Neutron bomb: the history of the creation and principles of the weapon. Neutron bomb - we destroy the enemy soldiers, leaving his equipment intact Neutron explosion

Not so long ago, several prominent Russian nuclear experts expressed the opinion that one of the most relevant factors could be giving nuclear weapons not only the function of deterrence, but also the role of an active military tool, as it was at the height of the confrontation between the USSR and the USA. At the same time, scientists cited the words of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov from his report of October 2, 2003 at a meeting in the Moscow Region, chaired by President Vladimir Putin.

The head of the Russian military department expressed concern that in a number of countries (it is clear which of them is the first) there is a desire to return nuclear weapons to the number of acceptable combat weapons through modernization and the use of "breakthrough" technologies. Attempts to make nuclear weapons cleaner, less powerful, more limited in terms of lethal effect, and especially possible consequences its use, Sergei Ivanov noted, could undermine global and regional stability.

From these positions, one of the most likely options for replenishing the nuclear arsenal is neutron weapons, which, according to the military-technical criteria of “purity”, limited power and the absence of “side undesirable phenomena”, look preferable compared to other types of nuclear weapons. Moreover, attention is drawn to the fact that around him in last years a thick veil of silence had formed. In addition, the official cover for possible plans regarding neutron weapons can be their effectiveness in the fight against international terrorism (attacking attacks on bases and concentrations of militants, especially in sparsely populated, hard-to-reach, mountainous and forested areas).

HOW IT WAS CREATED

Back in the middle of the last century, given the possible nature of wars at that time using nuclear weapons in the expanses of densely populated Europe, the Pentagon generals came to the conclusion that it was necessary to create such means of struggle that would limit the scale of destruction, contamination of the area, and infliction of losses on the civilian population. At first, they relied on tactical nuclear weapons of relatively low power, but soon they sobered up ...

During the exercises of NATO troops under the code name "Carte blanche" (1955), along with checking one of the options for a war against the USSR, the task of determining the extent of destruction and the number of possible victims among civilian population Western Europe in the case of using tactical nuclear weapons. The possible losses calculated at the same time as a result of the use of 268 warheads stunned the NATO command: they were about five times higher than the damage inflicted on Germany by the bombing of allied aircraft during the Second World War.

US scientists proposed to the country's leadership to create a nuclear weapon with a reduced " side effect", to make it "more limited, less powerful and more pure" than previous examples. A group of American researchers led by Edward Teller in September 1957 proved to President Dwight Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Dulles the special advantages of nuclear weapons with enhanced neutron radiation output. Teller literally implored the president: "If you give the Livermore Laboratory only a year and a half, you will get a "clean" nuclear warhead."

Eisenhower could not resist the temptation to ultimate weapon”and gave the go-ahead to conduct an appropriate research program. In the fall of 1960, the first reports of work on the creation of a neutron bomb appeared on the pages of Time magazine. The authors of the articles made no secret of the fact that neutron weapons most fully corresponded to the views of the then US leadership on the goals and methods of waging war on foreign territory.

Having taken over from Eisenhower the baton of power, John F. Kennedy did not disregard the neutron bomb program. He unconditionally increased spending on research in the field of new weapons, approved annual plans for nuclear test explosions, among which were tests of neutron charges. The first explosion of a neutron charger (index W-63), carried out in April 1963 in the underground adit of the Nevada test site, announced the birth of the first sample of third-generation nuclear weapons.

Work on new weapons continued under Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. One of the first official announcements about the development of neutron weapons came in April 1972 from Laird, secretary of defense in the Nixon administration.

In November 1976, another test of a neutron warhead was carried out at the Nevada test site. The results obtained were so impressive that it was decided to push through Congress a decision on the large-scale production of new ammunition. US President Jimmy Carter has been extremely active in pushing through neutron weapons. Laudatory articles appeared in the press describing its military and technical advantages. Scientists, military, congressmen spoke in the media. Supporting this propaganda campaign, the director of the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory, Agnew, declared: "The time has come to learn to love the neutron bomb."

