What could be more destructive than a large-scale natural disaster? Only a massive nuclear strike. But if it fails to hide the use of nuclear weapons, the use of climate weapons will help achieve the desired effect and at the same time save face on the international arena.
People have always dreamed of using the full power of weather disasters to achieve military goals. In the second half of the twentieth century, these dreams almost became a reality. Back in the 1950s, it became clear to scientists that cloud overcooling could cause precipitation.
During the Vietnam War, the US military put this theory to the test: 5400 tons of silver iodide and lead iodide were sprayed over the jungle in Operation Popeye between 1967 and 1972. As a result, a threefold increase in precipitation was recorded: the rainy season in the upper Mekong extended from 30 to 45 days. There is evidence that the terrible flood of 1971, which covered 10% of the country, was caused by this very impact.
Operation Popeye clearly demonstrates the dangers and complexities of using climate weapons. The goal in front of her was quite local: the blurring of the Ho Chi Minh trail, the paths along which the Vietnamese guerrillas received supplies. It was not possible to fulfill it, despite the colossal money spent and the threat posed to the entire peninsula.
The beginning was controversial, but experiments on climate change were not limited to Vietnam. Until 1983, research was in full swing in the bowels of American laboratories as part of the Stormfury project. This time, the scientists wanted to subdue hurricanes and typhoons.
At first, the goal of the experiments was seen as noble, because thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people suffer from such winds every year. But given the destructive power of typhoons, the temptation to use them for military purposes was too great … According to some (though not too reliable) reports, some success was achieved, and in 1969 the United States "redirected" the hurricane to Panama, whose relations with White the house was then more than cool. However, since then, despite the devastating Katrina and other typhoons, the use of these technologies has somehow stopped …
Popeye was only part of a program to combat Vietnamese guerrillas. The air operation on the ground was complemented by the US military from Jungle Eaters, a unit with special Rome Plow D7E bulldozers. These machines were used to remove the topsoil. Thus, the plots became unsuitable for vegetation for a long time and - not without the help of silver iodide - turned into real swamps.
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The weather is Soviet
The Soviet Union did not want to lag behind the United States in matters of advanced weapons. Therefore, in the 1980s, the USSR, together with Cuba, began developing its own program designed to influence the behavior of winds. The 1977 treaty, which prohibited any use of such weapons, did not become an obstacle: after all, in our country, everything is created exclusively for peaceful purposes.
However, before the creation of weather management systems, there were more serious problems than interstate obligations. The main one is energy. The energy of a conventional rain cloud is comparable to the energy contained in an average nuclear warhead. For just one heating of one cubic kilometer of airspace, a power plant of enormous power will be needed. Meanwhile, to talk seriously about the global impact on the weather, you need to learn how to influence thousands and thousands of kilometers of the atmosphere.
That scary word HAARP
However, when it comes to talking about climate weapons, such "little things" as the Popeye or Stormfury project are rarely remembered. Everyone sees something that can bring the whole world to its knees - and, of course, associated with some kind of conspiracy theory.
Among the developments that are allegedly applied or were used to influence the climate, the honorable first place is occupied by the American HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program). The first developments on the project appeared back in the 1960s, and in 1997 HAARP was officially launched.
The complex located in Alaska consists of antennas, laser radars, magnetometers, incoherent radiation radar and processing equipment. From the outside, it looks like a huge number of television antennas pointed into the sky. The construction of HAARP cost $ 250 million, and up to its closure in 2014, it took about $ 2.5 million a year.
HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program)
Alamy
But why is the HAARP complex credited with fantastic abilities? On this score, there is no direct evidence - except that the location on a military training ground and the appropriate security. However, it is argued that HAARP antennas are capable of forming "clots of energy" in the atmosphere and moving them to any point on the Earth, causing floods, typhoons, hurricanes, extreme heat or other disasters … HAARP. Even the terrible earthquake in Haiti in 2010 is attributed to the Americans, and if a natural disaster happened in China or Russia, it is definitely America's fault.
However, even in theory, HAARP could not be used as a weapon due to objective facts. The power of its radiation (3.6 MW) is clearly not enough to decide the fate of the world. This potential is not enough for even a minor atmospheric impact. Finally, the closure of the project in the summer of 2014 can finally dispel the myth of the secret climate weapon. If the Americans really created something outstanding with which they can control the weather - would they wind up the project?..
The official goal of HAARP was to study the behavior of the ionosphere and auroras. Indeed, the antennas could affect local areas of the ionosphere, allowing scientists to carry out the necessary experiments. For example, HAARP was used to study the behavior of charged particles in the ionosphere. But hardly anything more. Unfortunately, the results of the work of the complex remain classified. More open similar projects, such as EISCAT, SPEAR, or Soviet counterparts, can give some hint of them.
