? He shared inside information about what is really going on behind the scenes of secret government and military programs, their development and the industrialization of our solar system. The story is remarkable, I have conducted dozens of interviews over many years with employees with access levels up to 35, which is higher than the President of the United States. I did not disclose 90% of this information to the public, because they could be killed for it, and I also did not want to disclose something that would prevent me from identifying the real insiders. With the advent of Corey, it turns out that he not only knows 90%. He also had other pieces of the mosaic that I was looking for. I knew that they were not telling me something. But the mosaic has come together. So Corey, welcome. - Thank you for coming. - Thank you too. As I understand it, you are now going to tell us something so unusual that it will be difficult for people to accept it, especially if they do not understand the subject of the conversation. Let's not try to console everyone in advance, let's take the bull by the horns. Can you quickly tell us about your connection to what the space program was for you? For me it started when I was 6. COREY GOOD I was then taken to what was called MILAB. MILAB Also called the MILAB Program. I have been identified as an intuitive empath. What does it mean? Intuitive means you intuitively feel what might happen. - Extrasensory ability? - Yes, prophetic. And empaths have a strong emotional connection with others. You feel what they feel, you connect on an emotional level. This was exactly the skill set required. I was trained, my skills grew. To such an extent... I was 12-13 years old. I was trained with other people involved in the program... We were the so-called IE support for the delegation of earthlings to the super federation. It was a federation of a large number of alien federations that were meeting to discuss a great experiment. What kind of experiment? What were the aliens doing? A group of 40 humanoids was almost always present, sometimes there were up to 60. There were 22 genetic programs in progress. What does it mean? What is the genetic program? A program mixing their genes and manipulating ours. Did this happen? Yes, it is happening now. That's what we're talking about here. The earthly delegation tried to get... It has been trying to participate in this for a long time. Finally, they managed to get a place. As intuitive empaths, sitting there, we didn't know what was going on. Because most of it took place in an ancient monotonous alien language that we did not understand. Much was communicated through telepathy. We just sat there, they gave us a device - a glass smart tablet, similar to an iPad, with access to the alien database. We were told to occupy our minds by looking at the materials. This has helped us with intuitive empaths' abilities to detect danger and betrayal. And what were you able to view on these tablets? There... Basically, they wanted to show us information about 22 genetic experiments that were in development. But we also had access to other information. Depending on the person... We had different interests. We looked at various information. I looked at a lot of things. Reminds me of remembering my school days. All the books you’ve read, all the information you’ve viewed, how much of that can you keep in your memory? You know, there was so much information. Were there unanswered questions where it was simply “I don’t know”? No. In general, you were simply given accessible information. You were looking at something that our group, the human delegation, was not aware of. But almost all the information was revealed to us. What did the screen look like? Looks like an iPad? No, more like a piece of plexiglass. Nothing remarkable. If it were dropped from a window, and you found it in the field and picked it up, you would not understand that it was something special. You need to take it in your hand and activate it mentally. Then it turns on on your tongue. You also enter the database using your mind, the device shows what you want. Text, images and video. The pictures and videos seemed to be holographic; they rose slightly from the screen. Well, not completely, but the holography is such that you might think so. Just three-dimensional depth, like holography. And at this moment you can also see your hand - under the glass? - No. - Does it get dark first? - Exactly. Yes, it becomes completely opaque or black or something before showing pictures and text. Were there buffers or firewalls? So that there is no access to some answers? Well, I already said that it was extremely rare that the screen turned blue. Well, so that there is no information. Basically, everything was available. The same devices were on the research vessel with access to our own databases. Is this advanced technology used in the space program? Yes. Large screens are used for conferences and demonstrations. Obviously, you came across a lot of different information. Was there anything there that seemed truly significant, shocking, even given what you already knew? I wonder what's there... The information was provided almost like... Let's go back to the college analogy. There were 22 competing courseworks. Each of the genetic programs was presented in this form. They competed with each other. They didn't keep up at all. Did this apply to humanoid aliens? - Yes. - Connections of their DNA with ours? - In that spirit? - Yes. And manipulation of our DNA. There is also a spiritual component. They are participating in an experiment. They don't just experiment on us. They themselves are participating in an extensive experiment. Did they have a goal? Why do they need this? What do they care? I do not know this. Maybe just because they can. In an attempt to create... Some kind of super being. But why try..? Mix the best genes, and then manipulate us and our civilization to prevent us from rising? How long do you think the program has been running? 