"Status-6" (ocean multi-purpose system) is a project of a domestic unmanned aircraft designed to deliver deadly cargo to the enemy's shore. The innovative development is a new milestone in the concept of warfare, designed to nullify the anti-missile defense system of the intended enemy. After all, the "rocket" will fly not through the air, but under water.

First mentions

As far back as 2012, there were references in the media about the desire of the United States to create a missile defense system that would serve as a shield against the intercontinental ballistic missiles of the Russian Federation. The domestic military was asked to develop an alternative method of projectile delivery in the event of an alleged war. A weapon system using a high-yield nuclear charge was mentioned, but not a "dirty bomb".

So in some places on television, some drawings flashed, which somewhere were presented as innovative developments, and somewhere as prototypes of outdated weapons models. What of this is a lie and what is true, it was not possible to find out.

Danger zones

The Western press has already dubbed the new project as a "weapon of retaliation." In 2015, the BBC aired a report saying that Russia was building a robotic submarine capable of transporting a nuclear weapon up to 10,000 kilometers at a depth of up to 1,000 meters. An underwater torpedo is capable of creating zones unfavorable for life, fishing and military-economic activities in the waters of the alleged enemy.

Opinions of skeptics

Critical reaction was immediate. The harm from intercontinental ballistic missiles is obvious. But they start at hard-to-reach points all over the planet and make their way to enemy territory through the air, where they are met by the missile defense system.

Project "Status-6" of the ocean multi-purpose system "sneaks" into enemy territory under water at a depth of about 1 kilometer. There is an opinion that it would be necessary to develop an orientation system in such an “atmosphere”, because a torpedo can crash into underwater rocks, stumble upon reefs or get lost in underwater caves.

On the other hand, either a remote control of such a system is expected, or the import of seabed maps, which are successfully used in the operation of floating oil platforms.

Enemy Defeat Logic

The developer of this system is TsKB MT "RUBIN". Many bloggers who claim to be experts in the military industry, tactics and military affairs, boldly rushed to claim that the news is one hundred percent true, and refer to imaginary sources that are not subject to disclosure. The logic of using such torpedoes is to infect the ports of the alleged enemy with radioactive waste, thereby depriving the opponent of the fleet and shipping industry. Such measures, if they do not lead to the collapse of the economy, will force it to be significantly revised.

Such an assumption does not tolerate any criticism (even if the author refers to specific persons from the Central Design Bureau of MT "RUBIN"). The declared power of weapons in different sources varies from 10 to 100 megatons. For comparison: the bomb dropped on Hiroshima had only 20 kilotons, and the well-known Kuzkina Mother, also known as the Tsar Bomba, had 58.6 megatons.

It is worth recalling that according to the results of the test of the last mentioned one, the following conclusions were made:

the fireball from the explosion reached a radius of 4.6 km;
the seismic wave generated by the explosion circled the globe three times.

The above two points are enough to understand that a retaliatory weapon with a figure of 100 megatons will either put an end to all of humanity, or is nothing more than an instrument of information warfare.

References to the T-15 project

It should be said that in the fifties something similar was already proposed by Academician Sakharov. According to literary sources, it was proposed to equip torpedoes with cobalt shells to enhance the blast wave. The idea was to produce an explosion off the coast of the United States, thereby generating giant waves that could significantly damage the infrastructure of the enemy.

The project was rejected due to the high cost and lack of underwater vehicles capable of transporting a charge of a similar design.

Many discussions of the article and reviews of Internet bloggers are full of references to this project. Nevertheless, the damaging factors for "Status-6" suggest contamination of the territory with radiation 1700 km deep, as well as 300 km wide, taking into account a wind speed of 26 km / h. The information was modeled using the NukeMap program. And this is without taking into account the cobalt gain.

The second factor is the colossal wave. Presumably, such an explosion is capable of generating a tsunami from 300 to 500 meters in height and affecting a land area of 500 kilometers.

Stealth "Status-6"

The oceanic multi-purpose system does not move in vain at such a depth (1 km) - it is more difficult to detect it even with the help of a modern echolocation system. The only way out can be a revival by the enemy of the naval defense program of the Second World War, involving the operation. It is also possible to use deep-sea sonars, but those are capable of covering a distance within a radius of 18 kilometers.

Nevertheless, while the project has not been officially presented, it is difficult to judge how the stealth technology is implemented in the new torpedo. Experts suggest that upon reaching a certain speed, Status-6 will become invisible to detection systems, and at maximum speed it will be able to successfully evade NATO torpedoes.

Scheme "Status-6"

The design, or rather, its free interpretation, was made by newspapers WBF and Russian Forces based on the same screenshot that accidentally popped up in the press. And all assumptions about the device of a new weapon are exclusively Western experts trying to build any guesses about the Status-6 system.

The oceanic multi-purpose system, according to their assumptions, is equipped with a high-strength hull. This goes without saying, because at a depth of 1000 meters the pressure is high.

Nuclear reactor. Of course, there is no reliable information about the type and power of such.

