Chapter 1098 Anti-missile Technology

The emergence of anti-missile technology can be traced back to the Cold War.

In response to the increasingly advanced missile technology of the Soviet Union, the United States stepped up the development of various anti-missile defense systems.

In the mid-1950s, the United States began to build an anti-missile system, and built the first generation of anti-missile system "Nike-Zeus" in the early 1960s.

In recent years, other military powers have also turned their attention to the anti-missile field. Missile defense systems have shown a strong development momentum worldwide, and the progress of science and technology has also provided strong support for the innovation of anti-missile systems.

As a complex weapon system, the anti-missile system includes subsystems such as missile early warning, target identification, ground guidance, command and control, and interception weapons. After the enemy launches a missile attack, the early warning system first responds to discover, capture and track the target, and then transmits the data to the target identification system to complete the distinction and identification of the target. After that, the ground guidance system tracks the determined target and guides the anti-missile weapon to intercept the target. The command system is responsible for commanding the various systems to work together, issue instructions, and destroy the target.

A complete anti-missile system requires close cooperation between the various subsystems. If any subsystem has problems, it will lead to the failure of missile interception.

According to the different deployment locations, anti-missile systems are divided into land-based, sea-based, air-based and space-based systems.

At present, while developing land-based, sea-based and air-based anti-missile systems, various military powers have also attached increasing importance to space-based anti-missile weapons.

The main advantages of space-based anti-missile weapon systems are: they can achieve high-efficiency boost and terminal boost interception; they can intercept on a global scale; the outer space environment in which they are located helps to improve the performance of the interceptor; they can make full use of the available interception time and airspace, thus providing conditions for multi-level interception. In addition to anti-ballistic missiles, space-based anti-missile weapons also have the ability to counter space targets and protect space facilities.

In terms of the means of destroying targets, modern anti-missile weapons are mainly anti-missile missiles, and others such as high-performance laser weapons, ion beam weapons, microwave weapons, kinetic weapons, etc. are all in the laboratory research and development stage.

Anti-missile missiles are usually divided into two categories: high-altitude interception missiles and low-altitude interception missiles. The former is used to destroy incoming missiles outside the atmosphere, and the latter is used to intercept over the target. Anti-missile missiles are composed of warheads, propulsion systems, guidance systems, power systems and missile bodies.

At present, the anti-missile air defense missiles in service in the world mainly include the Patriot series and the Standard series of the Sea-based Air Defense Missile System of the United States, the S300 air defense missile system of Russia, and the "Aegis" air defense missile system of China!

The air defense missile systems deployed by other countries are all purchased from these three companies.

What Liu Tao was thinking about at this time was not to deploy more Aegis-4 and Aegis-5 air defense missile systems, but to think about developing laser weapons.

Laser weapons are a type of directed energy weapon that can use the huge energy carried by high-intensity laser beams to destroy enemy missiles and satellites. Compared with conventional weapons, high-energy laser weapons have the advantages of fast speed, short preparation time, flexible mobility, strong regeneration ability, high precision, low pollution, few collateral casualties, high cost-effectiveness, and no electromagnetic interference.

Since the birth of laser technology in the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union have seen its huge military application potential and have invested heavily in laser anti-missile research and development.

However, for a long time, there have been a series of technical obstacles to using laser beams to directly destroy targets.

Of course, although there are many technical obstacles, this does not prevent major military powers from researching laser weapons.

In view of the important role and status of laser weapons, the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries have invested huge amounts of money, formulated grand plans, and organized large scientific research teams to develop laser weapons. By the early 1990s, the US government alone had invested $9 billion in research on laser weapons. In the mid-to-late 1980s, Soviet and British warships or land had experimental tactical laser weapons and equipment, and the United States, France, Germany and other countries also conducted a large number of experiments.

Laser weapons are divided into three categories: one is blinding type, such as airborne blinding weapons; the second is close-range tactical type, which can be used to shoot down missiles and aircraft, such as the test conducted by the United States in 1978 to use lasers to shoot Dow anti-tank missiles, which used this type of weapon. The third is long-range strategic type, which is the most difficult to develop, but once successful, it has the greatest effect. It can be used against satellites and intercontinental ballistic missiles, becoming the most advanced defensive weapon.

Overall, laser weapons can be divided into tactical laser weapons and strategic laser weapons.

Tactical laser weapons are laser weapons used for photoelectric confrontation and tactical air defense. The range of action is usually within several thousand meters. They include low-energy laser interference and blinding weapons and high-energy tactical laser weapons. The former uses small and medium-power lasers with an average power of less than 10,000 watts, mainly interfering with and destroying the enemy's photoelectric sensors and the eyes of enemy officers and soldiers in a soft way.

The latter is mainly used to attack combat targets such as aircraft and tactical missiles. Laser air defense weapons can softly destroy missile seekers and fairings, with an average power of more than 100,000 watts and a range of less than 10 kilometers. When used for hard damage to missile shells, the average power must reach 1 million watts.

Tactical laser weapons use lasers as energy, and can directly kill enemy personnel, destroy tanks, aircraft, etc. like conventional weapons, with a strike range of up to 20 kilometers. The main representatives of this type of weapon are laser guns and laser cannons. It sounds incredible, but it is true. The world's first laser gun was born in the United States in 1978, and in the Falklands War, the United Kingdom installed laser blinding weapons on aircraft carriers and various frigates, which caused many Argentine aircraft to lose control, crash or mistakenly enter the British army's shooting net.

As for strategic laser weapons, they are a type of laser weapon used to attack strategic missiles or satellites. The range is much longer, and the laser power is above 10 million watts. In this regard, the United States and the Soviet Union are in the world's leading position.

For example, in November 1975, two U.S. reconnaissance satellites monitoring missile silos were hit by the Soviet Union's "anti-satellite" land-based laser weapons when they flew over Siberia, and became "blind".

Therefore, high-base and high-energy laser weapons are one of the ideal weapons to seize the advantage of space, which is also the fundamental reason why military powers are willing to spend huge sums of money to compete fiercely.

Since the 1970s, the United States and the Soviet Union have conducted dozens of anti-satellite laser weapon tests under various names. This makes the United States and the Soviet Union lead the world in strategic laser weapons. If we say which country is the most powerful, it should be the Soviet Union.

Liu Tao feels that the "Aegis 5" air defense missile system is almost the pinnacle of missile anti-missile, and it can't be improved much further. From a technical point of view, laser anti-missile has more room and a larger ceiling for development!