22 different programs work at different times. But genetic manipulation of us has been going on for at least 250 thousand years. These programs vary in duration. From 5 thousand to... They are all different. It doesn't seem like our secret or elected government would like these programs. Can we stop this? Hardly. Just recently we managed to get a seat at the table to participate in the discussion. It turns out that these are hostile aliens? Neutral or friendly? It depends on how you look. It all comes down to... Point of view. It’s hard to say that this group is good and this one is evil. After all, they consider their experiments positive. On your website you mention a certain LOK. What is this? Lunar Operations Building. This establishment is on back side the moon is something like a neutral diplomatic corps that is used by all participants in space programs. There... They have their own employees, but it's a transit station. People are constantly arriving there and departing for further... To the solar system and beyond, to other stations and bases, to home ships. Tell us about how you went from home to a research vessel in the solar system. Like a sightseeing tour. I was taken from my home in the middle of the night in the usual manner to Carswell Air Force Base. Carswell Air Force Base is now a Naval Air Station There is a secret room underneath the base. There is an elevator leading there. Many people know about the underground tram system under the United States. It is called the shuttle subway. Yes, it's a shuttle system. Single-rail cars run along a pipe. Something like a magnetic plane in a vacuum tube. I was transported from there to another place. From where I was transported to the LOK using Stargate technology - or "portal". - So. I ended up in LOK. And then they put me on a manta-shaped vessel. - In the shape of a stingray? - Yes. Yes, it looked like a manta ray. And not just me. Then we were transported from the moon further into the solar system. Was there a hangar at the LOK? Yes, there are several of them. This one was big. - So. - And... What size was the manta-shaped vessel? Person for 600. - Large. - Yes. It delivered us to the address. How long were you at the LOK before landing on the manta ray? Not at all. I signed the papers there, even though I was too young to sign the papers. They explained to me that I was signing for 20 years. They called 20-and-back. Doesn't it look like a set from The Next Generation of Star Trek? - What kind of interior is there? - Mostly narrow corridors and ordinary doors. Not at all... No Star Trek doors closing like an elevator. Nothing advanced. If you take a video inside there, can you easily tell that this building is on the ground? - Yes. Exactly. - So. What kind of hangar was it? Was there anything unusual? This is something naval. - So. “It’s as if an airplane hangar was connected to a submarine hangar.” How long did it take you to fly on a manta ray? 30-40 minutes. So. And then what happened? I got to see the research vessel I was assigned to. And how long were you there? I was assigned to this ship for 6 years. You said the service life is 20 years? Yes. Why were you kept on a research vessel for 6 years? The skill set of an intuitive empath was needed in other programs, and for the remaining 20 years I was transferred between programs. Can you give an example of a program? For example, a program for intercepting and interrogating violators. What kind of violators? These are those who have entered the solar system or the earth's atmosphere without invitation or permission. And you could detain them and question them? This was done by the team participating in the program. I attended the interrogations as an intuitive empath. And tried to define betrayal? Somewhat. Sometimes.. When communicating with these creatures, it is called docking. Sometimes I had to connect, sometimes I just had to read them, read the emotions, see if they were telling the truth, like a lie detector. Consciousness works in almost the same way that we can consider aliens? More or less like people? Definitely. You left the program after 20 years of service. My tenure had ended, all that was left was the job to complete. On your website you mention 5 factions of the Secret Space Program. Could you identify these factions for us? Tell us a little about each, how they differ? Certainly. I'll start with the oldest - Solar Watcher. SOLAR WATCHER It all started in the seventies, eighties, during the Strategic Defense Initiative, STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE, abbreviated as SDI, before and after the Reagan administration. DEFENSE PROTECTION Budget battles and star wars And then there is the ICC ICC (INTERPLANETARY CORPORATE CONGLOMERATE) Interplanetary corporate conglomerate. Corporations from all over the world have representatives in supreme council corporations that manage the infrastructure of the Secret Space Program deployed in space. Extensive. There is also the Dark Fleet. DARK FLEET This is a top secret fleet operating primarily outside the solar system. There are also black operations BLACK OPERATIONS (MILITARY) secret military space operations, they are all in the same group. And then there is the group of the Global Galactic League of Nations. GLOBAL GALACTIC LEAGUE OF NATIONS This is something of a carrot offered to other nations to keep what's going on in space a secret. They were given the space program and information about the security threat in the form of invasion. That we need to get together and work together. I also visited one place that looked like the TV series “Stargate Atlantis”. There was a relaxed atmosphere there. People wear overalls with decals different countries peace. This group also works primarily outside the solar system. You often mentioned a certain “alliance”, please clarify to avoid confusion. There is an Earth Alliance. It has its own agenda. They are working on creating a new financial system, on liberation from the political clique and much more. And then there is the Space Alliance. It consists of what began as a faction of the Solar Warden and defectors from other secret space programs. These defectors left their programs with skills, with information, and joined the Secret Space Programs alliance. What series of events