The stealth technology of this product is currently shrouded in mystery and consists solely of the guesswork described above.

And also the drone is probably equipped with means of communication and remote control. Although, according to another version, the route to the target is laid even before launch, then the product moves to the target autonomously.

Given that the declared speed is approximately 95 km / h, the retaliation weapon will move for 5 or 6 days to the enemy coast. During this time, the situation in the world may change, but the "death machine" will continue to fulfill its combat mission.

Western opinion

A number of American analysts have caught the subtext. After all, it was within the framework of the discussion of the anti-missile system that information about Status-6 surfaced. The ocean-going multi-purpose weapon system is a deterrent to the Western missile defense program around the world.

NATO even assigned its own classification of this innovation, christening it with the word Kanyon. According to The Daily Mirror, tatus-6" is a retaliatory weapon capable of restoring the balance of power in the event of a war and shifting the balance in favor of the Russian Federation.

The popular science publication New Scientist notes that the torpedo will become an unequivocal guarantor of the destruction of the United States, as well as humanity as a whole. There are already too many nuclear weapons of different capacities in the world. The recycling program starts and stops. Therefore, with the advent of the new Doomsday weapon, the balance of power in the world is approaching a dangerous line.

Meanwhile, former adviser Steven Pifer argues that this is more like paranoia. After all, the US missile defense system is capable of containing up to 40 warheads, while Russia (according to Pifer) has more than 1,500 of them. Therefore, the development of such weapons is an excess, at least according to the principle of Occam's Razor - if there is everything you need, then adding something else will be superfluous. In view of the above, it is considered that there is no urgent need to implement this project in the near future.

Export version

While the Western world waited, the Taiwanese edition of China Times expressed an expert opinion on the possibility of exporting a new ocean multi-purpose system to China and India. This does not contradict the concept of security of the Russian Federation for a number of reasons:

technical implementation of deliveries is possible no earlier than 2029, when the project will pass all stages of testing and the implementation of Status-6 will be officially announced;
the oceanic multi-purpose system does not pose a danger to Russia, since settlements are located far from the coast (which cannot be said about the United States);
deliveries to India and China are not contrary to international law if the system does not carry a nuclear charge.

Alex Calvo, an expert in the field of international law, after analyzing the information about the supply of a new torpedo, came to the following conclusions:

international law prohibits uninhabited nuclear systems, but here we are talking only about those based on the ocean floor, "Status-6" no longer falls under this definition;
if it is not legally proven that the new multi-purpose system carries a nuclear charge, then in fact such a torpedo can enjoy the “right of innocent passage” into the territorial waters of another state;
a number of countries that try to ban the passage of "Status-6" into their waters will face another legal problem: it is possible to ban the passage of inhabited submarines, but nowhere is there any talk of uninhabited controlled (or autonomous) drones;
if the US decides to severely restrict the passage of the system into its waters, this will provoke a conflict with China, since the latter insists on the unquestioning implementation by the States of international agreements on freedom of navigation.

Conclusion

Weapons like Status-6 have historically been seen as a kind of deterrent, rather than weapons that are used almost every day. The very prospect of the use of such weapons by any state would entail a retaliatory nuclear strike.

And the unleashing of an atomic war will lead to the complete destruction of the planet's atmosphere and make it unsuitable for life for many years to come.

Meanwhile, it is worth considering that all of the above information is 80% based on the opinions and conclusions of Western experts. The remaining 20% are excerpts from numerous forums, blogs and Internet reviews of innovations in military equipment. The only hint that the indicated Status-6 torpedo is being developed in Russia is the picture that got into the news on the central channel (photo below), accidentally snatched by the journalist’s camera from behind the officer’s shoulder.

With this, all discussions began about the creation of a new “Doomsday Weapon”. There are no more officially published documents somewhere that indicate the reliability of this information. For many years, the topic has been heated exclusively by lovers of discussions on the topic of confrontation between Russia and the United States. In such discussions, essays from the Cold War (of course, in a free interpretation) and materials from semi-fantastic works by various writers often pop up. The discussion, as a rule, comes down to theses like “Yes, we will give the Pindos a light!” or "Got it, America."

It should also be recalled that Russia inherited an information protection system from the Soviet Union, which consists of four stages.

The first stage is the so-called documents for official use (PSD), which do not contain any secret information, but it is assumed that this information is exclusively for certain persons (for example, for employees of an enterprise), and for outsiders there is no information are of no value.

The second stage (the first level of secrecy) is the documentation marked "secret". This information has serial numbers starting from zero. As a rule, these are some orders of the military "top" to carry out certain operations. Such documents provide for the availability of information not for disclosure, but there is no information that falls under the category of "state secrets".

The third (second level of secrecy) - numbering from two zeros and the stamp "top secret". An example would be instructions for the operation of new experimental types of weapons, which are still listed under the GRAU index (an example of the wording is “product No. 13”). Instructions for the use of nuclear weapons, as well as torpedoes, fall under this category.

The fourth stage (secrecy of the third level) is information of particular importance that can affect the security of the state. In the era of the USSR, the minutes of meetings of the Central Committee of the CPSU fell under this category.

