Are there any weapons to control the weather now?

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. With the rapid development of science and technology, how do meteorological conditions affect the war? What attitude should we take in the face of more and more meteorological weapons that are being developed and may be applied to actual combat in the future? With these questions, the reporter interviewed Associate Professor Lincoln Lo and Associate Professor Wang Weimin of PLA University of Science and Technology.

Reporter: How do you understand the role of meteorology in the war? How much influence do you think the weather has on the war? Is this influence more positive or negative?

Lincoln Lo: 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. It can be said that 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.

Reporter: In recent wars, what are some examples of using meteorological conditions to attack the enemy and protect themselves?

Lincoln Lo: There are many such examples. 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 are many rainy and foggy days during this period, the impact is much smaller than the high temperature sandstorm weather in April-June 10. If the war drags on after March, the high temperature and sandstorm weather will have a great impact on the personnel and weapons and equipment of the US military, which will greatly reduce its combat capability.

When choosing the time to launch the first air strike, the US military also seriously considered the meteorological conditions in the Gulf region. Western military strategists believe that the US military should launch a lightning attack on the Iraqi army in the middle of the night without moonlight, clouds and fog. After carefully studying all kinds of meteorological data, the meteorological support department of multinational forces put forward three optimal time periods: 65438+ 10 17 ~ 20, February 16 ~ 18, and March17 ~/kloc. According to the weather forecast, 65438+1October 16 ~ 20 in the Gulf is an ideal moonless night, and the weather is fine. The multinational forces chose 65438+1October 17 to launch air strikes in the early morning. In the absence of moonlight, the multinational forces gave full play to the advantages of night fighting and realized the suddenness of the battle. Therefore, the first wave of attacks by the multinational forces did not encounter organized resistance from Iraqi air defense forces, and all the planes returned safely.

Reporter: Many of us have seen weather balloons in the air to get pictures of the weather conditions in the air. In modern warfare, apart from this relatively primary way, what means do we use to obtain meteorological information more?

Lincoln Lo: Meteorological radar and meteorological satellite are the most important modern detection means, and they are the supplements to traditional meteorological observation.

Weather radar is generally used to detect strong convective weather systems such as tropical cyclones, thunderstorms and squall lines, and to monitor the intensity, location and movement of severe weather such as heavy rain, hail and tornado in real time.

Meteorological satellites are equipped with infrared scanning radiometer, microwave radiometer, electronic camera and other remote sensing instruments to passively detect the earth and atmosphere, and can obtain large-scale continuous meteorological elements.

In addition to the above detection means, people also carry meteorological observation instruments on airplanes and ocean-going ships to obtain unconventional meteorological data to make up for the shortcomings of the above detection means.

Under the condition of war, the enemy will block the meteorological information to the maximum extent. At this time, meteorological reconnaissance planes, unmanned atmospheric sounding remote sensing aircraft, dropped radiosondes and airdrop automatic weather stations can be used to obtain meteorological information in the target area, and even meteorological teams can be sent to the target area to carry field meteorological instruments to collect meteorological information in the target area.

Reporter: What's the difference between military weather forecast and general public weather forecast? Can you give some examples of different weapons and equipment?

Lincoln Lo: Everyone should be very familiar with the weather forecast. We have to listen to the weather forecast every day to decide our daily life. However, compared with the familiar public-oriented meteorological forecast, the meteorological forecast in military meteorological support is very different in terms of support object, forecast content and forecast accuracy.

Military meteorological forecast is an important part of military meteorological support. Modern military operations are joint operations involving multiple services such as land, sea and air. Different weapons and equipment, different combat tasks and different combat styles all have their most suitable meteorological conditions, and the contents and requirements of the forecast are also very different. Therefore, the military meteorological support work is very complicated, which requires both the ability to guarantee the independent operation of a certain service arm and the ability to guarantee the contract operation of all services and arms in the theater.

Reporter: Now, many people are using the concept of "meteorological weapons". What's the difference between this concept and weather modification?

Wang Weimin: If weather modification is applied to the military as a tactic to create a battlefield situation that is unfavorable to the enemy and beneficial to us, it can be called a meteorological weapon. However, the concept of meteorological weapons is bigger than that of weather modification. Besides weather modification, it also includes environment modification, such as artificial ozone hole, artificial acid rain and even artificial ionosphere. This is a broader concept of meteorological weapons. The artificial change of hurricane path and the artificial creation of ozone hole are basically conceptual things and are still in the state of experimental exploration.

Reporter: There are many reports on artificial rainfall, artificial mine laying and artificial fog driving in the media. Do you think human beings have the ability to influence and change the weather at will according to their own ideas and hopes?

Wang Weimin: That's not true. The premise of influencing the weather is that it must have certain meteorological conditions. Take artificial precipitation enhancement as an example. Only when it is cloudy, if some kind of catalyst is sown in the sky, it will rain harder. When the sky is clear in Wan Li, it's no use sowing catalyst in the air. Therefore, the premise of weather modification is to have certain meteorological conditions.

Reporter: With the current level of human technology, such as artificially changing the path of a hurricane, how likely is it to become a reality?

Wang Weimin: The United States has tried, but it was not very successful. The main problem is that there are no more new breakthroughs in theoretical methods. The main difficulty is how to find a breakthrough in theory and technology. At present, the method of using catalyst is still very difficult. If the theoretical and technical difficulties are solved, it is not impossible to artificially influence the hurricane path.

Reporter: As a military meteorologist, what attitude do you think we should take towards meteorological weapons?

Wang Weimin: 1977, the United Nations adopted an agreement prohibiting the application of weather modification technology in the military field. This agreement mainly considers that this technology may cause certain damage to the environment. However, for war, once the war breaks out, all actions will cause different degrees of damage to the environment. Burning oil wells, burning tires to create smoke screens, and plane bombing will all cause serious pollution to the air and environment. Due to the important influence of meteorological conditions on the war, the research on weather modification in the world has never stopped since the First World War.

Because we don't know much about technology and principles, there will be many unexpected and unexpected situations in the process of influencing and changing the weather, and even the weather development is completely opposite to what you want. The weather system is very complicated, and you want to increase rainfall to a certain extent by artificially increasing rainfall. But the actual rainfall may be far beyond your control, not only hitting the enemy, but also bringing yourself a disaster. Therefore, when the theoretical research has not reached a certain level, it is still prudent to do relevant research and experiments.

Reporter: Should we adopt the same attitude towards meteorological weapon experiments with different contents?

Wang Weimin: We should treat different experimental contents differently. Just like weapons, some weapons are conventional and some are destructive. For artificial acid rain, artificial ozone hole and other plans, the damage to the environment is very great, and you can't control it, which may have disastrous and unpredictable consequences. I think we should be very cautious. For these problems, I personally think we can do some basic theoretical research and never rush into the implementation stage. (Reporter Pan Ting)

Expert profile:

Lincoln Lo, male,/kloc-0, born in June, 1965, is currently an associate professor in the Department of Military Meteorology, School of Meteorology, China University of Science and Technology. Mainly engaged in tropical meteorology, meteorological information processing and military meteorological service automation.

Wang Weimin, male, was born in April 2005. 1963. Director and Associate Professor of the Department of Space Environment, Department of Ocean and Space Environment, School of Meteorology, PLA University of Science and Technology. He has been engaged in teaching and research of atmospheric physics, atmospheric environment and space environment for a long time.

The world's largest meteorological weapon

However, some American physicists believe that HAARP project is the largest ionospheric reconstruction project in the world and the largest meteorological war weapon in the world. It can manipulate the local weather artificially, disrupt the flight of spacecraft and launch vehicles in other countries and disrupt the communication between other countries. Russia's Pravda hit the nail on the head and pointed out that although the United States signed a United Nations treaty prohibiting the development of meteorological weapons, the electromagnetic interception project of the US military in Alaska was obviously carried out under the guise of scientific research or dual technology.

According to American media reports, after the end of the Cold War, the US Air Force drew up the meteorological warfare Plan for 2 1 century, that is, the "Total Control Plan for 2025", trying to ensure the leading position of the United States in international affairs through meteorological warfare. Some people in the U.S. military also proposed to use atomic bombs to carry out meteorological warfare: the atomic bombs were detonated in the storm generation system or in the clouds, resulting in radiation rain, which produced a radiation pollution area larger than normal nuclear explosions and caused more extensive damage to the enemy.