made you a whistleblower? What prompted you to expose? I was contacted by a group of aliens known as the bluebirds. - Feathered? You mean, birds? - Feathered. And what do they look like? 2.5 meters tall. Very similar to birds. Feathers of all colors from blue to indigo. Are you saying that these are birds with wings? Without wings. Sketch of Android Jones according to Corey They have a human torso, arms, hands, - feet. - Humanoids? Bird's head on human body ? Yes, but without the long beak, like in many images on the Internet. They have a soft, flexible beak. And they... When talking, they use sign language with one hand. They also move their mouths and communicate via telepathy. Who are these blue birds? Where did they come from? - What's on their mind? “The bluebirds told me that they and the other beings they work with come from densities six through nine. - And this... - What kind of density? Everything around us is made of substances and energy. Thoughts are made of vibrations. They are from a different vibration or frequency. Like another plane? - Yes. - Is she somewhere out there, in the galaxy, in the universe or around us? It's not on a planet far, far away, closer to the center of the universe, nothing like that. It's all around us. Very close and at the same time far. So what's on their mind? Why are they here? They've been here for a long time. They are watching. But... We are moving towards a high-energy part of the galaxy that will change the density of the solar system and the local star cluster. Is that what they told you? Or was there evidence of this in the program? There is tangible evidence of this. They have been studied for a long time. But they told me the same thing. If we find ourselves in a different density, what will happen to humanity according to the blue birds? What we... There will be a transformation. We will change mainly at the level of consciousness. How is that? Extrasensory and telepathic abilities? Well, there are many theories. They didn't tell me that we could do this or that. I've heard many different theories. I don't know if this will happen to everyone at the same time, or if more spiritually developed people will notice the signs earlier. I don't have all the answers. I'm not a guru. I can't answer all the questions. Are blue birds good-oriented? Do they have ulterior motives? Can we trust them? They are definitely positive. As far as I know, beings above sixth density do not have the ulterior motives we ascribe to them. Third and fourth density beings are different, we always have motives. Get money. Manipulate people so that they do or think as we want. You cannot project this onto high-density beings; you cannot say that they will behave and think the same way. Their enormous spheres help defuse the gigantic waves of energy entering the solar system. They discharge energy so that we don’t get too much at once, they give us time to prepare. If it weren't for the spheres, what would happen? Many would go crazy, chaos would reign. You are talking about spheres, what are they? People don't see spheres through a telescope. No. They are also of a different density. Many people think that these are spaceships. I'm pretty sure after my travels in these areas that they are at the macro level. And spherical creatures are also giant spheres. What are these spherical creatures? One of the five creatures of the Spherical Alliance. They are of high densities. From... From five types of creatures. Have you personally met blue birds? Yes. I was nominated as a delegate to participate in the communication of this group with the secret space program alliance council. And to begin to speak on their behalf with the old council of the super federation, where I sat in my teens as an intuitive empath. I tried to talk my way out of the nomination. I can't speak in public. The voice is weak. He made many excuses not to be a delegate. I made excuses when they brought me to one of the huge spheres in outer space. I met a blue bird named Ro-T-Air. While I was trying to talk myself out of nomination, he came up to me, put his hand on my forearm and telepathically conveyed to me that I needed to throw away everything negative, stop thinking about the bad. I felt the softness of his hand on my skin. He only physically touched me once. And then he told me that only the message to humanity is important. What message? Message to humanity... All religious groups. We need to love more. We need to forgive ourselves, forgive others, thereby stopping the wheel of karma. We need to focus on serving others. Daily. We need to focus on raising vibrations and consciousness. Many aggressively comment on the articles, saying that the elite wants to mix us into one world religion. How can we understand that this is not just another mental operation to force us to march in line to someone’s new tune? They said, and I posted it on my website, that there is no need to change my faith. You can use... These provisions exist in major religions. There's nothing new here. Here... There's not much time. And this must be done. It's time to focus. Christians, Muslims, Buddhists can remain themselves. Let the faith remain. Are they trying to appear as new gods? Not at all. They managed to get it into my head that this should not become a cult or a religion. I don't know the story exactly, but they've already tried three times. And every time the message was distorted, people used it for control. They turned it into a cult and religion. It is clear that we have just begun. The information is fascinating. I would like to add on my own that this confirms what I have been studying for many years. I did everything I could to find a scientific basis. There's a lot to talk about. We've only just begun. I'm glad you agreed to participate. Courage does you credit. You have two children. You turned down a high-paying job. So, revelations are not a trifle for you. I appreciate it very much. Thank you. - Thank you too. - So. Freemasonry Judaism Brahmanism Islam Confucianism Buddhism Christianity Taoism Mayan Bahai faith COSMIC REVELATION About the secret space program with Corey Goode and David Wilcock

