Most people, having heard about the laser tank, will immediately remember a lot of fantastic militants talking about wars on other planets. And only a few experts will remember about 1K17 “Compression”. But he really existed. While in the USA people watched films about Star Wars with enthusiasm, discussed the possibility of using blasters and explosions in a vacuum, Soviet engineers created real laser tanks that were supposed to protect a great power. Alas, the state disintegrated, and innovative developments ahead of their time were forgotten as unnecessary.
What it is?
Despite the fact that most people find it difficult to believe in the very possibility of the existence of laser tanks, they really existed. Although it would be more correct to call it a self-propelled laser complex.
1K17 "Compression" was not an ordinary tank in the usual sense of the word. However, no one disputes the fact of its existence - there are not only a lot of documents from which the stamp "Top Secret" was recently removed, but also the technique that survived in the terrible 90s.
History of creation
The Soviet Union, many people call the country of romantics. And really, who, if not a romantic designer, would come up with the idea of creating a real laser tank? While some design bureaus were struggling to create more powerful armor, long-range guns and guidance systems for tanks, others were developing a fundamentally new weapon.
The creation of innovative weapons was entrusted to the Astrophysics NGO. The project manager was Nikolai Ustinov, the son of the Soviet Marshal Dmitry Ustinov. Resources for such a promising development did not spare. And as a result of several years of work, the desired results were obtained.
First, the 1K11 Stiletto laser tank was created - in 1982 two copies were produced. However, quite quickly, experts came to the conclusion that it could be significantly improved. The designers immediately got down 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 large. The mass also met the standards - 41 tons.
Homogeneous steel was used as protection, which during the tests showed very good performance for its time.
Ground clearance of 435 mm increased cross-country ability - which is understandable, this technique should have been used not only during parades, but also during military operations on a wide variety of landscapes.
Chassis
Developing the 1K17 Compression system, experts took the proven Msta-S self-propelled howitzer as a base. Of course, it has undergone some refinement to meet the new requirements.
For example, its tower was significantly increased - it was necessary to place a large number of powerful optoelectronic equipment, ensuring the operability of the main gun.
In order for the equipment to receive enough energy, the rear of the tower was allocated for an auxiliary autonomous power plant that feeds powerful generators.
The howitzer gun in the front of the tower was removed - its place was taken by the optical unit, consisting of 15 lenses. To reduce the risk of damage, during marches the lenses were closed with special armored caps.
The chassis itself remained unchanged - it had all the necessary qualities. A power of 840 horsepower provided not only high traffic, but also a good speed - up to 60 kilometers when driving on the highway. Moreover, the fuel supply was enough for the Soviet 1K17 Squeeze laser tank to travel up to 500 kilometers without refueling.
Of course, thanks to the powerful and successful chassis, the tank easily overcame raises of up to 30 degrees and walls of up to 85 centimeters. Ditches up to 280 centimeters and fords 120 centimeters deep also did not present problems for the equipment.
Main purpose
Of course, the most obvious application for such a technique is to burn enemy equipment. However, neither in the 80s, nor now, there are enough powerful mobile energy sources to create such a laser.
In fact, his appointment was completely different. Already in the eighties, tanks did not actively use ordinary periscopes, as during the Great Patriotic War, but more advanced optical-electronic 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 goal for SLK 1K17 "Compression". Using a powerful laser as the main weapon, he effectively detected the lenses of optoelectronic devices by glare over a great distance. After automatic guidance, the laser hit precisely this technique, reliably incapacitating it. And if at that moment the observer was using weapons, a beam of terrible power could well burn his retina.
That is, the function of the tank "Compression" did not include the destruction of enemy techniques. Instead, he was entrusted with the task of support. Blinding enemy tanks and helicopters, he made them defenseless in front of 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, without even being particularly exposed to danger. Therefore, we can say that although the development turned out to be quite highly specialized, with the proper approach, it is very effective.
Combat characteristics
The power of the main weapon was quite high. At a distance of up to 8 kilometers, the laser simply burned out the enemy’s sights, making it practically defenseless. If the distance to the target was large - up to 10 kilometers - the sights were temporarily disabled, for about 10 minutes. However, in a fast modern battle this is more than enough to destroy the enemy.
An important plus was the ability not to take corrections when shooting at moving targets even at such a large distance. After all, the laser beam hit at the speed of light, and it was strictly in a straight line, and not along a complex path. This has become an important advantage, greatly simplifying the guidance process.
On the other hand, it was a minus. After all, it’s quite difficult to find an open place for the battle, around which in a radius of 8-10 kilometers there were no landscape details (hills, trees, shrubs) or buildings that would not impair visibility.
In addition, atmospheric phenomena such as rain, fog, snow, or even ordinary dust raised by a gust of wind could cause unnecessary problems - they scattered the laser beam, dramatically reducing its effectiveness.
Additional weapons
Any tank sometimes has to fight not against the armored vehicles of the enemy, but against ordinary cars or even infantry.
Of course, to use a laser with enormous power, but at the same time slowly recharging, would be completely ineffective. That is why the laser system "Compression" 1K17 was additionally equipped with a heavy machine gun. Preference was given to the 12.7 mm NSVT, also known as the Utes cliff tank. This machine gun, terrible in combat power, flashed any equipment, including lightly armored, at a distance of up to 2 kilometers, and when it hit a human body it simply tore it up.
Operating principle
But on the principle of the laser tank, fierce debate is still underway. Some experts say that he worked thanks to a huge ruby. Especially for innovative development, a crystal weighing about 30 kilograms was artificially grown. They gave him the appropriate shape, closed the ends with silver mirrors, and then saturated them with energy using pulsed discharge lamps. When a sufficient charge accumulated, the ruby emitted a powerful stream of light, which was a laser.
However, there are many opponents of such a theory. In their opinion, ruby lasers were out of date soon after their appearance - back in the sixties of the last century. At the moment, they are used only to remove tattoos. They argue that instead of ruby, another artificial mineral was used - yttrium aluminum garnet, flavored with a small amount of neodymium. As a result, a much more powerful YAG laser was created.
He worked with 1064 nm waves. The infrared range turned out to be more effective than the visible one, which allowed the laser unit to work in difficult weather conditions - the dispersion coefficient was much lower.
In addition, a YAG laser using a nonlinear crystal emitted harmonics - pulses with waves of different lengths. They could be 2-4 times shorter than the length of the original wave. Such multi-band radiation is considered more effective - if special filters, capable of protecting electronic sights, help against normal, then here they would be useless.
The fate of the laser tank
After field trials, the Squeeze laser tank was found to be effective and was recommended for adoption. Alas, the year 1991 struck, a great empire with a powerful army collapsed. The new authorities drastically reduced the budget of the army and army research, so they successfully forgot about the Compression.
Fortunately, the only developed sample was not handed over for scrap and was not exported, like many other advanced developments. Today it can be seen in the village of Ivanovo, Moscow Region, where the Military Technical Museum is located.
