What is a meteorological weapon?

The so-called "meteorological weapons" refer to a series of weapons that use modern scientific and technological means to artificially create natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, rainstorms, mountain torrents, avalanches, high temperatures and aerosols, and transform the battlefield environment to achieve military purposes.

Military affairs and meteorology have always been closely related. Since Zhuge Liang took advantage of the east wind to burn Cao Ying, there have been endless examples of using meteorological conditions to attack the enemy and protect themselves in the war.

War and meteorology have a long history. From the Russo-Japanese War at the beginning of the 20th century to the Iraq War at the beginning of this century, meteorology and war went hand in hand. No matter how the combat style changes and how the weapons and equipment develop, the war will be affected by the weather.

Meteorological conditions are a double-edged sword, which is fair to both sides. The key is to see who can control it without being affected by it. If meteorological conditions can be used reasonably, meteorology will become a "multiplier" of combat effectiveness.

During the Gulf War, the special climatic conditions in the Gulf region were one of the most important factors in the strategic decision-making of multinational forces. When choosing the opportunity to fight against Iraq, the US military meteorological department pointed out that the time to fight against Iraq should be from February 65438 to March of the following year. Although there were more rainy and foggy days in this period, compared with the high temperature sandstorm weather in April-June of 10, the impact was much smaller.

As early as the 1950s when President Eisenhower was in power, the US military clearly put forward the view that "meteorological control is more important than atomic bombs" in a research report. The US government also established the McGinley Climate Laboratory at Tampa Bay Air Force Base in Florida to develop meteorological weapons.

Since 1960s, meteorological weapons developed by McGinley Climate Laboratory have been used in actual combat. During the Vietnam War, the US military dispatched 26,000 planes and dropped more than 4.74 million catalytic rain bombs over the Vietnam war zone. The heavy rains and floods caused by them made the supply line of the Vietnamese army "Ho Chi Minh Trail" muddy, which seriously affected the combat operations of the Vietnamese army.