Description

The main elements of such a system were to be based in space. To hit a large number of targets (several thousand) within a few minutes, the missile defense system under the SDI program provided for the use of active weapons based on new physical principles, including beam, electromagnetic, kinetic, microwave, as well as a new generation of traditional surface-to-air missile weapons -space", "air-space".

The problems of launching missile defense elements into reference orbits, recognizing targets in conditions of interference, divergence of beam energy over long distances, aiming at high-speed maneuvering targets, and many others are very complex. Global macrosystems such as missile defense, which have a complex autonomous architecture and a variety of functional connections, are characterized by instability and the ability to self-excite from internal faults and external disturbing factors. In this case, the possible unauthorized activation of individual elements of the space echelon of the missile defense system (for example, putting it on high alert) could be regarded by the other side as preparation for a strike and could provoke it into preemptive actions.

Work under the SDI program is fundamentally different from the outstanding developments of the past - such as, for example, the creation of the atomic bomb (the Manhattan Project) or landing a man on the Moon (the Apollo project). When solving them, the authors of the projects overcame fairly predictable problems caused only by the laws of nature. When solving problems with a promising missile defense system, the authors will also be forced to fight an intelligent adversary capable of developing unpredictable and effective countermeasures.

The creation of a missile defense system with space-based elements, in addition to solving a number of complex and extremely expensive scientific and technical problems, is associated with overcoming a new socio-psychological factor - the presence of powerful, all-seeing weapons in space. It was the combination of these reasons (mainly the practical impossibility of creating SDI) that led to the refusal to continue work on creating SDI in accordance with its original plan. At the same time, with the coming to power of the Republican administration of George W. Bush (junior) in the United States, this work was resumed as part of the creation of a missile defense system.

SOI Components

Detection and targeting

Defeat and destruction

Anti-missiles

Anti-missiles were the most “classical” solution within the framework of SDI and seemed to be the main component of the last echelon of interception. Due to the insufficient reaction time of anti-missiles, it is difficult to use them to intercept warheads in the main part of the trajectory (since the anti-missile requires considerable time to overcome the distance separating it from the target), but the deployment and maintenance of anti-missiles was relatively cheap. It was believed that anti-missile defenses would play the role of the last echelon of SDI, finishing off those individual warheads that could overcome space-based missile defense systems.

At the very beginning of the development of the SDI program, it was decided to abandon the “traditional” nuclear warheads for anti-missile missiles. High-altitude nuclear explosions made it difficult for radars to operate, and thus, the downing of one warhead made it difficult to defeat the others - at the same time, the development of guidance systems made it possible to achieve a direct hit by an anti-missile missile on a warhead and destroy the warhead with the energy of a counter-kinetic impact.

In the late 1970s, Lockheed developed the HOE (Homing Overlay Experiment) project - the first project of a kinetic interception system. Since a perfectly accurate kinetic hit at that level of electronics development was still somewhat of a problem, the creators of the HOE tried to expand the area of ​​destruction. The HOE striking element was a folding structure, reminiscent of an umbrella frame, which, when leaving the atmosphere, unfolded and moved apart due to the rotation and centrifugal action of weights attached to the ends of the “spokes.” Thus, the affected area increased to several meters: it was assumed that the collision energy of the warhead with the payload at a total closing speed of about 12-15 km/s would completely destroy the warhead.

Four tests of the system were undertaken in 1983-1984. The first three were unsuccessful due to failures in the guidance system, and only the fourth, undertaken on June 10, 1984, was successful when the system intercepted a Minuteman ICBM training unit at an altitude of about 160 km. Although the HOE concept itself did not receive further development, it laid the foundations for future kinetic interception systems.

