Colonel Khodarenok: AFU balloons can harm civilian objects
The Armed Forces of Ukraine began to use balloon bombers to strike targets on the territory of Russia. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, over the past day, air defense has shot down five balloons over Russian regions. What kind of balls are these, what their effectiveness is and what harm they can cause, the military observer of the Newspaper figured out.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
The AFU began to use small-sized balloons with a combat load as bombers. Several similar cases have already been noted in the airspace of the Russian border regions. However, the Ukrainian army has not become a pioneer in such an armed struggle.
Balloons in wars
The first ever combat use of unmanned balloons to strike at the enemy was noted back in 1849. Austrian troops were then besieging Venice, and they used balloons with warheads to bombard the enemy. The effectiveness of such bombing was approaching zero, and the first attempt at strikes using such means of air attack, in fact, no one noticed.
In 1942-1944, the United Kingdom turned to the Venetian experience and conducted Operation Outward. At that time, 100,000 small unguided balloons with combat units of various attacks were launched towards Germany. In addition to traditional bombing, incendiary ammunition was planned to set fire to forests and disrupt the operation of power lines. Until September 4, 1944, Britain launched 99,142 automatic balloons towards Germany (53,543 with incendiary bombs and 45,599 with steel cables).
Japan did not stand aside in matters of the combat use of unguided balloons during the Second World War. Attacks on the territory of the United States using similar means of air attack were carried out in the period from November 3, 1944 to April 16-17, 1945. In total, 6 thousand balloons were launched, of which at least 355 reached the territory of the United States. The effectiveness of the use of such weapons turned out to be very, very low.
The Japanese called their project "Fu-Go" ("code F") or "Fusen bakudan", which translates as "fire balloon". The diameter of the balloon was 10 meters. The balloon was equipped with a 15 kg high-explosive warhead or four 5 kg thermite incendiary bombs.
In addition, it was supposed to equip balloons with combat units filled with fleas infected with cholera, typhus and bubonic plague. In other words, the Japanese planned to use biological weapons during their project.
Another case of massive use of uncontrolled balloons was noted in the 1950s. At that time, the United States was conducting Operation Moby Dick. During it, the United States launched a large number of automatic drifting balloons (ADA) from the territory of Germany and Turkey in 1956. Being in the channels of jet atmospheric currents of the appropriate orientation, the ADA reached the territory of the USSR. All American balloons were equipped with various reconnaissance equipment, including aerial cameras and special devices for determining the coordinates of the photographed area.
Of the 1,600 automatic balloons launched from the territory of Germany, half were shot down by fighter aircraft of the Air Defense Forces, but the rest reached the Pacific Ocean, landed and were picked up by US Navy ships. In 1956, only parts of the Baku Air Defense District shot down about 400 missiles launched from Turkey.
In 1958-1959, the second mass launch of American photo reconnaissance aircraft was carried out on the territory of the USSR. Most of these vehicles had a new shell with a volume of 11,500 cubic meters, which allowed them to fly at an altitude of up to 23 km for four to five days. Some American automatic balloons had a sectional shell with a volume of 120 thousand cubic meters, which ensured the flight of such photo reconnaissance aircraft at an altitude of 28-32 km. It was already much more difficult to shoot down such HELL with small-gun fire from air defense fighters.
An act of aerial terrorism
As for the combat use by the Armed Forces of Ukraine of unmanned balloons for bombing targets on the territory of the Russian Federation, in this case it is necessary to note several important circumstances.
Any aiming can be talked about only if the balloon is within sight of the operators, and they can detach the warhead over the target. That is, we are talking mainly about the territory and airspace directly adjacent to the front edge.
In all other cases, bombing from balloons will occur exclusively at random, in this case purely civilian objects may be hit, and therefore, in most cases, the combat use of bomber balloons should be considered as an act of aerial terrorism.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok