What is the "Perimeter" system and how it works. Nuclear system "Perimeter"

In connection with the latest events in the world: the crisis of power and armed conflict in Ukraine, the clash of interests and the activation of Islamic state militants in Syria and Libya, the problem of state security is becoming one of the most acute international issues. At a time when every major country either already possesses nuclear potential, or is preparing to get it, no one in the world can be completely sure of its future. And the future must be more terrible and vaguer for the citizens of Russia, the more countries join in sanctions and openly express their indignation about the actions of our country.

On the pages of numerous Western publications, English-language social networks and blogs already there are dozens of articles that directly call for the beginning of military operations against the Russian Federation. So why does not open expansion begin? Do our European and American partners stop the previously signed agreements? And why then did the same arrangements not prevent them from starting to bombard Iraq, bomb Syria and Libya? Why do we need a wave of "orange revolutions" in the territories of the former Soviet republics, and why is it so important for the United States to deploy ABM bases within their borders?

One of the options for answering the questions asked is the idea of the existence of such an ideal weapon as the system of guaranteed retaliation "Perimeter".

The concept of creation

Let's go back a moment to the past and imagine how our family lived during the Cold War. A tightly closed "curtain", the presence of a strong and constantly evolving "external enemy", the absence of more or less influential supporters abroad. In such a situation, any well-placed blow could be the last for our country. And the more heated the atmosphere, the more information about the American concept of a limited nuclear war appeared in the press. According to this doctrine, the pre-emptive strike on the territory of the USSR assumed the complete destruction of both the main command center of the Union, and the key nodes of the Kazbek command system, as well as the rupture of the strategic missile communications lines.

What could make a decapitated and practically destroyed state in such a situation? Only at the end of a loud and beautiful slam the door, so much so that this "cotton" for a long time to remember. To give the last, already senseless fight, to strike back a nuclear strike when there will be no one to control the missiles. It was with such thoughts that the leading Soviet scientists proceeded to develop one of the most terrible modern weapons, forever left in memory as "the weapon of the Last Judgment."

So, what is the Russian Perimeter system? And what is its main feature? The system "Perimeter" - "Dead Hand" - is a complex of automatic control of a massive nuclear strike. The main purpose of it is to ensure the guaranteed launch of all nuclear missiles that are in the arsenal of the USSR, if a devastating blow is struck across the country, which will destroy all the command units capable of giving the order for a return maneuver.

Thus, according to the idea of their creators, the nuclear system Perimeter could produce and launch missiles even if all died and there would be no one to give the order. It is for this idea of a retaliatory strike, already being carried out beyond the line of death, that the system received its second name in the West, the "Dead Hand". In the East, it was called even more precisely - "Hand from the coffin."

Principle of operation

Before the developers of the perimeter protection system of the country's borders there were two global tasks. First, the system needed to be given some kind of artificial intelligence, so that at the right moment she could independently understand that it was her time. Secondly, it was also necessary to debug the options for shutting down and running the program in case of unforeseen situations. Simply put, it was supposed to be able to monitor the state of the environment, checking about a hundred different indicators, and also have a "stopcock" reacting to a direct order to turn it off.

After several fruitless attempts, the developers still managed to create a complex, which, however incredible it may sound, fully met all their requirements. So what did they do?

As is known, any rocket existing in this world is able to rise in the air only in one case - in the presence of a clear order. The order of transfer of such an order to ridiculous is simple. On the command lines of communication a certain code is transmitted, which removes all interlocks from the system and gives permission for ignition of the engines. The rocket rises into the air and rushes to its goal. But what to do when there is no opportunity to give the order?

In this case, the obligation to give orders was delegated to the "Perimeter" system. Having studied the situation and analyzed the internal and external political situation, the absence or presence of communication with the headquarters, as well as the electromagnetic background throughout the country, made the decision and gave the command to start.

At the signal of a clever program, a single missile was flown into the air, which flew not to the alleged enemy, but through the main locations of the Soviet nuclear missile complex. It is this rocket, which, like the whole complex as a whole, was called "Perimeter". And it was she who, with the help of radio equipment located on her, signaled the entire military power of the country. As soon as the code was received, all operating and conserved missile carriers made a volley in the direction of the alleged enemy. So the guaranteed victory turned into an equally devastating defeat.

History of creation

The system of retaliation "Perimeter" was "conceived" in far August 1974, when the task of developing a special missile system was assigned to the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. Initially, it was planned to use the MR-UR100 model as the base missile, but later stopped at the MR-UR1000UTTX.