EISCAT project
Getty Images
Our "Sura"
Experiments with the study of the ionosphere were carried out in the USSR as well. Back in the 1950s, near the city of Zmiyov (Ukraine, Kharkov region), the construction of such a station began. Beginning in 1954, the staff of this complex carried out studies of oscillations of the electron density in the ionosphere. The unusual appearance - a huge saucer hanging in the air - gave rise to a lot of various rumors around the station. But the Sura complex for the study of the ionosphere, located in the Nizhny Novgorod region, has become even more famous. It includes 144 antennas with a total transmit power of 750 kW.
Since the collapse of the USSR "Sura" has suffered from lack of money - about 40 thousand dollars a year are allocated for its maintenance. This is enough only for elementary expenses, although to some extent the complex remains in working order today. It carries out research in a wide variety of fields. Among them, the official website states "a study of the regularities of the generation of artificial turbulence and artificial electromagnetic radiation of ionospheric plasma in different ranges (HF, microwave, optical glow) when exposed to powerful radio waves."
Complex for the study of the ionosphere "Sura"
mikekosch.com
Judging by this furious phrase, the theory of work on climate weapons may not be without foundation. Another evidence in favor of the "military" version is the fact that the financing of this project in the Soviet years was carried out through the Ministry of Defense. But even if there were such experiments, it is appropriate to speak here only about the basic, fundamental work for the creation of climate weapons in the future. Radiation power "Sura" - several times less than even HAARP - is clearly not enough to seriously talk about a real weapon.
The US climate weapon is an indispensable part of the populist arsenal. For example, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced its use against Iran in the fall of 2012. Vladimir Zhirinovsky made similar statements in connection with the floods in Sochi and the Far East in 2013.
Gels and lasers
Decades have passed since the use of silver iodide during the Vietnam War, and technology has not stood still. Modern projects to stimulate precipitation are much more effective. For example, Dyn-O-Gel is able to absorb and gel moisture in the bowels of a nascent hurricane. True, in order to influence a 20x20 km front, it will be necessary to use 38 tons of matter, and even toss them dangerously close to the elements.
However, some experts note that with the help of such a substance - if enough effort is made - you can cause a real flood. For torrential rain to fall over an area of 1 km2, 10 tons of Dyn-O-Gel will need to be used. And vice versa, it can also bring drought: during tests in Miami, a transport plane poured out on a storm cloud 1.6 km long 4 tons Dyn-O-Gel, and soon the cloud simply disappeared!
To date, the use of Dyn-O-Gel or other "climatic" substances for military purposes has not been confirmed. But this does not prevent the creation of more and more effective weather management tools. In 2014, information appeared about the development by the Americans of a laser installation capable of causing thunderstorms and lightning.
"Double" laser
phys.org
But here, too, military use is highly questionable: the energy of the laser beam is quickly dissipated in the atmosphere, especially in thunderstorms, when the humidity is high. Scientists propose to solve these problems by creating a double beam, in which a powerful laser beam "envelops" a beam of lower intensity, which protects and energizes it as much as possible.
Many technical aspects of this solution are still unknown, but the US military has already invested $ 7.5 million in the development of the Arizona professor Demetrios Christodoulides. It may well be that this very technology will allow us to create climate weapons in the form in which we know them from fantastic works.
Experiments to create hydrospheric weapons began long before the Vietnam War. Back in the 1940s, the Seal project operated in the United States. Its essence was simple: an explosion of a nuclear charge was made on the seabed, after which the behavior of the resulting sea wave was observed. Such experiments had mixed results, and after the signing of the nuclear test ban, they were terminated.
Point of view
An expert in the field of advanced weapons, Doctor of Philosophy, Colonel Andrei Shalygin shared his opinion with us:
- There are, in particular, installations for creating an artificial storm front Weathertec, which were installed by scientists from Switzerland, hired by Meteo Systems. Their creation is financed by the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa Ibn Zayed Al Nahyan. These are simply weather installations for utilitarian local purposes; they are not climate weapons per se. The same goes for advertised systems such as the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), Sura and others. The main thing that is now happening with the climatic conditions on the planet, and what needs to be discussed, regardless of the formulation of the causes that gave rise, is the weakening of the global latitudinal transfer and the strengthening of the meridian. First of all, for us this means a weakening of the traditional trade winds and monsoons, as well as the emergence,activation and strengthening of breakthrough stagnant (blocking) anticyclones. This is associated with some discomfort and potential damage for the residents of Russia. In our case, all this is caused by the intensive destruction of the natural protective factors of the environment in North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Installation for creating an artificial storm front Weathertec
sindicatum.com
In spite of everything, the prospects for climate weapons in its generally accepted understanding remain vague. Until the issue of energy supply for such systems is resolved, it is inappropriate to talk about the threat from climate weapons.
Ilya Vedmedenko