But in August 1981, US President Ronald Reagan announced the full-scale production of neutron weapons: 2000 shells for 203-mm howitzers and 800 warheads for Lance missiles, for which $2.5 billion was allocated. In June 1983, Congress approved an appropriation of $500 million for the next fiscal year for the manufacture of 155 mm caliber (W-83) neutron projectiles.

WHAT IT IS?

By definition, neutron weapons are called thermonuclear charges of relatively low power, with a high thermonuclear coefficient, TNT equivalent in the range of 1–10 kilotons, and an increased yield of neutron radiation. During the explosion of such a charge, due to its special design, a decrease in the fraction of energy converted into a shock wave and light radiation is achieved, but the amount of energy released in the form of a high-energy neutron flux (about 14 MeV) increases.

As Professor Burop noted, fundamental difference N-bomb's device lies in the rate of energy release. “In a neutron bomb,” the scientist says, “energy is released much more slowly. It's kind of like a delayed action squib."

To heat the synthesized substances to a temperature of millions of degrees, at which the fusion reaction of nuclei of hydrogen isotopes begins, an atomic mini-detonator made of highly enriched plutonium-239 is used. Calculations carried out by nuclear experts showed that when a charge is fired, 10 to the 24th power of neutrons are released for each kiloton of power. The explosion of such a charge is also accompanied by the release of a significant amount of gamma quanta, which enhance it. damaging effect. When moving in the atmosphere, as a result of collisions of neutrons and gamma rays with gas atoms, they gradually lose their energy. The degree of their weakening is characterized by the relaxation length - the distance at which their flux weakens by a factor of e (e is the base natural logarithms). The longer the relaxation length, the slower the attenuation of radiation in air. For neutrons and gamma radiation, the relaxation length in air near the earth's surface is about 235 and 350 m, respectively.

Due to different relaxation lengths of neutrons and gamma quanta, with increasing distance from the epicenter of the explosion, their ratio to each other in the total radiation flux gradually changes. This leads to the fact that at relatively close distances from the explosion site, the fraction of neutrons significantly prevails over the fraction of gamma quanta, but as you move away from it, this ratio gradually changes and for a charge with a power of 1 kt, their fluxes are compared at a distance of about 1500 m, and then gamma radiation will dominate.

The damaging effect of the neutron flux and gamma rays on living organisms is determined by the total dose of radiation that will be absorbed by them. To characterize the damaging effect on a person, the unit "rad" (radiation absorbed dose - absorbed dose of radiation) is used. The unit "rad" is defined as the value of the absorbed dose of any ionizing radiation, corresponding to 100 erg of energy in 1 g of a substance. It was found that all types of ionizing radiation have a similar effect on living tissues, however, the magnitude of the biological effect at the same dose of absorbed energy will strongly depend on the type of radiation. Such a difference in the damaging effect is taken into account by the so-called indicator of "relative biological effectiveness" (RBE). For the reference value of RBE taken biological action gamma radiation, which is equated to unity.

Studies have shown that the relative biological efficiency of fast neutrons when exposed to living tissues is approximately seven times higher than that of gamma rays, that is, their RBE is 7. This ratio means that, for example, the absorbed dose of neutron radiation is 10 rad in its biological effects on the human body will be equivalent to a dose of 70 rad of gamma radiation. The physico-biological effect of neutrons on living tissues is explained by the fact that when they get into living cells, like projectiles, they knock out nuclei from atoms, break molecular bonds, form free radicals that have a high ability to chemical reactions, violate the basic cycles of life processes.

During the development of the neutron bomb in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, numerous experiments were carried out to determine the damaging effect of neutron radiation on living organisms. On the instructions of the Pentagon, at the radiobiological center in San Antonio (Texas), together with scientists from the Livermore Nuclear Laboratory, studies were carried out to study the effects of high-energy neutron irradiation of rhesus monkeys, whose body is closest to the human. There they were irradiated with doses from several tens to several thousand rads.

