Most people, hearing about the laser tank, will immediately remember the many fantastic action movies that tell about wars on other planets. And only a few experts will remember about 1K17 "Compression". But he really existed. While people in the United States were enthusiastically watching Star Wars films, discussing the possibility of using blasters and explosions in a vacuum, Soviet engineers were creating real laser tanks that were supposed to protect a great power. Alas, the state collapsed, and innovative developments ahead of their time were forgotten as unnecessary.
What is this?
Despite the fact that most people find it difficult to believe in the very possibility of the existence of laser tanks, they really did exist. Although it would be more correct to call it a self-propelled laser complex.
1K17 The Squeeze was no ordinary tank in the usual sense of the word. However, no one disputes the fact of its existence - there are not only many documents from which the signature stamp was removed only recently"Top secret", but also equipment that survived the terrible 90s.
History of Creation
The Soviet Union, many people call the country of romantics. And indeed, who, if not a romantic designer, would come up with the idea of creating a real laser tank? While some design bureaus struggled with the task of creating more powerful armor, long-range guns and guidance systems for tanks, others were developing fundamentally new weapons.
The creation of innovative weapons was entrusted to the NGO "Astrophysics". The project manager was Nikolai Ustinov, the son of the Soviet Marshal Dmitry Ustinov. No resources were spared for such a promising development. And as a result of several years of work, the desired results were obtained.
First, the laser tank 1K11 "Stiletto" was created - in 1982 two copies were produced. However, rather quickly, experts came to the conclusion that it could be significantly improved. The designers immediately set to work, and by the end of the 80s, the 1K17 "Compression. laser tank, widely known in narrow circles, was created
Specifications
The dimensions of the new car were impressive - with a length of 6 meters, it had a width of 3.5 meters. However, for a tank, these dimensions are not so great. The weight also met the standards - 41 tons.
As a protection, homogeneous steel was used, which during the tests showed very good performance for its time.
Clearance at 435millimeters increased cross-country ability - which is understandable, this technique was to be used not only during parades, but also during military operations on a variety of landscapes.
Chassis
While developing the 1K17 "Compression" complex, the experts took the proven self-propelled howitzer "Msta-S" as a base. Of course, it has undergone some refinement to meet the new requirements.
For example, its turret was significantly enlarged - it was necessary to place a large amount of powerful optoelectronic equipment to ensure the operation of the main gun.
In order for the equipment to receive enough power, the back of the tower was dedicated to an auxiliary autonomous power unit that feeds powerful generators.
The howitzer gun in front of the turret was removed - its place was taken by an optical unit consisting of 15 lenses. To reduce the risk of damage, during the marches, the lenses were covered with special armored caps.
The chassis itself remained unchanged - it had all the necessary qualities. The power of 840 horsepower provided not only high cross-country ability, but also good speed - up to 60 kilometers when driving on the highway. Moreover, the fuel supply was enough for the Soviet laser tank 1K17 "Compression" to travel up to 500 kilometers without refueling.
Of course, thanks to the powerful and successful undercarriage, the tank easily overcame slopes up to 30 degrees and walls up to 85 centimeters. Moats up to 280centimeters and fords with a depth of 120 centimeters also did not present problems to the technique.
Main purpose
Of course, the most obvious use for this technique is to burn enemy vehicles. However, neither in the 80s, nor now, there are sufficiently powerful mobile energy sources to create such a laser.
In fact, his purpose was quite different. Already in the eighties, tanks were actively using not ordinary periscopes, as during the Great Patriotic War, but more advanced optoelectronic devices. With their help, guidance became much more effective, and the human factor began to play a much less important role. However, such equipment was used not only on tanks, but also on self-propelled artillery mounts, helicopters and even some sights for sniper rifles.
It was they who became the target for SLK 1K17 "Compression". Using a powerful laser as his main weapon, he effectively detected the lenses of optoelectronic devices by glare at a great distance. After automatic guidance, the laser hit precisely this technique, reliably disabling it. And if at that moment the observer used a weapon, a beam of terrible power could well burn his retina.
