So it came, finally, time to take off the masks. It turns out, unmanned reusable experimental space plane Boeing X-37 was created for military purposes and can be used by the United States for orbital nuclear bombing of the enemy. This was directly stated by the head of the defense concern Almaz-Antey, confirming, that the American shuttle poses a real threat to Russia. How can we answer this challenge??
General Director of the Almaz-Antey VKO concern Yan Novikov said, that the Pentagon intends to bring the total number of its space drones to eight, and each of them can be used as a carrier of nuclear weapons:Officially announced, that these devices are designed for scientific purposes, well and intelligence. But we understand, that having such capacities free and opportunities, according to our estimates, small vehicle can carry up to three nuclear warheads, large - up to six.
Previously, numerous military experts and analysts wrote about such scenarios., but now it was officially confirmed by a representative of our defense concern. How did it happen, that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation slept through such a threat, and if you haven't slept, then how does it intend to cover the country from a new cosmic threat? First of all, let's figure it out, what is the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV). This is a reusable drone shuttle, capable of autonomously staying in space for a long time at altitudes from 200 to 750 kilometers, actively move, changing orbits, and maneuver. The purpose of creating such an apparatus of the United States was not particularly spread, explained, that its function could be the delivery of some small cargoes into orbit. There have also been suggestions, that the X-37B can be used for reconnaissance and as an interceptor, destroying objects of space infrastructure of the enemy. Allegedly, American shuttles should monitor Chinese and Russian military satellites and orbital stations and, if necessary, quickly neutralize them.. However, all this seems to be "childish pranks" in comparison with their real purpose., which was announced by the head of the concern "Almaz-Antey" Novikov. Eight orbital shuttles, carriers on board from 3 to 6 nuclear warheads, capable of being in space for a long time in an autonomous mode. At the start of this program, the Pentagon assumed, that the X-37B will be able to stay there from above 270 days, but this record has been broken several times: during the fourth flight, the experimental drone was in orbit 718 days, in the next - already 780. It means, that over our heads each X-37B will be able to carry out combat duty for two years, upon receipt of the order, dropping from a height in 300-320 kilometers from 3 to 6 nuclear warheads. And what do you want to do with it? This is not an ICBM launch., the launch of which we are able to track and have proven technologies for their interception. And what does Russia have against a potential orbital nuclear bombing??Actually, everything is pretty sad. We have the largest country in terms of territory, and only Moscow is really covered with an anti-missile umbrella. It was created in the seventies of the last century., when the USSR and the USA agreed on the mutual limitation of missile defense systems in one positional area with a radius of 150 kilometers. The Americans decided to cover the launching positions of their ICBMs in North Dakota, and we - Moscow. Our anti-missile shield was named A-135 "Amur". Its exact tactical and technical characteristics are secret., but it is known, that the Don-2N radar station was once the only terrestrial radar station that managed to find a tennis ball in space, for the experiment launched from the shuttle "Discovery", and build its trajectory. Amur's nuclear "arrows" reliably cover Moscow with an anti-missile shield. But what about the rest of Russia? St. Petersburg, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg, Sochi, Chelyabinsk, Vladivostok and other cities of our country? By the way, at 2002 year, the United States finally withdrew unilaterally from the ABM Treaty. With the emergence of American X-37Bs with several nuclear warheads on board in orbit on permanent combat duty, the balance of power may change completely indecent. So we can really counter this?first, what comes to mind, it is a layered territorial missile defense system A-235 ("Noodles"), developed by the concern "Almaz-Antey". Modern threats demanded a deep modernization of this system.. Her performance characteristics are secret, but it is known from open sources, that in the updated form "Nudol" should become mobile, not tied to any stationary object, be able to intercept at a height of 500 to 750 kilometers, i.e, in low earth orbit, including, conventional anti-missiles. "Nudol" enables the destruction of the space shuttle, but what to do, if a potential adversary launches a preemptive nuclear strike "without declaration", dropping warheads, pre-equipped with a maneuvering unit? Intercepting them will become an extremely difficult task., for which the entire anti-missile defense system will have to be rebuilt. The promising S-500 anti-aircraft missile system will be able to contribute to this. "Prometheus" should be the first air defense system in the world, capable of working in near space. Its ultra-long-range guided missile 40N6 will be able to reach speeds of up to 9 Mach and intercept targets, flying at speed 15,6 Makhov, up to 200-250 kilometers. The new architecture of the missile defense system should optimize the work of Prometheus: for different types of targets - planes and helicopters, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, satellites - its own separate radar will be responsible, and anti-aircraft systems will be armed with specialized types of antimissiles for maximum effectiveness. obviously, that the S-500 will have to be adjusted to intercept possible attacks from orbit. In this way, we have technical developments for coping with a new threat from space, but, to really cover the whole country with them, or at least key million-plus cities and strategically important infrastructure, you need to invest colossal financial resources, and the RF Ministry of Defense will have to constantly monitor the situation in orbit, to exclude a preemptive nuclear strike. In fact, this means a new round of the ruinous arms race for Russia.. Need to count, would it not be more expedient to create a symmetrical threat to the United States, launching their own "mini-Burans" into orbit. Which solution will be more rational: try to create an impenetrable anti-missile shield over a huge country or invest in the restoration of the production of miniature unmanned space shuttles for dual use?
Sergey Marzhetsky