Based on the results of these experiments and observations on the victims of ionizing radiation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, American specialists established several characteristic criteria for radiation doses. At a dose of about 8,000 rads, an immediate failure of personnel occurs. Fatal outcome occurs within 1-2 days. When receiving a dose of 3000 rad, 4-5 minutes after exposure, there is a loss of working capacity, which lasts for 10-45 minutes. Then a partial improvement occurs for several hours, after which a sharp exacerbation of radiation sickness occurs and all those affected in this category die within 4–6 days. Those who received a dose of about 400–500 rads are in a state of latent lethality. Deterioration of the condition occurs in 1–2 days and progresses sharply within 3–5 days after irradiation. Death usually occurs within a month after the injury. Irradiation with doses of about 100 rad causes a hematological form of radiation sickness, in which the hematopoietic organs are primarily affected. Recovery of such patients is possible, but requires long-term treatment in a hospital.

It is also necessary to take into account side effect N-bombs as a result of the interaction of the neutron flux with the surface layer of the soil and various objects. This leads to the creation of induced radioactivity, the mechanism of which is that neutrons actively interact with atoms of various soil elements, as well as with metal atoms contained in building structures, equipment, weapons and military equipment. When neutrons are captured, some of these nuclei are converted into radioactive isotopes, which, for a certain time, characteristic of each type of isotope, emit nuclear radiation that has a damaging ability. All of these generated radioactive substances emit beta particles and gamma rays, predominantly high energies. As a result, tanks, guns, armored personnel carriers and other equipment exposed to radiation become sources of intense radiation for some time. The height of the explosion of neutron munitions is chosen within the range of 130–200 m in such a way that the resulting fire ball did not reach the surface of the earth, thereby reducing the level of induced activity.

BATTLE CHARACTERISTICS

US military experts argued that the combat use of neutron weapons is most effective in repelling enemy tank attacks and, at the same time, has the highest indicators in terms of the cost-effectiveness criterion. The Pentagon, however, carefully concealed the real performance characteristics neutron munitions, the size of the affected areas during their combat use.

According to experts, in the event of an explosion of a 203-mm artillery shell with a capacity of 1 kiloton, the crews of enemy tanks located within a radius of 300 m will be instantly disabled and die within two days. Crews of tanks located 300-700 meters from the epicenter of the explosion will fail in a few minutes and will also die within 6-7 days. Tankers who find themselves at distances of 700–1300 m from the place where the shell exploded will be incapacitated in a few hours, and the death of most of them will occur within a few weeks. Of course, an openly located manpower will be exposed to damaging effects at even greater distances.

It is known that the frontal armor modern tanks reaches a thickness of 250 mm, which weakens the high-energy gamma quanta affecting it by about a hundred times. At the same time, the neutron flux incident on frontal armor, only doubles. In this case, as a result of the interaction of neutrons with atoms of the armor material, secondary gamma radiation occurs, which will also have a damaging effect on the tank crew.

Therefore, a simple increase in the thickness of the armor will not lead to an increase in the security of tankers. It is possible to enhance the security of the crew by creating multilayer, combined coatings based on the features of the interaction of neutrons with atoms of various substances. This idea found its practical implementation when creating protection against neutrons in the American M2 Bradley armored combat vehicle. For this purpose, the gap between the outer steel armor and the inner aluminum structure was filled with a layer of hydrogen-containing plastic material - polyurethane foam, with the atoms of the components of which neutrons actively interact up to their absorption.

In this regard, the question involuntarily arises as to whether Russian tank builders take into account the changes in the nuclear policy of some countries, which were mentioned at the beginning of the article? Will our tank crews defenseless against neutron weapons? One can hardly ignore the high probability of its appearance on future battlefields.

There is no doubt that in the event that neutron weapons are produced and delivered to the troops of foreign states, Russia will respond adequately. Although Moscow has not made official admissions about the possession of neutron weapons, it is known from the history of the nuclear rivalry between the two superpowers that the United States, as a rule, was in the lead in nuclear race, created new types of weapons, but some time passed and the USSR restored parity. In the opinion of the author of the article, the situation with neutron weapons is no exception, and Russia, if necessary, will also possess them.