The meeting of the President with representatives of the military command of the Russian Federation, of course, is an event of special importance, therefore it falls under the last indicated category. Therefore, the leakage of classified information is completely excluded.

This leads to the conclusion that a document that allegedly accidentally fell into the camera lens can be nothing more than a “stuffing”. Yet the information war is also a war.

Given all of the above, it is impossible to say with absolute certainty that such a project is being developed. It is also impossible to say with complete certainty that it is not being developed, because the domestic military-industrial complex has all the necessary means to implement such a torpedo for several decades.

It is quite possible that the stuffing of this information was done deliberately in order to generate a reaction in the Western media and watch it in order to analyze (or just laugh).

In conclusion, it should be noted that there is a minimum of reliable information about the project. The only frame from the news still does not say anything, the vast majority of information about the project is based on the opinions of Western analysts and Russian bloggers.

If all this is true, then Western defense structures will have to significantly revise their systems for countering such complexes, adjust a number of points of international law regarding the import of weapons and the presence of foreign ships and submarines in territorial waters. And this must be done as soon as possible.

What, in general, will be in the end is difficult to say. But only one state cannot have a deterrent weapon. It is "doomed" to appear in another. Every action causes a reaction. And for every weapon, its own "shield" is being developed. And so this arms race rushes endlessly through history, giving rise to ever new frightening types of weapons that threaten at one time or another to wipe out all life from the face of the earth.

One involuntarily recalls a frame of complete disarmament from the movie "X-Men: Apocalypse", when rockets from all countries of the world start and are released into outer space. And then they explode outside the earth's atmosphere. Whether this will remain just a fantasy or will ever come true, time will tell.

A self-propelled underwater vehicle from the Status-6 ocean multi-purpose system, designed to "destroy important objects of the enemy's economy," has become one of the most discussed topics in the world over the past day. The drone "accidentally" demonstrated on the air of federal channels has turned into a bone of contention for experts, some of whom consider it a thin Kremlin "duck", while others see it as a new embodiment of Professor Sakharov's ideas. FlotProm tried to understand the real state of affairs around the promising device, using official sources of information.

What became known from the "illuminated booklet"?

The Status-6 system is designed to "destroy important objects of the enemy's economy in the coastal area and inflict guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country's territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination unsuitable for military, economic and other activities in these zones for a long time" .

The carriers of the system are nuclear submarines of projects 09852 "Belgorod" and 09851 "Khabarovsk", the first of which is being rebuilt into a special-purpose submarine from a carrier of cruise missiles, and the second is being built from scratch. Both ships are on the stocks of Severodvinsk "Sevmash".

The strike force of "Status" should be a self-propelled underwater vehicle with a range of 10,000 kilometers and a depth of 1,000 meters.

The Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering was chosen as the lead contractor for the system.

Why are Rubin designers famous?

Petersburg Design Bureau specializes in the design of submarines and deep-sea special equipment. In the bowels of the bureau, Russian strategic Boreas were born, diesel-electric Varshavyankas operating all over the world, Lada submarines with an air-independent engine operating on the principle of an electrochemical generator are under development.

According to official data from the annual reports of Sevmash and government contracts, the developer of Belgorod and Khabarovsk is also Rubin.

Igor Vilnit's subordinates also have experience in creating autonomous underwater vehicles. Back in 2007, the Harpsichord AUV, an almost 6-meter 2.5-ton deep-sea robot for surveying bottom objects, saw the light. It is able to dive into the depths of the sea for 6 km and pass without returning to the surface for 300 km.

Is there evidence of the development of a "self-propelled underwater vehicle"?

There is no doubt that a promising autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicle is indeed being created in the depths of the Rubin. This is evidenced by tenders for carrying out component parts of development work to create a "promising power source for AUVs", a high-pressure pumping unit for the buoyancy control system of a promising AUV, "information control systems and information systems for a promising AUV complex".

However, it is not possible to obtain more detailed information about the work being carried out in the bureau from the procurement documentation, so it cannot be reliably asserted that the results of all the above-mentioned R&D will help Russia create that same "self-propelled underwater vehicle." We may well be talking about a new incarnation of the Juno drone.

To whom is the "Status" subject?

If the information demonstrated to the whole world does not turn out to be a specially launched "duck", then it will still not be possible to rejoice at the replenishment of the Russian Navy with new equipment. Because giving orders to the commanders of "Belgorod" and "Khabarovsk" will be by no means the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, but the head of the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research of the Ministry of Defense, a structure separate from the fleet within the military department. Now this position is occupied by Vice Admiral, Hero of Russia Alexei Burilichev.

The own fleet of this formation, subordinated directly to the Minister of Defense, is very large. In addition to submarines, nuclear deep-sea stations and uninhabited underwater vehicles, the GUGI operates the oceanographic research vessel Yantar, the experimental vessel Seliger, the rescue vessel Zvezdochka, and tugboats. Several more vessels for the department and a transport floating dock of the covered type "Sviyaga" are under construction.

