Weapons on new physical principles

According to some experts, the whole history of mankind is only a derivative of the history of improving the means of destroying their own kind, and each stage (era) of the development of world civilization is uniquely correlated with the corresponding types of military technology ^[2] . Recent decades have been marked by the acceleration of progress in the development of fundamentally new weapons and the emergence of such types of weapons that could jeopardize the very existence of man as a biological species ^[2] . It is interesting to note that this state of affairs is reflected in the gloomy prophecy of one of the largest military theorists of the 19th century ^{[2] [3]} :

Typically, existing conventional weapons use thermal , chemical, or kinetic energy as a damaging factor. Non-traditional types of weapons that will be used during future wars are based on the latest achievements of science and in a revolutionary way expand the spectrum of influence on the enemy. It is assumed that with their help it will be possible to fundamentally transform not only individual forms, but also the very nature of warfare ^{[4] [5] [6]} .

Depending on the technical capabilities, different weapons systems based on new physical principles can solve the combat tasks of both conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction ^[1] . By the end of the XX century, at various stages of design and research were:

• weapon of directed energy - based on the damaging effect of a concentrated beam of energy ^[7] ,
• laser weapons - a type of weapon directed energy, based on the use of powerful optical quantum generators ( lasers ) ^[1]
• electromagnetic weapons - based on electromagnetic radiation to defeat (mainly) vulnerable components of combat electronics ^[1] ,
• non-lethal weapons - various kinds of impact on people and military equipment, depriving them of combat effectiveness for a certain time ^[1] ,
• accelerator weapon - on the basis of narrowly directed beams of charged or neutral particles ^[1] ,
• infrasound weapons - based on the use of low-frequency acoustic waves ^[8] ,
• radio-frequency weapons - based on the effects of electromagnetic radiation on biological objects ^[8] ,
• annihilation weapons - based on the effects of interconversion of particles with the release of a large amount of energy ^[8] ,
• hyper-speed kinetic weapons with other ways of accelerating a projectile than a powder propellant charge ( rail gun , magnetic gun , gas gun , etc.),
• artillery systems with plasma or microwave ignition ^[9] ,
• artillery systems based on liquid propellants and light gases ^[1] ,
• and etc.

In addition, there was a theoretical analysis of the use of various natural phenomena and natural disasters to cause damage to the enemy ^[1] :

• geophysical weapons - based on the management of physical processes in the environment,
  • tectonic weapons - a type of geophysical weapon based on the energy management of the lithosphere ,
  • ecological weapon - a type of geophysical weapon based on damage to key objects of the enemy’s environment ^[10] ,
  • climate weapons - a type of geophysical weapons based on a change in the meteorological situation in the atmosphere ^[11] ,
  • ozone weapons - a type of geophysical weapons based on the defeat of the ozone layer over enemy territory,
• genetic weapons - through selective exposure to the genetic apparatus of people with the help of microorganisms ,
• etc.

It is noted that the creation of many new means of mass destruction of people and the harmful effects on the ecological balance of the planet is essentially criminal and contradicts a number of fundamental international legal documents, for example ^[1] :

• the 1977 Convention on the Prohibition of the Military and any Other Hostile Use of the Environmental Impact Tools ,
• Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction of 1972.

Nevertheless, foreign military experts predict a promising future for some weapons models based on new physical principles, despite the high cost of their development and production ^[1] .

• Nanoweapons

• Batalin E. Creation in the USA of weapons based on new physical principles (Rus.) // Foreign Military Review: Journal. - 2015. - June ( No. 6 ). - S. 31 .
• Rogozin D. Weapons on new physical principles (Russian) . Dictionary dictionary “War and peace in terms and definitions” . Information site voina-i-mir.ru . Date of treatment September 11, 2016.
• Burenok V. M., Ivlev A. A., Korchak V. Yu. Weapons on new physical principles // Development of military technologies of the XXI century: problems, planning, implementation. - Tver: LLC “KUPOL”, 2009. - S. 426. - 624 p. - ISBN 978-5904297-01-5 .
• FitzGerald MC Weapons based on new physical principles // Managing the Revolution in Military Affairs / Matthews R., Treddenick J. .. - Springer, 2001 .-- P. 232. - 273 p. - ISBN 9780230294189 .
• Krinitsky Yu., Keligov B. Weapons of aerospace defense on new physical principles: from a retrospective of a problem to a prospect of a solution // Army collection: Scientific and methodological journal of the Russian Ministry of Defense . - M .: Editorial and publishing center of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, 2016. - No. 07 . - S. 70-75 . - ISSN 1560-036X .

• Weapons based on new physical principles (non-traditional weapons) (Russian) . Dictionary-reference “Terms of the Ministry of Emergencies” . The official website of the Ministry of Emergencies of the Russian Federation. Date of appeal September 12, 2016.
• General characteristics of weapons based on new physical principles (Russian) (inaccessible link) . Website starol.org . Date of treatment September 11, 2016. Archived September 29, 2016.
• Vladimir Gundarov. Weapons based on new physical principles (Russian) . Website nvo.ng.ru (June 19, 2015). Date of appeal September 12, 2016.
• Yaremenko R.D., Kochetkov V.G. General information about weapons based on new physical principles (Russian) . Electronic educational-methodical complex of the discipline "General preparation" . Website www.ivo.unn.ru. Date of appeal September 12, 2016.
• Characteristics of weapons based on new physical principles (Russian) . Information site "Voenservis.rf". Date of appeal September 12, 2016.
• Weapons based on new physical principles (Russian) . Encyclopedia The official website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Date of treatment October 1, 2016.
• Gorbenko A. “Weapons on new physical principles”: myths and reality. Part 4: Russian electromagnetic weapons. (Russian) . However (April 18, 2012). Date of treatment October 23, 2016.
• Weapons of mass destruction on new physical principles (Russian) (inaccessible link) . Information site of the Strategic Culture Fund (January 30, 2016). Date of treatment October 2, 2016. Archived November 4, 2016.