The draft project was completed in December 1975. According to him, a special head unit was installed on the rocket, including the radio engineering system developed by the OKB LPI. In addition to it, it was also necessary to create a stabilization program so that throughout the entire flight the rocket had a constant orientation in space.

Flight tests of the finished missile were conducted under the guidance of the State Commission and with the personal participation of the first deputy chief of the Main Staff of the Strategic Missile Forces V. Korobushin. Ten identical missiles were assigned for the experiment, but the first launches were so successful that it was decided to stop at seven salvos.

In parallel, a special launcher was also created - 15P716. According to the received data, its main components are the command missile and receiving devices, which ensure the reception of orders and codes from command missiles.

According to unconfirmed data, the launcher is a mining high-security complex of the OS type, but the possibility of locating command missiles in other types of carriers is not excluded.

After the flight tests, the developers of the complex were tasked with developing additional advanced functions that would allow the order to launch missiles not only to ground-based complexes, but also to nuclear submarines and long-range and sea-launched missile aircraft (both standing on airfields and carrying combat duty) .

Finally, all work on the "Perimeter" system was completed in March 1982, and in January 1985, the complex was already put on combat duty, where he served until the end of 1995.

Components included in the complex "Perimeter"

Of course, there is no exact description of all components of the system and the order of their interaction with each other. However, even on the basis of the most indirect information, it can be assumed that the perimeter security system of the state borders is a complex multifunctional complex equipped with a variety of different communication lines and transmitters.

There are several assumptions about the algorithm of the complex. In the first case, it is considered that, on a constant alert, the Perimeter receives data from several tracking systems, including early warning radars for missile attacks. After the received signals are transmitted to several independent command posts, which are at a great distance from each other and duplicate their testimonies (according to unverified data, there are only four such posts).

It is in these points that the most mystical component of the Perimeter is based - its main autonomous control and command system. This installation, which has all the attributes of artificial intelligence, is able to summarize the data transmitted from various observation posts to conclude that the probability of a nuclear attack is likely. Here the principle of working to the limit is simple and is based on testing four basic conditions.

After analyzing all the data received, the system makes a conclusion about whether a nuclear attack was committed. After that, the connection with the General Staff is checked. If the connection is present, then the system is starting to gain momentum again shut down. If nobody answers at the headquarters, the program tries to contact the main anti-missile shield of the country - Kazbek. If they do not answer, the system delegates the right to make a decision to any person who is currently in the command bunker. If no order is followed, then only the program begins to operate.

Another version of the system excludes the possibility of the existence of artificial intelligence. It involves the manual launch of a command missile. According to this theory, the magic nuclear suitcase is in the hands of the head of state. And when information is received about the application of a massive nuclear strike, the country's top officials can put the system into combat mode.

After that, if it does not receive new signals within an hour and can not get in touch with any command center, the Perimeter system of Russia automatically begins the procedure of retaliation. If, however, a false alarm signal is sent to the headquarters, then all Perimeter security systems are again switched to monitoring mode. (Presumably the entire cancellation procedure takes about 15 minutes.)

Location of "Perimeter"

According to unverified sources, Russia's main weapons - all Perimeter security systems - are in the Urals, in the vicinity of Mount Kosvynsky Kamen. This mountain range, located near Konzhakovsky stone in the Northern Urals, reaches a height of 1519 meters and is composed mainly of pyroxenites and duanites. It is thanks to its natural origin that this bunker, according to the American journalist Blair, is a matter of real admiration from the American strategists, because from there, through the entire granite thickness, it is possible to maintain communication with the VLF radio signal (which spreads even in nuclear conditions War) with all systems of Russian strategic aviation.

Initially, the site for the construction of the bunker served as spent horizontal platinum mines, which in themselves were already a secret object. Duanites, which are the main mineral for the manufacture of refractories, block the scanning radio emission and do not allow enemy radio signals to detect the exact location of the object.

To ensure uninterrupted supply of the bunker, an additional power line was installed near it, a new bridge was built and a dirt road was made. The nearby village of Kytlym gradually grows to the size of a military town, work is underway to build new houses for soldiers and officers, and other infrastructure is being installed.

Main armament complex

The main elements of the security system ("Perimeter", as the reader has already understood) is an autonomous command IRS, which includes all possible data transfer and analysis centers and command missile complexes.

Among the complexes that make up the Perimeter, you can separately identify:

• The stationary center of combat control of the system, located in the Sverdlovsk Region under the mountain of Kos'vinsky stone.
• The mobile control center.
• 1353 the center of command and control located in the Sumy region, in the city of Glukhov (from 1990 to 1991) and transferred to the city of Kartaly.
• 1193 Center for Combat Control (located in the Nizhny Novgorod region, in the urban village Dalnee Konstantinovo-5 since 2005).
• 15P175 "Siren" - a mobile ground complex command missiles.
• "Perimeter-RC" is a modernized command missile system with a command missile on the RT-2PM "Topol" (entered combat duty in 1990).