Recall that on the eve of the stories of a number of Russian TV channels about a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on defense topics, footage of the Status-6 system was shown. Its secrecy was confirmed by the press secretary of the president, specifying that the information had been removed from the websites of the TV channels.

What is "Status-6"? Underwater drone!

Yes, and it is capable of carrying tens of megatons of nuclear weapons and threatening US ports and coastal cities. In the Pentagon, this secret project, according to The Washington Free Beacon, was given the code name "Canyon". The article notes that the project is part of the ongoing modernization of Russia's strategic nuclear forces. “This underwater drone will have high speed and will be able to cover long distances,” a source commented on the development of the publication.

The Kremlin confirmed that two of Russia's main TV channels appeared to have accidentally aired a story about a planned new nuclear torpedo and expressed hope that this would not happen again.

However, immediately after the incident, state television channels aired an interview with a military expert detailing the "secret" weapon, prompting rumors that the initial leak was not an accident.

On Tuesday evening, the Kremlin-controlled NTV channel and Channel One aired a story about a meeting between President Putin and the leadership of the Defense Ministry at the presidential residence in Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi. At one point, the camera zooms in on what appears to be a document titled "Ocean Multi-Purpose System Status-6" held by one of the uniformed officers present at the meeting, filmed from the back. This document contains drawings of what appears to be a torpedo or autonomous underwater vehicle.

The text of the document is clearly visible:

"The defeat of important objects of the enemy's economy in the coastal area and the infliction of guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country's territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination, unsuitable for military, economic and other activities in these zones for a long time."

“Indeed, some secret data got into the camera lens, so they were subsequently deleted. We hope that this will not happen again in the future,” said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President.

Watch the video. Nuclear torpedo "Status-6" for the American coast

However, on Thursday, Radio Sputnik, a radio station that is part of the Russian state news agency Sputnik, included in one of its programs an interview with Vitaly Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of National Defense magazine, who spoke in more detail about the Status- 6".

“Status 6 is a bunch of the latest Russian underwater technologies. The purpose of this oceanic system is to transport a high-yield nuclear charge to the enemy’s coast,” Korotchenko said in this interview, and his words were quoted by RIA Novosti and TASS.

“The United States is actively developing an anti-missile defense system and investing very serious money in it, hoping to create an impenetrable shield over US territory in the future, but Russia will find opportunities to neutralize any military-technical decisions of America,” Igor Korotchenko continued.

During this week's defense industry meeting, Putin said:

“References to the Iranian and North Korean nuclear threats only cover up the true plans. And their true goal is to neutralize the strategic nuclear potential of other nuclear states, except for the United States and its allies, primarily our country, Russia.” He also said that "Russia will develop strike systems capable of overcoming any missile defense systems."

According to The Washington Free Beacon, the Canyon will be able to attack all key American submarine bases due to its characteristics.

Naval analyst Norman Polmar believes the system is based on the Soviet T-15 nuclear torpedo.

“The Russian Navy and its predecessor, the Soviet Navy, were innovators in the field of underwater systems and weapons,” Polmar told the publication. The same, he says, applies to the most advanced torpedoes in the world.”

Corresponding member of the RARAN, captain 1st rank of the reserve Konstantin Sivkov notes: the straight-moving torpedo with a T-15 nuclear warhead, which is mentioned by a Western publication, was designed specifically for striking coastal targets in the United States.

“Specially for such a large torpedo, the first nuclear submarine of project 627 was created, which was supposed to have not eight torpedo tubes, but one - with a caliber of 1.55 meters and a length of up to 23.5 meters. It was assumed that the T-15 would be able to approach the American naval base and with a super-powerful charge of several tens of megatons to demolish all life.

I must say that they are in service with the Naval Forces, but they mainly perform reconnaissance missions. It is known that the Black Sea Fleet uses a small remote-controlled autonomous underwater vehicle "Obzor-600". Its main purpose is to conduct bottom reconnaissance, it is equipped with a sonar and a manipulator, it operates at a depth of up to 600 meters. The device detects objects at a distance of up to 100 meters. Obzor-600 was developed by a Russian company, however, according to experts, the model is very similar to the American-made foreign LBV-600-6.

In this direction, the flagship of the domestic underwater robotics is the Institute of Marine Technology Problems of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Galtel robot complex allows you to scan the underwater space, find dangerous objects and destroy them.

With the help of these deep-sea submersibles, it is possible to protect the ports and naval bases of the Russian fleets from sabotage.

How does the system work?

The device floats and scans a strip of underwater space of 400 meters and identifies objects. It is followed by a remote-controlled apparatus with a complex of optoelectronic and acoustic equipment, data from which the operator receives, and if there is a danger, it is sent to the place underwater destroyer "Chilim" destroying objects with a directed explosion.

The complex also includes a unique apparatus that can automatically inspect the bottom of ships.

According to the developers, one of the robots of the complex was successfully used to ensure the security of the APEC summit in Vladivostok three years ago. With the help of the apparatus, bays in the area of Russky Island were surveyed. The search resulted in over 2.7 thousand explosive objects, among which even mines from the Russo-Japanese War were found. But these drones, of course, are very far from nuclear torpedoes ...

