Futuristic weapons threaten the world

Laser weapons

These weapons are based on use of energy from electromagnetic radiation in the optical range. Despite the fact that lasers have been in use for a long while, both in the domestic and military spheres, researchers have only recently begun to work on creating effective combat systems based on laser technology. The first laser weapons, which appeared in the 1960s, could not hit two targets within a short time span because they consumed too much energy.

For the first time this year, Americans have tested a laser cannon stationed on an offshore platform. Russia is also working to develop laser weapons, and, according to the military, is not far behind the United States in this area. From available public sources, it is known that the military has restarted testing the A-60 aviation system, using a new laser gun capable of destroying aircraft, as well as targets located in outer space.

Microwave weapons

The primary damage this type of weapon causes comes from super-powerful microwave radiation in the frequency range from 3 to 30 GHz. These types of weapons are most effective against enemy’s electronics, abundantly used in state and military command and control objects, as well in various types of latest weapons systems.

Russia has developed a new weapon, capable of disabling enemy planes, drones and precision-guided weapons, such as cruise missiles. The new weapon is tentatively known as the “microwave gun”, since it works on the microwave radiation principle. The device has an operational range of over 10 kilometres.

Genetic weapons

These types of weapons, direct heirs of bacteriological weapons, are based on technologies within the sphere of heredity processes management, and the variations found in living organisms. Genetic engineering makes it possible to deliberately create a combination of genes, unknown in nature, that would not only not have a favourable impact on living organisms, but also destroy them. The main danger is posed by attempts to create “smart weapons”, selectively affecting and destroying organisms that contain a specific genetic code.

According to Russian scientists, a significant number of aggressor genes have already been created, which can inherently be turned into deadly weapons. For example, the genes BAX and BCL-2 are capable of inducing apoptosis; the process of programmed cell death. Given the fact that development of biological weapons is banned by international conventions, Russia is not working on genetic weapons development.

Beam weapons

Using a concentrated stream of charged or neutral particles, containing high energy (electrons, protons, or neutral hydrogen atoms), beam weapons can direct strong thermal radiation, or impact forces, or X-rays, against objects, resulting in death and destruction.

The main advantages of these types of weapons include stealth and the immediate effect they have on the enemy. The main problem in using this weapon is the loss of energy over long distances, caused by the interaction of particles with atmospheric gases. In the USSR, several scientific institutions actively worked on the development of beam weapons, but these never developed into any real combat samples.

Geophysical weapons

These types of weapons involve an attack on an object using natural processes, brought to life by artificial means; like lightning, earthquake, tsunami, and so on. Information has appeared that a variety of experiments and actual tests were conducted by the United States, for example, in Vietnam, most analysts doubt whether it would be possible to cause an earthquake or a tsunami in a specific region of the Earth.

Oleg Kalugin, Major General in the KGB and a military defector, said in 1993 that the Soviet Union worked actively to develop and use geophysical weapons, referring to the Sura Complex, which actually exists in Russia, and is located about 170 kilometres from Nizhny Novgorod. This complex covers around 10 hectares and consists of long rows of twenty-metre antennas. In the centre of the Sura, there is transmitter of impressive dimensions, designed to study the acoustic processes in our planet’s atmosphere. However, it is not known if the Sura can actually create “natural disasters”.

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