Developers

Of course, the development and creation of a system of this level and scope is not a matter of a single decade. And its creation would not have been possible without the competent and efficient work of many talented scientists. Since the "Perimeter" (the "Dead Hand" defense system), like all its components, is still absolutely secret, it is not possible to find detailed information about its creators and their future fate.

Among the main developers of the Perimeter system, the name of only one person is known - Vladimir Yarynich, who after the collapse of the USSR continued to live and work in the US, where he told Wired about the existence of the system of guaranteed retaliation Perimeter. (By the way, according to Yarynich, the system is on manual control and activated by the order of the head of state.)

About the other creators of the complex little is known. Thus, many enterprises took part in the design and installation of equipment. The main among them is NPO Impulse under the leadership of V.I. Melnikov, Central Design Bureau "Geofizika" under the leadership of GF Ignatiev, CCBTM together with BR Aksyutin and many others.

Work on the "Perimeter" was supervised by so many different ministries and departments that until now it seems inexplicable that the creation of the complex was kept secret for so long.

Current status and operation of the complex

Little is known about the real fate of the Dead Hand. According to the documents, the perimeter security system of the country stood in service until June 1995. And then, in the framework of the agreement on general disarmament, it was withdrawn from combat duty. According to other sources, this significant event occurred in September 1995, and the perimeter protection system was not removed, but only modernized. And the command missile of the new generation RT-2PM "Topol" replaced the 15A11 missile.

There is no precise data on the current state of affairs. However, in 2009, the American magazine Wired again told its readers that the weapons of Russia - the "Perimeter" system - still exists and is still functioning. This information was confirmed in December 2011 by the Commander of the Strategic Missile Forces Lieutenant-General S. V. Karakaev, who again reported in his interview that the complex is in a dormant state and is on alert duty.

Also, from unconfirmed sources it is known that it was the "Perimeter" (the "Dead Hand" defense system) that was still on the fighting post and allowed VV Putin to declare that if desired, Russia could destroy the US in less than thirty minutes. In principle, today is such a time that sometimes to protect the interests of their state and it will not be superfluous to intimidate the opponent, so to speak.

I want to believe that the "Perimeter" system of 2014, is still in working order and in all its characteristics is in no way inferior to the previous models.

Media about the "Perimeter"

As it was said before, the main publications about the system appeared in the 90s of the last century in Western and American magazines. It was the newspaper Wired that renamed the "Perimeter" system into the "Dead Hand". A number of publications have also been published in a number of Japanese periodicals. It was with their light hand that the system of guaranteed retaliation became known as "The Hand from the Coffin".

On the territory of the Russian Federation, like all post-Soviet republics, there are very few articles on the complex. About his work in his reviews mentioned only "Rossiyskaya Gazeta". The system "Perimeter", "Dead Hand" - these and other names are rarely seen in the press. The main source of information for Russian-speaking users is still data, taken from the Internet and translated from foreign languages.

US retaliation

It can not be said that the USSR was the only country that developed such weapons. So, from February 1961 until June 24, 1990, there was a program in America that had basically the same principle of operation as the "Perimeter" system. In the US, this complex was called "Mirror".

It is clear that the main difference between the American and Soviet complexes lies precisely in the human factor. The US relied on the operational actions of its command, while in the USSR they designed weapons for really bad times. (Recall that in the case of detecting a threat, anyone who is at that time in the bunker, regardless of his rank and title, can give the order to deploy the system).

In the United States, the base of the complex was 11 aircraft "Boeing EU-135C", which are the main air command posts of the US Army, and 2 aircraft, called the "Watching Eye". The latter were constantly in the air, overseeing the borders of their country, passing over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Crews of command posts consisted of 15 people, among which at least one general must have been included, who, in the event of any external threat, could urgently order the strategic nuclear forces of his country.

After the end of the Cold War, the United States refused to sponsor its system, and at present all WCPs are located in four airbases of the country and are in a state of full combat readiness.

In addition to this system, there was also a complex of command missiles in the United States, located on ten shaft silos. The Mirror was also removed from service in early 1991.

Of course, today we must not forget that, no matter how mysterious this system is, "Perimeter", but this is still the weapon of the past. It was created in the conditions of the "cold war". And it is unlikely that today it meets at least half of the requirements for modern military equipment. However, the fact that such weapons exist, that the debugging works are still underway, is already a good reason for hope.