Russia revived the idea of academician Sakharov (project T-15)

The initiator of the T-15 project was V.I. Alferov, whose activities were associated at different times with the Navy, the People's Commissariat of the shipbuilding industry and the Ministry of Medium Machine Building. Captain First Rank Alferov in KB-11 took an active part in the creation of the atomic bomb, developed the scheme and devices of the system for detonating a nuclear charge. Alferov, using his authority in industry, immediately after testing the first Soviet hydrogen bomb, organized the development of an extra-large torpedo for a hydrogen charge, which received the designation T-15.

The author of the idea of creating a super-powerful nuclear torpedo is Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, who proposed using the Project 627 nuclear submarines under development as a “delivery vehicle” of a powerful nuclear charge (100 megatons).

This is confirmed by his own memories. Such torpedoes were supposed to be used against US naval bases, as well as to attack cities located on the coast (although many opposed the latter option, including military sailors). As a result of the explosion of such a bomb, a giant wave was formed - a tsunami destroying everything on the coast and even far from the coastline.

For reasons of secrecy, as well as taking into account personal relationships (in the Navy, Alferov was treated extremely negatively, since his letter to Beria and Bulganin, about the allegedly illegal transfer of documentation for the 45-36AV-A aircraft torpedo to the Americans during the war, became the reason for the unfair trial of the admirals Kuznetsov, Galler, Alafuzov and Stepanov) the development of the T-15 torpedo was started without the involvement of the Navy. The 6th Department of the Navy learned about this torpedo only through the project of the first nuclear submarine - "Project 627" - the chief designer of which was V.N. peregudov

The proposed armament of the nuclear submarine became known to the fleet only in December 1953, after the approval of the performance characteristics of the preliminary design 627. It surprised the sailors greatly. The first compartment of the submarine housed one huge torpedo tube, which almost completely replaced the traditional torpedo armament.

The length of the torpedo tube was 23.5 meters (22 percent of the total length of the submarine).

On the submarine, in addition to a one and a half meter torpedo, it was planned to install two bow 533-mm torpedo tubes with torpedoes for self-defense. Spare torpedoes were not provided.

Such an unusual layout of the submarine is explained by the dimensions developed at NII-400 under the leadership of the chief designer Shamarin N.N. torpedoes T-15.

The length of the torpedo was about 23 meters, the mass of the torpedo was 40 tons, the mass of the warhead was 3.5-4 thousand kg. The main weight load fell on the battery, which provided the torpedo with a speed of 29 knots, while the cruising range was 30 kilometers.

Presumably, it was proposed to use a thermonuclear charge in the T-15 torpedo. The warhead of the torpedo was developed in KB-11 of the USSR Minsredmash, under the leadership of the chief designer Khariton Yu.B.

The detonation of a thermonuclear charge was to be carried out by a shock or remote (hourly) fuse. The fire control of the T-15 torpedo was provided with the Tantalum PUTS (torpedo fire control post).

The tactical and technical elements of the submarine were approved on 12/21/1953. In July of the following year, SKB-143 completed the technical design of a nuclear submarine. On 10/18/1954, Minsudprom and Minsredmash submitted a technical project to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee. After that, the Ministry of Defense was asked to consider the project and send its opinion to the Council of Ministers.

Head of the Ministry of Defense Bulganin N.A. instructed Admiral P.G. Kotov, Assistant Minister for Naval Affairs, to deal with this issue. At the same time, the issue of admission to the project of specialists and leaders of the navy was decided. In 1954, an expert commission was formed, headed by Vice Admiral Orel A.E., head of the Directorate of the Main Staff of the Navy.

The Navy mainly objected to the composition of the weapons of the nuclear submarine.

According to navy experts, the fleet does not need a submarine with such weapons. In addition, there were serious doubts that the submarine would be able to approach the launch distance of the T-15 torpedo (40 kilometers), and the torpedo itself would work as it should.

Against this background, based on the results of the examination of the navy, it was decided to correct the technical design of the 627 nuclear submarine.

By Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 588-364 dated 03/26/1955, the technical design of the submarine was approved only with 533-mm torpedo tubes, and work on the T-15 was stopped.

However, the history of Soviet nuclear torpedoes does not end there. The sailors opposed the increase in the size of torpedoes and wanted to get a nuclear charge of acceptable dimensions (caliber 533 mm). It was for this reason that the 6th Department of the Navy at the end of 1953 issued, through the 6th Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Industry, a tactical and technical assignment for the atomic BZO (combat charging compartment) of a ship's 533-mm torpedo.

The development of this product, which received the designation T-5 in the process of creation, was carried out by NII-400 (TsNII Gidropribor). The development team was headed by Borushko A.M. The nuclear charge for the torpedo - RDS-9 - was developed at the Design Bureau of the USSR Ministry of Medium Machine Building under the guidance of Academician Yu.B. Khariton.