APPLICATIONS

How a large-scale war in the European theater is seen, if it breaks out in the future (although this seems very unlikely), can be judged by the publication in the pages of Army magazine by the American military theorist Rogers.

“┘Retreating with heavy fighting, the US 14th Mechanized Division repels enemy attacks, suffering heavy losses. Battalions have 7-8 tanks left, losses in infantry companies reach more than 30 percent. The main means of combating tanks - ATGM "TOU" and laser-guided projectiles - are running out. Help is not expected from anyone. All army and corps reserves have already been put into action. According to air reconnaissance, two tank and two motorized rifle divisions of the enemy occupy their starting positions for the offensive 15 kilometers from the front line. And now hundreds of armored vehicles, echeloned in depth, are advancing on an eight-kilometer front. Enemy artillery and air strikes are intensifying. crisis situation growing┘

An encrypted order arrives at the division headquarters: permission has been received for the use of neutron weapons. NATO aviation received a warning about the need to withdraw from the battle. The barrels of 203-mm howitzers confidently rise in firing positions. Fire! In dozens of the most important points, at a height of about 150 meters above the battle formations of the advancing enemy, bright flashes appeared. However, in the first moments, their impact on the enemy seems insignificant: the shock wave destroyed not a large number of machines within a hundred yards of the epicenters of the explosions. But the battlefield is already all permeated with flows of invisible deadly radiation. The enemy's attack soon loses its focus. Tanks and armored personnel carriers move randomly, stumble upon each other, and fire indirectly. In a short time, the enemy loses up to 30,000 personnel. His massive offensive is finally thwarted. The 14th division goes on a decisive counteroffensive, pushing the enemy back.

Of course, this is only one of the many possible (idealized) episodes of the combat use of neutron weapons, but it also allows you to get a certain idea of ​​the views of American military experts on their use.

Attention to neutron weapons may also increase in the near future in connection with their possible use in the interests of increasing the effectiveness of the system being created in the United States missile defense. It is known that in the summer of 2002, the head of the Pentagon, Donald Rumsfeld, instructed the scientific and technical committee of the Ministry of Defense to investigate the feasibility of equipping missile defense interceptor missiles with nuclear (possibly neutron. - VB) warheads. This is primarily due to the fact that tests conducted in recent years to defeat attacking warheads with kinetic interceptors requiring direct hit to the target, showed: the necessary reliability of the destruction of the object is absent.

It should be noted here that back in the early 1970s, several dozen neutron warheads were installed on the Sprint anti-missiles of the Safeguard missile defense system deployed around the largest USS airbase Grand Forks (North Dakota). According to the calculations of specialists, which was confirmed during the tests, fast neutrons, having a high penetrating power, will pass through the warhead plating, incapacitate electronic system warhead detonation. In addition, neutrons, interacting with the uranium or plutonium nuclei of the atomic detonator of the warhead, will cause the fission of some of it. Such a reaction will occur with a significant release of energy, which can lead to heating and destruction of the detonator. In addition, when neutrons interact with a material nuclear warhead secondary gamma radiation is produced. It will make it possible to identify a real warhead against the background of decoys, in which such radiation will be practically absent.

In conclusion, the following should be said. The presence of a proven technology for the production of neutron munitions, the preservation of their individual samples and components in the arsenals, the US refusal to ratify the CTBT and the preparation of the Nevada test site for resumption nuclear testing- all this means a real possibility of re-entering the world arena of neutron weapons. And although Washington prefers not to draw attention to it, it does not become less dangerous for this. It seems that the “neutron lion” is hiding, but at the right time it will be ready to enter the world arena.

Epoch cold war significantly added phobias to humanity. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the horsemen of the Apocalypse took on new guises and began to seem more real than ever. Nuclear and thermonuclear bombs, biological weapons, "dirty" bombs, ballistic missiles - all this carried the threat of mass destruction for multi-million cities, countries and entire continents.

