The most expensive and useless weapons development in the world

In the 1960s, Soviet designers began to develop the A-90 Orlyonok ekranoplan. This is a hybrid of an aircraft and a ship, which, according to the developers, was supposed to fly no higher than five meters above water or land. However, the bold invention turned out to be absolutely useless. And this is far from the only example of unsuccessful development. At all times and in all countries of the world, weapons have been created and are being created that will never become a weapon. Why can’t the electromagnetic railgun, which the Americans call the weapon of the future, be a weapon? And why was the South Korean automatic grenade launcher sent to the scrap even after a costly revision? Talks about it program “Science and Technology” with host Mikhail Borzenkov on REN TV.

Useless ekranoplan

The ekranoplan A-90 “Eaglet” is a hybrid of an aircraft and a ship, which seems to be sliding on a pillow from the air. It began to be developed in the 60s of the last century. It was assumed that such machines would fly no higher than five meters above water or land. Ekranoplanes, invisible to the radar and eyes of the enemy, were planned to be used to transport troops or launch missiles. But in reality, everything turned out differently.

“In terms of carrying capacity, it is significantly inferior to ships, and when transporting troops and cargo, it is inferior in speed to aircraft. At a height of five or six meters, it still leaves a large wake – this is also a big minus. This negatively affects its unmasking properties: it can be will be detected both from space and by aerial reconnaissance”– explained the honored military pilot of the Russian Federation Vladimir Popov.

In addition, due to the low altitude, the ekranoplane cannot successfully maneuver, and is also afraid of high waves and sudden gusts of air.

U.S. little lousy ships

The US naval command had high hopes for the warships of the so-called littoral or coastal zone. Some names are worth something – “Independence” and “Freedom”. High speed, small size and draft were to be the main advantages of ships of this class. They were created as ideal defenders of the American coast.

Since 2005, 19 littoral ships have been launched into the water – 10 monohulls and 9 trimarans. They planned to build 40 more. In total, the Americans spent more than 30 billion dollars on this program. But suddenly, at the beginning of 2021, the US military announced that in the near future they were going to withdraw four coastal ships from the fleet at once, and freeze the construction of the rest. And this despite the fact that the ships did not serve even half of the planned term.

“We were told that the construction of each ship would cost a budget of 220 million dollars, but in the end we paid 600 million per unit. But the main thing is what the maintenance and repair of these ships costs. Tens of millions of dollars annually. Just think about it. For each littoral ship We spend tens of millions– shared the details of US Senator from Arizona John McCain.

According to the reports that John McCain presented to the Senate, the ships broke down so often that they spent more time at the repair docks than at sea. In the navy, they even began to call them little lousy ships. But most importantly, the American coastal people simply did not find an enemy with whom they could fight. Not a single state in the world even thought of attacking the American coast. In the end, the command of the naval forces of America was forced to agree: the new ships turned out to be just an expensive toy.

Electromagnetic weapons of the future

The railgun is an energy cannon that the Americans dubbed the weapon of the future. In fact, these are two conductive rails, between which an electromagnetic field is created. It pushes the projectile at an incredible speed – more than 13 thousand kilometers per hour.

“Even a blank that arrived at hypersonic speed, the railgun will accelerate to such a speed that it will inflict colossal destruction on a ship or tank”– said the military historian Boris Yulin.

American “golden iron”

Military engineers have announced plans to build a railgun that will accelerate a projectile to 20,000 kilometers and hit a five-meter target at a distance of 400 kilometers with amazing accuracy – this is 20 times the effective range of any artillery piece on the planet. Under the incredible weapon, the Americans in 2010 even created a special ship – the destroyer Zumwalt, which the military immediately dubbed the “golden iron”.

“A Zumwalt-class destroyer is called an iron because it looks like an iron. It has a very specific architecture, which was supposed to provide additional ship stability when rolling. This destroyer has full electric propulsion, which reduces the acoustic visibility of the ship and increases its maneuverability”said the expert.

The first combat test of a railgun aboard one of the so-called golden irons was supposed to take place in 2015, but this did not happen.

“The fact is that if you put the railgun on the Zumwalt, then the ship can either move, but not shoot, or shoot, but not move. That is, there is not enough energy even for Zumwalt”Yulin explained.

The cost of one Zumwalt is more than four billion dollars. The Americans planned to build and equip 32 ships. But after the failure with the railgun, only three were launched into the water, and the last one was not even put into service.

Useless supercarrier Fujian

American “golden irons” in the ranking of the most expensive and useless weapons could take first place if not for China. In June 2022, the Fujian supercarrier was launched with great pomp in the Celestial Empire.

“The displacement of this ship is 85 thousand tons, the length is about 300 meters. In addition, it is planned to install an electromagnetic catapult. This is an ultra-modern system that has not been fully developed even in the United States”– says the director of the Museum of Air Defense Forces Yuri Knutov.

How much the construction of this floating giant cost China is even scary to imagine. But the most interesting thing is that the huge aircraft carrier is practically useless.

“A serious problem with the lack of modern aircraft for this aircraft carrier, which would have to meet the requirements of tomorrow, not today”– the military expert emphasized.

Symbiosis of machine gun and grenade launcher

In 2008, the Republic of Korea army provided soldiers with the weapons of the future. At least that’s what they called the symbiosis of the machine gun and the K11 grenade launcher in South Korea. A laser rangefinder, an electronic sight, connecting glasses with a digital display and a thermal imager – all this sounded promising.

By 2014, the South Korean army was supposed to receive four thousand K11. The price of each of them is about 14 thousand dollars. But already at the beginning of 2010, the soldiers began to complain about the new weapon: every second barrel turned out to be defective.

“During the battle, when the barrel heats up, the switch jams. There are constant problems with aiming. And because of this body kit, the machine is so heavy that it is difficult to hold it even with two hands.”Yang Wook, a senior fellow at the Korea National Security Forum, shared the details.

The automatic grenade launcher was returned for revision and an additional budget was allocated for this purpose – about $ 20 million. Three years later, the Defense Procurement Program Office of the Republic of Korea reported that all problems had been eliminated and held a demonstration exercise. Modified K11 again went to the army, and returned two years later. The reason is the same – unrepaired defects. As a result, the grenade launcher went to the scrap. The budget of the Republic of Korea missed 200 million dollars, and the Korean military deceived themselves.

Why a railgun can’t be a weapon

The Americans position the railgun as the most accurate, long-range and destructive weapon. But here’s the paradox – this electromagnetic gun cannot be a weapon, at least on Earth.

“When firing at very long distances, which the projectile usually does not reach, the projectile from the railgun will reach. Due to the inhomogeneity of the Earth’s gravitational field, it may behave differently. Someone who calculates the flight path may not take this into account, and shooting will not will give such accuracy– said military expert Andrey Prokaev.

In addition, when fired, the railgun barrel heats up to incredible temperatures. It must be constantly cooled so that it does not lead, which means that there can be no question of any rate of fire.

The cannon was mothballed

In the Russian Academy of Sciences, the secrets of the railgun have been known for a long time. That is why scientists are sure that the military use of the railgun on Earth is impossible. But it can become indispensable in space.

“We had one of the projects to study the meteor protection of satellites – the study of the physics of high-speed impact. To throw at such a speed, you can use a special throwing device”– said Mikhail Shurupov, a researcher at the Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In 2020, the Americans abandoned the idea of ​​​​making a weapon out of a railgun. They curtailed the research program and mothballed the already built samples of electromagnetic guns. In total, the United States spent more than half a billion dollars to create weapons that could never become weapons.

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