Lieutenant-General N.L. Dukhov, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, chief designer of the Moscow branch of KB-11, was responsible for the entire combat unit, including automation. The design of the torpedo did not have any "revolutionary" innovations - a conventional 533-mm steam-gas straight-running torpedo with a range of 10 kilometers at a speed of 40 knots.

The torpedo had an inertial control system and a thermal oxygen-alcohol-water gas-steam piston engine.

The developers almost immediately ran into technical difficulties. So, for example, for a long time they could not achieve the stability of a torpedo in depth. During sea trials of the T-5 torpedo in inert equipment, out of fifteen shots fired during four, after passing approximately the middle of the path, it made a “bag” and a hydrostatic lock was triggered prematurely, which is equivalent to issuing a command to undermine the warhead, since by this time all its protection steps.

Another problem was to ensure the thermal regime of a nuclear warhead, since its normal operation required a temperature of +5 ... +25 Co, which was difficult to provide in an unheated torpedo tube of a submarine, especially if it is based in the North.

While the designers were solving these and other problems, on September 21, 1955, in accordance with the decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of April 13, 1955, the atomic BZO (combat charging compartment) of the T-5 torpedo was tested at the Novaya Zemlya test site. The BZO was lowered from the project 253L minesweeper and blown up at a depth of 12 meters, the average power was 3 kilotons.

In 1957, state tests of the T-5 torpedo were carried out. According to the program, the tests were to be carried out by two sighting shots of torpedoes without a special warhead, one - in the control configuration (with a special warhead, without fissile materials in it), one live shot.

It was originally planned to detonate the charge at a depth of 25 meters, but later this parameter was changed to 35 meters. One of the shots of the initial stages of state tests ended in failure. In this regard, Admiral Golovko A.G., First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, considered that the tests should be stopped.

The chairman of the commission, Admiral N.E. Basisty, after a meeting with specialists and a report to the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, decided to conduct live firing with an atomic combat charging compartment. The test conditions were as follows: a submarine of project 613 S-144 (73rd separate division of submarines of the Northern Fleet) under the command of Captain First Rank Lazarev G.V. was "at the periscope depth, the speed of the torpedo was 40 knots, the depth of the explosion was 35 meters ...". The shooting took place on October 10, 1957 at 10 o'clock at an air temperature of -6 degrees and a visibility of 20 km. The deviation of the torpedo during the course (10 km) was 130 meters.

In 1958, the Navy adopted the T-5 torpedo into service. These torpedoes were produced in small series for the Northern and Pacific fleets at the Kirov plant (Alma-Ata). The production of torpedoes was discontinued at the end of 1960. In June 1960, their control tests of torpedoes in inert equipment were carried out in the Pacific Ocean. There were several reasons for stopping the production of T-5 torpedoes.

Firstly,

the short development time had a rather strong impact on the driving performance and reliability of the torpedo, so it was inferior in many respects to the torpedoes already in service.

Secondly,

and this is probably the main thing, at the end of 1960, 533-mm ASBZO (autonomous special combat charging compartments) for mass-produced torpedo models began to enter service. The development of ASBZO with a capacity of 20 kilotons began in accordance with the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of February 13, 1957 in KB-25 of the USSR Minsredmash and NII-400 of the USSR Minsudprom. It was the adoption of ASBZO that served as the end for special nuclear torpedoes.

The main characteristics of the T-15 / T-5 torpedoes:

Caliber - 1550 mm / 533 mm;

Torpedo weight - 40000 kg / 2200 kg;

Torpedo length - 2355 cm / 792 cm;

Type of energy - electric / steam-gas;

Nuclear charge - thermonuclear / atomic;

The carrier of the torpedo is the nuclear submarine of project 627 / submarines of all projects.

Nikita Khrushchev refused to continue work on this system, mainly because of the opinion of hydrographers and oceanologists, who, in fact, were mistaken in their measurements. They concluded that the bottom topography off the east coast of the United States would significantly weaken the energy of the wave. And the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Pacific coast, was not considered at all. But the 2005 flood in New Orleans showed that our scientists made a big mistake or, most likely, yielded to pressure from the Navy command (hydrographers and oceanographers were very financially dependent on military sailors).

What is "Status-6"? Underwater drone!

2015-11-12T14:16:14+05:00 Sergey SinenkoDefense of the FatherlandAmerica, Russia, watch video, USAWhat is "Status-6"? Underwater drone! Yes, and it is capable of carrying tens of megatons of nuclear weapons and threatening US ports and coastal cities. In the Pentagon, this secret project, according to The Washington Free Beacon, was given the code name "Canyon". The article notes that the project is part of the ongoing modernization of strategic nuclear...Sergey Sinenko Sergey Sinenko [email protected] Author In the middle of Russia

Pentagon sources have confirmed that Russia is testing a new type of weapon - a giant torpedo with a terrifyingly powerful thermonuclear warhead, known as "Status-6", writes Popular Mechanics. "This is very bad news," the US military said.