One of the most impressive "horror stories" of that period was the neutron bomb - a type of nuclear weapon, "sharpened" to destroy biological objects, with minimal impact on material values. Soviet propaganda paid much attention to this terrible weapon invented by the gloomy genius of the overseas imperialists.

It was impossible to hide from this bomb, neither a concrete bunker, nor bomb shelters, nor other means of protection could save. At the same time, after the explosion of the neutron bomb, buildings, enterprises and other infrastructure remained intact and fell directly into the clutches of the American military. There were so many stories about the new terrible weapon that in the USSR they began to write jokes about it.

Which of these stories is true and which is fiction? How does a neutron bomb work? Are there similar ammunition in service Russian army Or the US military? Are there developments in this area today?

How does a neutron bomb work - features of damaging factors

A neutron bomb is a type of nuclear weapon, the main damaging factor of which is the flux of neutron radiation. Contrary to popular belief, after the explosion of a neutron ammunition, both a shock wave and light radiation are formed, but most of the energy of the released energy is converted into a stream of fast neutrons. The neutron bomb is a tactical nuclear weapon.

The principle of operation of neutron ammunition is based on the property of fast neutrons to penetrate much more strongly through various obstacles, compared to X-rays, alpha, beta and gamma particles. For example, 150 mm of armor can hold up to 90% of gamma radiation and only 20% of a neutron wave. Roughly speaking, it is much more difficult to hide from the penetrating radiation of a neutron munition than from the radiation of a conventional nuclear bomb. It was this property of neutrons that attracted the attention of the military.

A neutron bomb has a nuclear charge of low power, as well as a special block (usually made of beryllium), which is the source of neutron radiation. After the detonation of a nuclear charge, most of the energy of the explosion is converted into hard neutron radiation. Other damage factors - shock wave, light pulse, electromagnetic radiation - account for only 20% of the energy.

However, all of the above is just a theory, practical use neutron weapons has some nuances.

The earth's atmosphere dampens neutron radiation very strongly, so the range of this damaging factor is no greater than the distance of the shock wave. For the same reason, it makes no sense to manufacture high-powered neutron munitions - the radiation will quickly die out anyway. Typically, neutron charges have a power of about 1 kT. When it is undermined, neutron radiation damage occurs within a radius of 1.5 km. At a distance of 1350 meters from the epicenter, it is dangerous for human life.

In addition, the flux of neutrons induces in materials - for example, in armor - induced radioactivity. If you land in a new crew that has fallen under the influence of a neutron weapon (at distances of about a kilometer from the epicenter), then it will receive a lethal dose of radiation within a day.

The widespread opinion that the neutron bomb does not destroy material values ​​does not correspond to reality. After the explosion of such ammunition, both a shock wave and a pulse of light radiation are formed, the zone of severe destruction from which has a radius of about one kilometer.

Neutron munitions are not very suitable for use in the Earth's atmosphere, but they can be very effective in outer space. There is no air, so neutrons propagate freely over very long distances. Due to this, various sources of neutron radiation are considered as effective remedy missile defense. This is the so-called beam weapon. True, as a source of neutrons, not neutron nuclear bombs are usually considered, but generators of directed neutron beams - the so-called neutron guns.

Even the developers of the Reagan program of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) proposed using them as a means to destroy ballistic missiles and warheads. When the neutron beam interacts with the materials of the rocket and warhead structure, induced radiation occurs, which reliably disables the electronics of these devices.

After the appearance of the idea of ​​a neutron bomb and the beginning of work on its creation, methods of protection against neutron radiation began to be developed. First of all, they were aimed at reducing the vulnerability of military equipment and the crew in it. The main method of protection against such weapons was the manufacture special types armor that absorbs neutrons well. Boron was usually added to them - a material that perfectly captures these elementary particles. It can be added that boron is part of the absorbing rods of nuclear reactors. Another way to reduce the neutron flux is to add depleted uranium to the armor steel.