Give orders and do whatever you want.

It is reported that the development of meteorological weapons involves a number of technologies, specifically six. The first is flood technology. That is to say, silver nitrate particles are scattered into the clouds above the enemy by plane, which makes the water vapor in the clouds form heavy rain, thus causing catastrophic floods. The second is cold technology. Methane or carbon dioxide gas exploded at the height of the enemy about 17km above the ground, causing "covering the sky", making the vast area of enemy positions dark, and the temperature dropped to a level similar to that of prehistoric ice age, resulting in the death or injury of enemy personnel and the destruction of weapons and equipment. The third is the giant thermal storm technology, which uses lasers to heat the air in desert areas to form tornadoes and desert storms and take away enemy personnel or equipment. The fourth is water column technology. That is, a powerful bomb was dropped at the depth of 30 meters on the seabed, which formed an undersea earthquake, triggered a tsunami, overturned enemy surface ships and washed away positions or personnel and equipment on the coast. The fifth is thick cloud technology. Using microwave technology, dark clouds are created in one's own position to reduce or eliminate fog, so that enemy planes can't enter or lose the exact position of the target. The sixth is "Mao Mao Rain" technology. It also used microwave technology to make Mao Mao rain fall on enemy positions. Although the raindrops are small, they are extremely dense, forming a "rain curtain", which makes the enemy radar unable to find the target.

Weather has become the key to modern warfare.

In modern warfare, the meteorological environment can directly or indirectly affect military operations. Facts have proved that the more sophisticated and sensitive weapons and equipment systems are, the more easily they are restricted by various environmental factors. For example, during the Iraq war, sandstorms forced hundreds of American armed helicopters to return home early. After investigation, only seven helicopters can continue to fight.

For those precision-guided weapons, the meteorological environment is also a deadly killer. For example, if a strong laser beam passes through a dusty atmosphere with a thickness of 1km, its energy will be weakened by more than 90%. In the case of rain, after laser transmission for 5 kilometers, the energy is only 1.8%. An active infrared night vision device with a working distance of 800 meters can reach 600 meters under the starlight condition, but under the conditions of dark clouds, fog and dim starlight, its working distance is reduced to 10 meter, which is simply "blind".

It is reported that the United States has been developing and testing meteorological weapons, and the US Department of Defense is concerned about the abrupt climate change in China in 20 10, and its real intention is thought-provoking. For the secret report of the US Department of Defense, followers only discuss the meteorological disasters in the secret report, but do not study its strategic intention. The low comprehensive research ability is not only the biggest hidden danger of national security, but also the biggest obstacle to the development and application of science and technology in China. After the Iraq war, the focus of the US military has shifted to Asia. What is worrying is that both meteorological weapons and meteorological conditions are available.

1. Russian media revealed that Russia, the United States and other big countries are studying the next eight special weapons [1].

Vision Project is the top secret weapon research and development department of the US Department of Defense. The most interesting task of this department is to develop future weapons. Of course, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the defense departments of other countries in the world also have future R&D institutions in special weapons, such as the Vision Project, but all these research institutions are state secrets. On September 26th, Pravda revealed the future special weapons being studied by superpowers such as the United States and Russia. These special weapons will inevitably have a great impact on the future of the whole mankind. Earthquake weapons want to level enemy cities, meteorological weapons create storms at any time, and solar weapons turn large areas of land into scorched earth.

There may be solar weapons in the future special weapons. In fact, as early as the third century BC, humans have already used solar weapons. Aristotle, a famous mathematician in ancient Greece, directed the ancient Greek soldiers and civilians to set up a big mirror to reflect sunlight, and finally burned the Roman Armada. Of course, the fatal weakness of Aristotle's "super solar weapon" is that it is too affected by the weather, and the solar weapon will not work on cloudy days. However, if you put these mirrors in space, you will not be afraid of cloudy days. These "mirrors" sent into space can collect sunlight and make the temperature in the center of the mirror as high as several thousand degrees. Of course, such high temperature and strong light may penetrate through thick clouds and reach the ground. If that target is aimed at by this "light of death", then it will burn. Of course, such a special weapon also has a fatal disadvantage, that is, it is too powerful, just like an atomic bomb, destroying all the objects around it at the same time. So for the victors, there is only a scorched earth left, which is not a real victory. In this sense, the neutron bomb is much stronger because it will kill all animals in the target area, but inanimate objects, such as buildings, are not damaged at all.

It is completely possible to change the specific weather in a specific area by changing the charge in the atmosphere, such as creating harmful weather such as rainstorm and drought. This kind of weather will do fatal harm to the enemy. It is reported that Russian scientists are developing this super weather weapon in Obninsk.

2. Facing the military revolution-technology and equipment change with each passing day [2-4]

With the further development of science and technology, a large number of new concept weapons will appear and be used in wars. These new concept weapons have completely different killing and destruction mechanisms. They don't aim at killing each other's lives on a large scale, but achieve the purpose of war by making their combatants and weapons and equipment lose their combat functions, or by changing the ecological and natural environment of enemy countries [2].

Among the new concept weapons, there are mainly infrasound weapons, electromagnetic pulse weapons, laser weapons and meteorological weapons with large-scale destruction and damage effects. Infrasound weapons have the ability of intercontinental propagation, and can penetrate reinforced concrete with a thickness of more than 10 m, so the scope of action is extremely wide. Electromagnetic pulse bombs dropped at high altitude can make a wide range of electronic equipment lose their functions instantly. Laser weapons can cut the ozone layer over hostile countries, causing large-scale greenhouse effect. Meteorological weapons can cause large-scale floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. According to the analysis of Russian military theory experts,1From June to July, 1999, there was an unprecedented high temperature in southern Europe, with the highest temperature reaching 50 degrees. It is believed that this is actually caused by the United States testing meteorological weapons through war. New concept weapons have broad development prospects, and their large-scale application will make future information warfare have the effect of sub-nuclear war [2].

The so-called "meteorological weapon" refers to the use of modern meteorological science and technology to artificially control the weather changes such as clouds, rain, snow, cold and heat, and artificially create various special weather to cooperate with military strikes, so as to achieve the purpose of interfering, killing, destroying or destroying the enemy. With the continuous development of meteorological science, meteorological weapons will surely show their talents in future wars. At present, meteorological weapons mainly include the following types:

Artificial flood waterfall increases the precipitation in the enemy's active area through artificial precipitation enhancement, causing heavy rain and heavy rain, affecting its battlefield use, and even causing flooding, injuring people and destroying things, washing away roads and bridges, cutting off the enemy's traffic, making it difficult to supply, and limiting its mobility.

Man-made drought creates a long-term drought for the enemy countries and regions downstream by controlling the weather in the upstream, thus weakening the enemy's war potential and destroying the enemy's living environment.

Manually guide the typhoon to throw silver iodide smoke bombs or other chemical catalysts into the typhoon cloud area, so that the typhoon can change its path as needed and lead to the enemy country, thus destroying the military facilities of the enemy country.

Artificial cloud and fog elimination refers to the elimination of clouds and dense fog in combat airspace by heating, cooling or spreading catalysts, so as to improve and change visibility and ensure the safety of our visual observation, aircraft take-off and landing and ship navigation.

Artificial fogging Artificial fogging is to artificially create fog all over the sky by casting a large number of fogging agents to hide one's actions or cause difficulties and obstacles to the enemy's actions.

Man-made cold, man-made heat and man-made cold refer to spreading sunlight-absorbing substances over hostile countries or areas controlled by the enemy, causing a sharp drop in temperature, causing unbearable cold weather, frostbite of enemy battlefield personnel, damage to enemy weapons and equipment, and destruction of enemy combat effectiveness; Man-made extreme heat refers to the spreading of substances that absorb long-wave radiation on the ground over enemy territory or enemy combat areas, which suddenly raises the temperature and produces extreme heat, which directly weakens the enemy's combat effectiveness.

Artificial ozone hole is to eliminate ozone molecules in a certain range in the atmosphere by chemical or physical methods, and form an "ultraviolet window" in the atmospheric ozone layer, so that the ultraviolet rays of the sun can directly kill people and creatures in hostile countries.

Manual control of thunder and lightning Manual control of thunder and lightning refers to the transfer or early release of charges in the cloud by artificially inducing and eliminating thunder and lightning, so as to control the generation of thunder and lightning and ensure the safety of military activities in the air and on the ground. The methods of artificial control of lightning mainly include: first, using charged clouds to spread frozen nuclei, changing the dynamics and microphysical processes of clouds to affect lightning discharge; The second is to spread metal foil to enhance the conductivity in the cloud, so that the electric field in the cloud can be maintained below the critical intensity required by lightning to suppress lightning; The third is to manually trigger lightning discharge, so that a small number of clouds discharge within a limited time [3].

For thousands of years, the infinite power of nature has been frightening, and the threats to human survival such as typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have never stopped. So all kinds of natural disasters have become the objects of scientists' research and exploration, in order to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. With the development of science and technology, people can not only skillfully use huge natural forces to serve the military, but also develop and use meteorological weapons to change the local natural conditions and make them beneficial to themselves, not to the enemy [4].

During the Vietnam War, the "Ho Chi Minh Trail" from Cambodia to Vietnam often suddenly experienced the phenomenon of heavy rain and flash floods breaking bridges and destroying dams, which was as destructive as large-scale bombing. At first, people only thought it was bad weather, but later they realized that it was the result of the US military throwing silver iodide bombs over the trail. At the peak of artificial rainfall in June, 197 1, a large number of transport vehicles struggled in the mud, and the number of vehicles passing through Ho Chi Minh Trail decreased from 9,000 to 900 in one week, which made Americans achieve unexpected combat results. Since then, having "meteorological weapons" has become the goal pursued by military strategists in various countries. The United States established a climate laboratory in the 1950s, specializing in the research of meteorological control technology. Russia is not far behind, relying on its solid national defense industry foundation, walking in the forefront of the world in the development of meteorological weapons [4].

The U.S. Department of Defense is worried about the abrupt climate change in China.

In the report of the U.S. Department of Defense "Scenarios of Climate Abrupt Change and Its Significance to U.S. National Security" (GBN Report), the predictions for China are mostly vague, and only one clearly points out the time and place, that is, around 20 10, a severe drought will occur in southern China for 10 years; At the same time, some people say that the current precipitation distribution pattern of "waterlogging in the south and drought in the north" in China may become "waterlogging in the north and drought in the south" [5]. The conclusion of GBN Report is very similar to that of the international scientific symposium on climate change held on March 3, 2003, and the attention paid to meteorological information in China is also unusual.

If followers know the concept of weather war, they should have a deeper understanding of the intention of the US Department of Defense. Using natural meteorological disasters and meteorological weapons to expand the scope and intensity of meteorological disasters in hostile countries and put them at an extreme strategic disadvantage is meteorological warfare. Studying the secret report of the US Department of Defense does not involve the strategic intention of the US Department of Defense. China's followers are really innocent and lovely. Is the enemy of national security really climate change? Natural and man-made disasters go hand in hand, and the reason why people follow the trend is because they obey people and have no independent scientific thinking [6].

4. The coexistence of meteorological weapons and meteorological conditions is worrying.

The United States has been developing and testing meteorological weapons, and the Vietnam War, the Kosovo War and the Gulf War have all become testing grounds for meteorological weapons. The US Department of Defense is concerned about the abrupt climate change in China in 20 1 0, and its real intention is thought-provoking. For the secret report of the US Department of Defense, followers only discuss the meteorological disasters in the secret report, but do not study its strategic intention. The low comprehensive research ability is not only the biggest hidden danger of national security, but also the biggest obstacle to the development and application of science and technology in China. Followers define climate change as an enemy of national security. In fact, the most dangerous enemy is the users of meteorological weapons who take advantage of climate change in China. After the Iraq war, the focus of the US military has shifted to Asia. During the critical period of the 2008-20 12 Taiwan Strait crisis, meteorological weapons and conditions were available, which was worrying.