According to US intelligence, the tests took place on November 27. The torpedo was fired from a special-purpose submarine B-90 Sarov, details are unknown. The author of a material published in The Washington Free Beacon on this topic calls the Russian underwater vehicle revolutionary: a nuclear-powered torpedo is capable of moving at a speed of 90 knots at a depth of up to a kilometer. The range of the "Status" is 10 thousand kilometers, the size of the warhead is 6.5 meters. There, according to the Americans, a thermonuclear charge with a capacity of up to 100 megatons can be placed. Exploded off the coast of the United States, it will cause a giant tsunami that will wipe out coastal states along with naval bases, airfields and military factories.

According to experts, Status-6 is Russia's new asymmetric response to the US deployment of a global missile defense system. For the first time, the creation of a giant torpedo became a year ago, when a tablet with a description of a new weapon hit the lenses of television cameras at a government meeting on military issues. The Kremlin called the exposure of classified information an "accident". However, a number of political scientists consider it a deliberate "leak" and disinformation: according to the deadlines indicated in the tablet, it was planned to create the "Tsar Torpedo" in 2019.

Special-purpose submarines will be used as the carrier of the "Status" - in addition to the "Sarov" these are the "Belgorod" project 09852 "Antey" and "Khabarovsk" project 09851, which are under modernization. the burden cannot be detected either from land or from a satellite.

The description of the system says that it is intended, among other things, to inflict guaranteed unacceptable damage to the enemy by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination on the coast, unsuitable for human life for a long time. This description fits the cobalt bomb - a thermonuclear weapon described by one of the creators of the American atomic weapon, Leo Szilard. The outer shell of such ammunition consists of cobalt-59, and its explosion guarantees the destruction of all life.

Tests of a cobalt bomb have never been carried out due to the unsuitability of the affected territories for development and the risk of destroying the entire biosphere of the Earth - according to calculations, only 510 tons of cobalt will be needed for this. However, such a bomb and a giant torpedo as its delivery vehicle can be used as a deterrent - together with a system on alert that guarantees a retaliatory strike with the full power of Russia's nuclear forces even if the command posts and personnel of the Strategic Missile Forces are destroyed.

The media “accidentally” filmed a new Russian development capable of eliminating America from the depths.

Without exaggeration, the stunning document hit the lenses of two federal media channels at a meeting on the development of the defense industry in Sochi, which was chaired by Vladimir Putin on November 9, 2015. Recall that then the president said that Russia would develop strike systems capable of overcoming any missile defense systems.

NTV and Channel One showed stories (now deleted), where, allegedly by chance, through the back, presumably, the head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, the concept and timing of the implementation of the development, which, in theory, is stamped "Top secret", namely, the ocean multi-purpose system "Status-6".

As can be seen from the screenshot, its developer is Rubin Central Design Bureau MT OJSC. This is one of the leading Soviet and Russian enterprises in the design of submarines, both diesel-electric and nuclear, for example, the Borey SSBN.

The purpose of the system is "to defeat important objects of the enemy's economy in the coastal area and inflict guaranteed unacceptable damage to the country's territory by creating zones of extensive radioactive contamination unsuitable for military, economic and other activities in these zones for a long time."

Two nuclear submarines are depicted as intended carriers: the Belgorod special-purpose nuclear submarine under construction - the unfinished Antey-class cruiser, which was relaid on December 20, 2012 according to special project 09852, and also - the special-purpose submarine laid down on July 27, 2014 at Sevmash "Khabarovsk" project 09851.

First, it should be said about special purpose submarines. We already wrote that on August 1, a ceremony was held in Severodvinsk to withdraw workshop No. 15 of the special-purpose nuclear submarine BS-64 Podmoskovye from the boathouse. The submarine was converted from a K-64 project 667BDRM missile carrier into a boat designed to work with nuclear deep-sea stations (AGS) and uninhabited underwater vehicles in the interests of the top-secret Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research (GUGI) of the Russian Defense Ministry. This boat has yet to undergo mooring and then factory sea trials, after which the BS-64 "Podmoskovye" in the fleet will replace the boat "Orenburg", which in 1996-2002 was also converted from a Project 667BDR missile carrier.

During going out to sea on running and state tests of the BS-64, presumably, will interact with the AGS of the Kashalot, Halibut and Losharik projects. Or rather, to be a carrier (womb boat) of one or another “baby”, as the AGS is also called. The carrier secretly delivers a mini-submarine (AGS), which has a low speed, to the desired area, after which it disconnects it for autonomous operation.

"Orenburg" and AGS are part of the mysterious 29th separate brigade of submarines of the Northern Fleet, which performs tasks in the interests of the GUGI. For reference: until 1986, the "kids" were not included in the Navy, but were part of the General Staff unit associated with the GRU. We also note that the former commander of the 29th OBR submarine of the Northern Fleet, Rear Admiral Vladimir Dronov, and more than ten officers bear the titles of Heroes of the Russian Federation (read about what tasks can be performed by special purpose nuclear submarines and AGS in the material - Submarine "Podmoskovye": an underwater reconnaissance aircraft is being prepared for hunting).