That is, the function of the tank "Squeeze" did not include the destruction of enemy techniques. Instead, he was entrusted with the task of supporting. Blinding enemy tanks and helicopters, he made them defenseless against other tanks, accompanied by which he had to move. Accordingly, a detachment of 5 vehicles could well destroy an enemy group of 10-15 tanks, while not even being particularly endangered. Therefore, we can say that although the development turned out to be rather highly specialized, but with the proper approach, it was very effective.
Combat performance
The power of the main weapon was quite high. At a distance of up to 8 kilometers, the laser simply burned out the sights of the enemy, making him practically defenseless. If the distance to the target was large - up to 10 kilometers - the sights were disabled temporarily, for about 10 minutes. However, in fast-paced modern combat, this is more than enough to destroy the enemy.
An important advantage was the ability to not take corrections when shooting at moving targets, even at such a great distance. After all, the laser beam hit at the speed of light, and strictly in a straight line, and not along a complex trajectory. This has become an important advantage, greatly simplifying the targeting process.
On the other hand, it was also a minus. After all, it is quite difficult to find an open place for battle, around which there were no landscape details (hills, trees, bushes) or buildings within a radius of 8-10 kilometers that would not worsen the view.
In addition, atmospheric phenomena such as rain, fog, snow, or even ordinary dust raised by a gust of wind could cause unnecessary problems - they scatter the laser beam, drastically reducing its effectiveness.
Additional weapons
Any tank sometimes has to fight not against armoredenemy vehicles, but against conventional vehicles or even infantry.
Of course, it would be completely ineffective to use a laser that has huge power, but at the same time slowly recharges. That is why the Compression 1K17 laser complex was additionally equipped with a heavy machine gun. Preference was given to the 12.7 mm NSVT, also known as the Utes tank. This machine gun, terrible in terms of combat power, pierced any equipment, including lightly armored, at a distance of up to 2 kilometers, and when it hit a human body, it simply tore it apart.
Operation principle
But there is still fierce debate about the principle of operation of the laser tank. Some experts say that he worked thanks to a huge ruby. Especially for the innovative development, a crystal weighing about 30 kilograms was artificially grown. It was given an appropriate shape, the ends were covered with silver mirrors, and then saturated with energy using pulsed gas-discharge flash lamps. When a sufficient charge was built up, the ruby emitted a powerful beam of light, which was the laser.
However, there are many opponents of such a theory. In their opinion, ruby lasers became obsolete soon after their appearance - back in the sixties of the last century. At the moment, they are used only to remove tattoos. They also claim that instead of ruby, another artificial mineral was used - yttrium aluminum garnet, flavored with a small amount of neodymium. The result was a much more powerful YAG laser.
He worked with 1064 nm wavelength. The infrared range turned out to be more efficient than the visible one, which allowed the laser installation to work in difficult weather conditions - the scattering coefficient was much lower.
In addition, the YAG laser, using a non-linear crystal, emitted harmonics - pulses with different wavelengths. They could be 2-4 times shorter than the length of the original wave. Such multi-band radiation is considered more effective - if special light filters capable of protecting electronic sights help against the usual one, then here they would be useless.
The fate of the laser tank
After field tests, the laser tank "Compression" was found to be effective and recommended for adoption. Alas, the year 1991 broke out, the great empire with the most powerful army collapsed. The new authorities have drastically reduced the budget of the army and army research, so the "Squeeze" was successfully forgotten.
Fortunately, the only developed sample was not scrapped and taken abroad, like many other advanced developments. Today it can be seen in the village of Ivanovsky, Moscow Region, where the Military Technical Museum is located.
Conclusion
This concludes our article. Now you know more about the Soviet and Russian self-propelled laser complex 1K17 Compression. And in any dispute, you can reasonably talk about a real laser tank.
