We have not reached the “end of history” predicted by Francis Fukuyama in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now, even if few have already noticed, we are heading towards a new cold war. THE NEW US MISSILE BASES
We have already talked here about the inauguration of the new missile base at Deveselu in Romania and the start of work to build a second one on Polish territory. The first base – and by 2018 also the second – will host the Aegis Ashore missile defense system with AN / SPY-1 radar surveillance infrastructure and launchers for 24 Standard SM-3 Block IB missiles capable of detecting and shooting down ICBMs. launched from Western Russia and headed for the United States. It is not just a “space shield” but also an attack system to manage and guide Tomahawk cruise missiles – possibly equipped with nuclear warheads – which can now threaten civilian and military installations in southwestern Russia, including Crimea. THE RUSSIAN ANSWER
The Russians have already responded diplomatically by reporting the violation of the 1987 Treaty on Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF); this explicitly prohibits the ground deployment of cruise missiles with an operational ceiling between 500 and 5500 km. They raised the possibility of Russia leaving the negotiating table for the renewal of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). But, above all, they responded militarily by starting the construction of Barguzin: a launching system for RS-24 “Yars” combat missiles mounted on railway trains. Each train in the Barguzin system, from anywhere in Russia, will be capable of destroying 60 cities or military installations across the entire territory of the United States. THE SUPERCANNONE …
In these days the escalation has continued with the American announcement of a new weapon, apparently developed for naval warfare: the rail gun. It is not a railway gun, but a conductive projectile launch system fired at enormous speeds thanks to the creation of a huge electromagnetic field. It uses the principle of the homopolar motor invented by Michael Faradayalready in 1821: it consists of a pair of conductors (or rails) along which an inert projectile is accelerated by the effect of the current flowing along one rail, then through the projectile and then returning back along the other rail. The system, developed by the US Navy, in just one millisecond and capable of accelerating an 11 kg bullet along a 10 m track taking it from 0 to 8000 km / h (2.2 km in one second). The bullet, traveling at 6 times the speed of sound, is capable of hitting a target within a range of 200 km. … WITH A SUPERENERGY
And a weapon developed by Raytheon to pierce any armor, the prototypes are capable of piercing seven steel tank armor and leaving a hole 13cm wide. The bullet is not explosive, but its kinetic energy is very high: 32 Mega Joules, equal to the explosive power of a bullet containing 5 kg of C4. Its speed is such as to ignite the atmosphere and transfer such a quantity of energy to the target as to make it incandescent. To obtain this energy, an electrical system capable of generating the power of 25 Megawatts is required, the equivalent of the electricity consumption of 18750 homes. It is clear that the main use will see railgun batteries coupled with nuclear generators. THAT STRIKES TO THE HEART
This military version of an asteroid is capable of hitting military vehicles, underground bunkers and, above all, missiles with extreme accuracy. Including ICBMs. The Pentagon has spent $ 800 million with the goal of giving the United States not only a strategic advantage in surface combat but also to develop an anti-missile system capable of inflicting a further blow to the nuclear balance based on mutual assured destruction that it allowed us to survive for the entire duration of the cold war that ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. THOUGH…
But according to Alexei Fenenko – military analyst at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations – despite American aspirations, the railgun will not be able to change the existing balance of power but was developed to be used primarily as a “psychological factor” . It is a clear sign that Russia is preparing the counter-move