Now with regard to the Status-6 system. In early September of this year, the American edition of The Washington Free Beacon reported that Russia was allegedly creating an “underwater drone” codenamed “Canyon”, capable of carrying nuclear weapons with a yield of tens of megatons and threatening US ports and coastal cities.

Then the naval analyst Norman Polmar suggested that the Canyon system was based on the Soviet T-15 straight-line nuclear torpedo with a capacity of 100 megatons (the idea of Academician Sakharov), which was designed in the 50s just for striking coastal targets in the territory USA.

In his memoirs, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov said the following about this: “One of the first with whom I discussed this project was Rear Admiral Fomin ... He was shocked by the“ cannibalistic nature ”of the project and noted in a conversation with me that military sailors were used to fighting an armed enemy in open battle and that the very thought of such a massacre is disgusting to him.

Interestingly, for security reasons, as well as taking into account other factors, the T-15 torpedo was developed without the participation of the Navy. The Navy learned about it only through the project of the first nuclear submarine.

Note that at one time it was specifically for such a large torpedo that the first Soviet nuclear submarine of project 627 was specially created, which was supposed to have not eight torpedo tubes, but one - with a caliber of 1.55 meters and a length of up to 23.5 meters. It was assumed that the T-15 would be able to approach the American naval base and, with a super-powerful charge of several tens of megatons, demolish all life. But then this idea was abandoned in favor of a submarine with eight torpedoes, which could solve a whole range of tasks. And as a result, nuclear submarines of project 627A were created.

Military historians claim that the Soviet admirals, having familiarized themselves with the project in 1954, declared with confidence that the submarine would certainly be destroyed on the way to the American base. Moreover, the entrances to all American bases for many kilometers close the winding shores of bays, islands, shoals, as well as booms, steel nets. Like, such obstacles on the way to the object of the T-15 torpedo cannot be overcome.

However, as military expert and historian Alexander Shirokorad said, in 1961 the idea of the T-15 was revived again at the suggestion of Academician Andrei Sakharov.

The fact is that in fact the tactics of using such a super-torpedo could be completely different. The nuclear submarine was supposed to secretly launch a torpedo at a distance from the coast much more than 40 km. Having used up all the energy of the batteries, the T-15 would lay down on the ground, that is, it would become an intelligent bottom mine. The torpedo fuse could be in standby mode for a long time for a signal from an aircraft or ship, which could be used to detonate a charge. The bottom line is that damage to naval bases, ports and other coastal facilities, including cities, would be caused by a powerful shock wave - a tsunami caused by a nuclear explosion ...

That is, based on from the leaked in the media document, Russia decided to revive the idea of academician Sakharov?

Deputy Director of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis Alexander Khramchikhin is convinced that such a scenario of an unplanned leak of information about developments labeled “Top Secret” in the media cannot exist in principle.

There can be no doubt that this is a deliberate stuffing. The goal is to make a known adversary think about their actions. But, to be honest, I strongly doubt that the development under discussion will be implemented in hardware. That is, this leak is most likely pure misinformation. If only because the creation of "zones of extensive radioactive contamination" does not require any additional development. Existing intercontinental missiles can do this anyway, the expert concludes.

Thus, the purpose of demonstrating a document in front of a camera lens with top secret system - to scare and puzzle Western "partners".

However, if we assume that the development of such a system is really carried out by the Central Design Bureau MT Rubin? What does this mean?

Corresponding member of the RARAN, captain 1st rank of the reserve Konstantin Sivkov, commenting on this "leak" in the media, suggests that, apparently, we can talk about the fact that special-purpose submarines will solve combat missions in the future.

If the Status-6 ocean multi-purpose system is really being developed, then this, in my opinion, can only indicate one thing - our leadership is aware of the likelihood of a military clash with the West and is taking measures to counter the American threat of a military-technical nature - the concept of "Quick global strike " etc. And, apparently, the threat is quite serious, since we are talking about such a variant of guaranteed containment.

At one time, I put forward an idea (voiced it and at the international military-technical forum "Army-2015") that Russia needs to develop an asymmetric mega-weapon that will eliminate any threat of a large-scale war against Russia, even in conditions of absolute superiority of the enemy in traditional destruction systems. Apparently, this development is in the same paradigm.

The fact is that from a geophysical point of view, the United States is a very vulnerable country. A guaranteed source of catastrophic geophysical processes there can be, first of all, an impact on the Yellowstone supervolcano to initiate a powerful eruption, as well as the explosion of a powerful munition in the area of the San Andreas, San Gabriel or San Jocinto faults.

The impact of a sufficiently powerful nuclear weapon can provoke catastrophic events that can completely destroy US infrastructure in the Pacific coast with large-scale tsunamis. The initiation of giant tsunamis is the idea of Academician Sakharov. When several munitions are detonated at calculated points along the Atlantic and Pacific transform faults, according to scientists, a wave will form that will reach a height of 400-500 meters or more off the coast of the United States ...

It is quite realistic to initiate such large-scale geophysical processes. Since today it is possible to “fit in” high-powered ammunition into weight and size characteristics, for example, of the same ICBM.