In general, almost all Combat vehicles, created in the 60s - 70s of the last century, is maximally protected from most damaging factors nuclear explosion.

History of the creation of the neutron bomb

The atomic bombs detonated by the Americans over Hiroshima and Nagasaki are usually referred to as the first generation of nuclear weapons. The principle of its operation is based on the reaction of nuclear fission of uranium or plutonium. The second generation includes weapons based on nuclear fusion reactions - these are thermonuclear munitions, the first of which was detonated by the United States in 1952.

Nuclear weapons of the third generation include ammunition, after the explosion of which, the energy is directed to enhance one or another factor of destruction. It is to such ammunition that neutron bombs belong.

For the first time, they started talking about creating a neutron bomb in the mid-60s, although, theoretical background discussed much earlier - back in the mid-40s. It is believed that the idea of ​​​​creating such a weapon belongs to American physicist Samuel Coen. Tactical nuclear weapons, despite their considerable power, are not very effective against armored vehicles, the armor well protected the crew from almost all damaging factors of nuclear weapons.

The first test of a neutron combat device was carried out in the United States in 1963. However, the radiation power turned out to be much lower than that expected by the military. It took more than ten years to fine-tune the new weapon: in 1976, the Americans conducted another test of a neutron charge, the results of which were very impressive. After that, it was decided to create 203-mm projectiles with a neutron warhead and warheads for Lance tactical ballistic missiles.

Currently, the technologies that allow the creation of neutron weapons are owned by the United States, Russia and China (possibly France). Some sources report that the mass production of such ammunition continued until about the mid-80s of the last century. At that moment, boron and depleted uranium began to be added everywhere to the armor of military equipment, which almost completely neutralized the main damaging factor of neutron ammunition. This led to the gradual abandonment of this type of weapon. Although, how the situation actually is is unknown. Information of this kind is under many classifications of secrecy and is practically not available to the general public.

The direct action of gamma radiation is inferior in combat effect to both the shock wave and light. Only huge doses of gamma radiation (tens of millions of rads) can cause trouble for electronics. At such doses, metals melt, and a shock wave with a much lower energy density will destroy the target without such excesses. If the energy density of gamma radiation is less, it becomes harmless to steel technology, and the shock wave can also have its say here.

Not everything is clear with “manpower” either: firstly, gamma radiation is significantly weakened, for example, by armor, and secondly, the features of radiation injuries are such that even those who received an absolutely lethal dose of thousands of rem (the biological equivalent of an X-ray, the dose of any type of radiation that produces the same effect in biological object, like 1 roentgen) tank crews would remain combat-ready for several hours. During this time, mobile and relatively invulnerable machines would have time to do a lot.

Death to electronics

Although direct gamma irradiation does not provide a significant combat effect, it is possible due to secondary reactions. As a result of the scattering of gamma rays on the electrons of air atoms (the Compton effect), recoil electrons arise. A current of electrons diverges from the explosion point: their speed is much higher than the speed of ions. The trajectories of charged particles in the Earth's magnetic field twist (and therefore move with acceleration), while forming an electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear explosion (EMP).

Any compound containing tritium is unstable, because half of the nuclei of this isotope itself decays into helium-3 and an electron in 12 years, and in order to maintain the readiness of numerous thermonuclear charges for use, it is necessary to continuously produce tritium in reactors. There is little tritium in the neutron tube, and helium-3 is absorbed there by special porous materials, but this decay product must be pumped out of the ampoule with a pump, otherwise it will simply be torn apart by gas pressure. Such difficulties led, for example, to the fact that British specialists, having received Polaris missiles from the United States in the 1970s, preferred to abandon American thermonuclear combat equipment in favor of less powerful single-phase fission charges developed in their country under the Chevaline program. In the neutron munitions intended to fight tanks, the replacement of ampoules with a significantly reduced amount of tritium with "fresh" ampoules was carried out in the arsenals during storage. Such ammunition could also be used with "blank" ampoules - as single-phase nuclear projectiles of kiloton power. It is possible to use thermonuclear fuel without tritium, only on the basis of deuterium, but then, with other equal conditions, the power output will be significantly reduced. Scheme of operation of a three-phase thermonuclear munition. The explosion of the fission charge (1) turns the ampoule (2) into a plasma that compresses the thermonuclear fuel (3). To enhance the explosive effect due to the neutron flux, a shell (4) of uranium-238 is used.

