Omega (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: омега) (1965-) was a Soviet program for developing high-power laser weapons for

air defense Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

purposes, similar to the

Terra-3 Terra-3 (Russian language, Russian: терра–3) was a Soviet laser testing centre, located on the Sary Shagan anti-ballistic missile (ABM) testing range in the Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan. It was originally built to test missile defense con ...

laser. The scientific director of the Omega program was A. M. Prokhorov. Practical work was carried out by Strela Design Bureau, (later -

Almaz The Almaz (russian: Алмаз, lit=Diamond) program was a highly secret Soviet military space station program, begun in the early 1960s. Three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976: Salyut 2, Salyut 3 a ...

History

Boris Vasilyevich Bunkin (Raspletin's deputy) and his brother Fedor Vasilievich Bunkin (employee of Prokhorov) showed that low-flying targets could be destroyed with a

neodymium Neodymium is a chemical element with the symbol Nd and atomic number 60. It is the fourth member of the lanthanide series and is considered to be one of the rare-earth metals. It is a hard, slightly malleable, silvery metal that quickly tarnishe ...

-emitting glass laser with an active medium volume of approximately . General Designer of the KB-1 Academician Alexander Andreevich Raspletina and Prokhorov raised the idea before the

CPSU Central Committee The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, – TsK KPSS was the executive leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, acting between sessions of Congress. According to party statutes, the committee directe ...

and the

USSR Council of Ministers The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Совет министров СССР, r=Sovet Ministrov SSSR, p=sɐˈvʲet mʲɪˈnʲistrəf ɛsɛsɛˈsɛr; sometimes abbreviated to ''Sovmin'' or referred to as the '' ...

. The proposal received support in the defense department of CPSU-CC and in the Military-Industrial Commission (MIC) of the USSR Council of Ministers. On February 23, 1967, a Decree was issued, and on June 26 the MIC signed on. These documents determined the direction of work, the composition of the researchers and the creation of a laser complex, which received the code name "Omega". The laser energy required to hit an air target was determined the same as the total kinetic energy of a

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

warhead A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: * Explosiv ...

, some 10 megajoules. The laser was based at

Sary Shagan Sary Shagan ( rus, Сары-Шаган; kz, Сарышаған) is an anti-ballistic missile testing range located in Kazakhstan. On 17 August 1956 the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union authorized plans for an experimental facility for ...

testing range.

Omega Complex

In 1972, Omega-2 elements began to be delivered to facility 2506. The laser locator (based on ruby lasers) was put together with a high-power simulator based on

glass lasers. The chief designer was Sukharev Ye. M. at Almaz Central Design Bureau. For the first time, the laser location of the aerodynamic target was carried out, its image was constructed, a target spot was evaluated, the precision of the simulator was estimated, and the effect of the atmosphere on the propagation of laser radiation was investigated. The studies indicated that the project was infeasible. A new experimental Omega-2M 73T6 complex began, in which a high-power

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

open type generator with high-power pumping (BGRF) was evaluated. The locator was built on the basis of the television system TOV Karat-2. The chief designer was L.N. Zakharyev, his deputy and Yu. A. Konyaev, the responsible manager of all the works. On September 22, 1982, for the first time in the USSR, a radio-controlled target RUM-2 B was hit by laser radiation. Further tests confirmed the result. A mobile version of the 74T6 laser complex was developed. However, the device could not surpass the existing ZRK.

References

Literature

Sary-Shagan and Kyshtym - visiting Soviet military laboratories
{{Military testing centers in Kazakhstan Missile defense Space weapons Military lasers Science and technology in the Soviet Union Military installations of the Soviet Union Military of Kazakhstan