In 1985, the development of the ERIS missile defense system was initiated. Exoatmospheric Reentry Interceptor Subsystem - Subsystem for the exoatmospheric interception of warheads entering (the atmosphere)) and HEDI (eng. High Endoatmospheric Defense Interceptor - High Altitude Atmospheric Protective Interceptor).

The ERIS missile was developed by Lockheed and was intended to intercept warheads in outer space at approach speeds of up to 13.4 km/s. The missile samples were made on the basis of the stages of solid-fuel Minuteman ICBMs, targeting was carried out using an infrared sensor, and the striking element was an inflatable octagonal structure, at the corners of which weights were placed: such a system provided the same damage area as the HOE “umbrella” with much less weight. In 1991, the system carried out two successful interceptions of a training target (ICBM warhead) surrounded by inflatable simulators. Although the program was officially closed in 1995, ERIS's developments were used in subsequent American systems like THAAD and Ground-Based Midcourse Defense.

HEDI, developed by McDonnel Douglas, was a small short-range interceptor missile developed from the Sprint missile interceptor. Its flight tests began in 1991. A total of three flights were completed, two of which were successful, before the program was canceled.

Nuclear-pumped lasers

In the initial period, X-ray laser systems pumped by nuclear explosions were seen as a promising basis for the SDI system. Such installations were based on the use of special rods located on the surface of a nuclear charge, which, after detonation, would turn into ionized plasma but would retain (the first milliseconds) the previous configuration, and, cooling in the first fractions of a second after the explosion, would emit a narrow beam of hard material along its axis. X-ray radiation.

To circumvent the treaty on the non-placement of nuclear weapons in outer space, missiles with atomic lasers had to be based on converted old submarines (in the 1980s, due to the decommissioning of the Polaris SLBM, 41 SSBNs were withdrawn from the fleet, which were supposed to be used for the deployment of missile defense ) and launched outside the atmosphere in the first seconds of the attack. Initially, it was assumed that the charge - codenamed "Excalibur" - would have many independent rods that would autonomously aim at different targets, and thus be able to hit multiple warheads with a single strike. More late decisions involved the concentration of many rods on one target in order to obtain a powerful focused beam of radiation.

Mine tests of prototypes in the 1980s yielded generally positive results, but raised a number of unforeseen problems that could not be quickly resolved. As a result, the deployment of atomic lasers as the main component of SDI had to be abandoned, transferring the program to the research category.

Chemical lasers

According to one proposal, the space component of SDI was to consist of a system of orbital stations armed with chemically pumped lasers. Various design solutions have been proposed, with laser systems ranging from 5 to 20 megawatts. Deployed in orbit, such “battle stars” (English battlestar) were supposed to hit missiles and breeding units in the early stages of flight, immediately after leaving the atmosphere.

Unlike the warheads themselves, the thin casings of ballistic missiles are highly vulnerable to laser radiation. The high-precision inertial navigation equipment of autonomous breeding units is also extremely vulnerable to laser attacks. It was assumed that each laser combat station would be able to produce up to 1000 laser series, and the stations located at the time of the attack closer to enemy territory were supposed to attack taking off ballistic missiles and breeding units, and those located further away - separated warheads.

Experiments with MIRACL laser Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser - improved infrared chemical laser) demonstrated the feasibility of creating a deuterium fluoride laser capable of achieving megawatt output power within 70 seconds. In 1985, during bench tests, an improved version of the laser with an output power of 2.2 megawatts destroyed a liquid-propellant ballistic missile fixed 1 kilometer from the laser. As a result of 12-second irradiation, the walls of the rocket body lost strength and were destroyed by internal pressure. In a vacuum, similar results could be achieved at a much greater distance and with less irradiation time (due to the absence of beam scattering by the atmosphere and the absence of external pressure on the rocket tanks).

The development program for laser combat stations continued until the closure of the SDI program.

Orbital mirrors and ground-based lasers

In the 1980s, within the framework of SDI, the idea of ​​a partial-space laser system was considered, which would include a powerful laser complex located on Earth and a redirecting orbital mirror (or rather, a system of mirrors) that directs the reflected beam at the warheads. The location of the main laser complex on the ground made it possible to solve a number of problems with energy supply, heat removal and system protection (although at the same time it led to inevitable losses of beam power when passing through the atmosphere).

It was assumed that a complex of laser installations located on the tops highest mountains USA, at the critical moment of the attack will be activated and will send rays into space. Concentrating mirrors located in geostationary orbits would collect and focus the beams scattered by the atmosphere, and redirect them to more compact, low-orbit redirecting mirrors - which would aim the doubly reflected beams at the warheads.

The advantages of the system were simplicity (in principle) of construction and deployment, as well as low vulnerability to enemy attacks - concentrating mirrors made of thin film were relatively easy to replace. In addition, the system could potentially be used against taking off ICBMs and breeding units - much more vulnerable than the warheads themselves - at the initial stage of the trajectory. The big drawback was the enormous required power of ground-based lasers due to energy losses during passage of the atmosphere and re-reflection of the beam. According to calculations, to power a laser system capable of reliably destroying several thousand ICBMs or their warheads, almost 1000 gigawatts of electricity were required, the redistribution of which in just a few seconds in the event of war would require a gigantic overload of the US energy system.

Neutral particle emitters

Considerable attention within the framework of SDI was paid to the possibility of creating the so-called. “beam” weapons that hit a target with a stream of particles accelerated to sublight speeds. Due to the significant mass of particles, the damaging effect of such a weapon would be significantly higher than that of lasers of similar energy consumption; however, the downside was problems with focusing the particle beam.

As part of the SDI program, it was planned to create heavy orbital automatic stations armed with neutral particle emitters. The main emphasis was placed on the radiation effects of high-energy particles when they are decelerated in the material of enemy warheads; such irradiation should have damaged the electronics inside the warheads. Destroying the warheads themselves was considered possible, but would require prolonged exposure and high power. Such a weapon would be effective at distances of up to tens of thousands of kilometers. Several experiments have been carried out with the launch of prototype emitters on suborbital rockets.

It was assumed that neutral particle emitters could be used within SDI as follows:

• Discrimination of false targets - even low-power beams of neutral particles hitting a target would cause emissions of electromagnetic radiation, depending on the material and structure of the target. Thus, even at minimal power, neutral particle emitters could be used to identify real warheads against a background of decoys.
• Damage to electronics - neutral particles braking in the target material would provoke powerful ionizing radiation that could destroy electronic circuits or living matter. Thus, irradiation with streams of neutral particles could destroy target microcircuits and hit crews without physically destroying the target.
• Physical destruction - with sufficient power and density of a beam of neutral particles, its inhibition in the target material would lead to a powerful release of heat and physical destruction of the target structure. In this case - since heat would be released as particles travel through the target material - thin screens would be completely ineffective against such weapons. Given the high accuracy inherent similar weapons, it was possible to quickly disable an enemy spacecraft by destroying its key components (propulsion systems, fuel tanks, sensor and weapon systems, control cabin).

The development of neutral particle emitters was considered a promising direction, however, due to the significant complexity of such installations and enormous energy consumption, their deployment within the framework of SDI was expected no earlier than 2025.

Atomic buckshot

As a spin-off of the nuclear-pumped laser program, the SDI program considered the possibility of using energy nuclear explosion for accelerating material projectiles (buckshot) to ultra-high speeds. The Prometheus program involved using the energy of the plasma front generated by the detonation of kiloton-power nuclear charges to accelerate tungsten buckshots. It was assumed that when the charge detonated, a specially shaped tungsten plate placed on its surface would collapse into millions of tiny pellets moving in the desired direction at speeds of up to 100 km/s. Since it was believed that the impact energy would not be enough to effectively destroy the warhead, the system was supposed to be used for the effective selection of false targets (since the “shot” of an atomic shotgun covered a significant volume of Space), the dynamics of which should have changed significantly from a collision with buckshot.

Railguns

Electromagnetic rail accelerators, capable of accelerating (due to the Lorentz force) a conducting projectile to a speed of several kilometers per second, were also considered as an effective means of destroying warheads. On oncoming trajectories, a collision with even a relatively light projectile could lead to the complete destruction of the warhead. In terms of space-based use, railguns were significantly more advantageous than the powder or light gas guns considered in parallel with them, since they did not require a propellant.

During the experiments under the CHECMATE (Compact High Energy Capacitor Module Advanced Technology Experiment) program, significant progress was made in the field of railguns, but at the same time it became clear that these weapons are not very suitable for space deployment. A significant problem was the large energy consumption and heat generation, the removal of which in Space necessitated the need for large-area radiators. As a result, the railgun program under SDI was canceled, but gave impetus to the development of railguns as weapons for use on Earth.