Only 0.6% of the energy of gamma quanta passes into the energy of EMP nuclear weapons, and in fact their share in the balance of the energy of the explosion is small in itself. The contribution is also made by the dipole radiation, which arises due to the change in air density with height, and the perturbation magnetic field Earth by a conducting plasmoid. As a result, a continuous frequency spectrum of EMP nuclear weapons is formed - a set of oscillations of a huge number of frequencies. The energy contribution of radiation with frequencies from tens of kilohertz to hundreds of megahertz is significant. These waves behave differently: megahertz and higher-frequency waves attenuate in the atmosphere, while low-frequency waves “dive” into the natural waveguide formed by the Earth’s surface and the ionosphere, and can circle the globe more than once. True, these "long-livers" remind of their existence only by wheezing in the receivers, similar to the "voices" of lightning discharges, but their higher-frequency relatives declare themselves with powerful and dangerous "clicks" for the equipment.

It would seem that such radiation should generally be indifferent to military electronics - after all, any device with the greatest efficiency receives waves of the range in which it emits them. And military electronics receive and radiate in much higher frequency ranges than EMP nuclear weapons. But EMP does not affect electronics through an antenna. If a rocket with a length of 10 m was “covered” by a long wave with an electric field strength of 100 V / cm that did not amaze the imagination, then a potential difference of 100,000 V was induced on the metal rocket body! Powerful impulse currents through the grounding connections "flow" into the circuits, and the grounding points themselves on the case turned out to be under significantly different potentials. Current overloads are dangerous for semiconductor elements: in order to “burn out” a high-frequency diode, a pulse of scanty (ten millionth of a joule) energy is enough. EMP took the place of honor as a powerful damaging factor: sometimes they disabled equipment thousands of kilometers from a nuclear explosion - neither a shock wave nor a light pulse could do this.

It is clear that the parameters of the EMP-causing explosions were optimized (mainly the height of the detonation of a charge of a given power). Protective measures were also developed: the equipment was supplied with additional screens, security arresters. Not a single piece of military equipment was accepted into service until it was proved by tests - full-scale or on specially created simulators - that its resistance to EMP nuclear weapons, at least of such intensity, which is typical for not too large distances from the explosion.

Inhuman weapon

However, back to two-phase ammunition. Their main damaging factor is the flux of fast neutrons. This gave rise to numerous legends about “barbaric weapons” — neutron bombs, which, as Soviet newspapers wrote in the early 1980s, destroy all life in the explosion, and leave material values ​​​​(buildings, equipment) practically intact. A real looting weapon - blew it up, and then come and rob! In fact, any objects exposed to significant neutron fluxes are life-threatening, because neutrons, after interacting with nuclei, initiate various reactions in them, causing secondary (induced) radiation, which is emitted for a long time after the last of the decays. neutrons irradiating matter.

What was this "barbaric weapon" intended for? The warheads of Lance missiles and 203-mm howitzer shells were equipped with two-phase thermonuclear charges. The choice of carriers and their reach (tens of kilometers) indicate that these weapons were created to solve operational and tactical tasks. Neutron munitions (according to American terminology - "with an increased output of radiation") were intended to destroy armored vehicles, in terms of which the Warsaw Pact outnumbered NATO by several times. The tank is sufficiently resistant to the effects of a shock wave, therefore, after calculating the use of nuclear weapons of various classes against armored vehicles, taking into account the consequences of contamination of the area with fission products and destruction from powerful shock waves, it was decided to make neutrons the main damaging factor.

Absolutely pure charge

In an effort to obtain such a thermonuclear charge, they tried to abandon the nuclear "fuse", replacing fission with ultra-high-speed cumulation: the head element of the jet, which consisted of thermonuclear fuel, was accelerated to hundreds of kilometers per second (at the time of the collision, temperature and density increase significantly). But against the background of the explosion of a kilogram shaped charge, the "thermonuclear" increase turned out to be negligible, and the effect was registered only indirectly - by the yield of neutrons. An account of these US experiments was published in 1961 in Atoms and Weapons, which, given the then paranoid secrecy, was in itself a failure.
In the seventies, in "non-nuclear" Poland, Sylvester Kaliski theoretically considered the compression of thermonuclear fuel by spherical implosion and received very favorable estimates. But experimental verification showed that, although the neutron yield, compared with the "jet version", increased by many orders of magnitude, front instabilities do not allow reaching desired temperature at the point of convergence of the wave and only those fuel particles react, the speed of which, due to the statistical spread, significantly exceeds the average value. So it was not possible to create a completely “clean” charge.

Expecting to stop the bulk of "armor", the NATO headquarters developed the concept of "fighting the second echelons", trying to move farther away the line of use of neutron weapons against the enemy. The main task of the armored forces is to develop success to the operational depth, after they are thrown into a gap in the defense, punched, for example, nuclear strike high power. At this point, it is too late to use radiation munitions: although 14-MeV neutrons are slightly absorbed by armor, damage to crews by radiation does not immediately affect combat capability. Therefore, such strikes were planned in waiting areas, where the main masses of armored vehicles were being prepared for introduction into the breakthrough: during the march to the front line, the effects of radiation should have manifested themselves on the crews.

The 20th century went down in the history of mankind not only for its achievements in the scientific and technical sphere, but also for the fact that it presented to mankind a weapon of such colossal power and destructive power that not just one state, but our entire civilization as a whole was under threat. One of the varieties of such weapons is the neutron bomb.

Brief description of neutron weapons

Much less is known about this weapon than, for example, about nuclear or hydrogen weapons; many developments are still shrouded in state secrets. It can be said for certain that the neutron bomb is special kind tactical weapons, the main destructive force of which is associated with an ultra-fast flow of neutral elementary particles. Its undoubted advantage over other types of nuclear weapons is a much larger radius of destruction.

Advantages and disadvantages of the neutron bomb

On the other hand, this type of weapon has its own specifics. In particular, the explosion of a bomb with a neutron charge has a relatively small power. The thing is that if you increase this parameter, then the neutrons will simply scatter in the air, and the damage radius will be about the same. In connection with such a small power, the amount of destruction will be relatively small: for example, even if the most powerful neutron bomb is used, the radius where continuous destruction will be observed is unlikely to exceed one kilometer.

How the neutron bomb works

The creation of the atomic bomb had a huge impact on the appearance of weapons with a neutron carrier. The thing is that at high altitudes, the impact of the main damaging factor of a nuclear explosion, which is the shock wave, is minimized. At the same time, the neutron bomb and the powerful stream of neutral elementary particles created by it and on high altitude are more than effective. The action of this weapon is based on the fact that the neutrons themselves are capable of penetrating through the skin of any aircraft and exerting Negative influence on control systems. In addition, the use of these particles can help in the analysis of what kind of cargo - nuclear or conventional - is carried by this or that aircraft.

The United States is the undisputed leader in the creation of neutron weapons

It is worth noting that the undisputed leaders in this area of ​​WMD are the Americans. Research on the use of neutrons as a weapon here began as early as the late 1950s, and already in 1974 the first such ammunition was put into service. True, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Americans announced complete elimination of this weapon, however, according to the latest information, a number of countries, including the United States, as well as Russia, China and Israel, have everything necessary to quickly expand the production of neutron munitions. At meetings of various levels, questions were repeatedly raised about the inadmissibility of the creation and use of this type of WMD, but it cannot be ruled out that the growing tension in the world may induce a number of states to unfreeze their developments.