New Physical Principles Weapons
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New physical principles weapons are a wide range of weapons or systems created using emerging technologies, like
wave In physics, mathematics, engineering, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from List of types of equilibrium, equilibrium) of one or more quantities. ''Periodic waves'' oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium ...
, psychophysical, and genetic weapons. This definition is similar to "new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons" used in documentation from
United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...
sessions since 1975 and "
non-lethal weapon Non-lethal weapons, also called nonlethal weapons, less-lethal weapons, less-than-lethal weapons, non-deadly weapons, compliance weapons, or pain-inducing weapons are weapons intended to be less likely to kill a living target than convention ...
s" used by the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermat ...
(NATO).


Definitions


Weapons using new physical principle

The term is currently used primarily in Russia. The ''Encyclopedia of the Russian Ministry of Defense'' identifies the following types of new physical principles weapons that have been developed to varying degrees by the 21st century: *
directed energy weapon A directed-energy weapon (DEW) is a ranged weapon that damages its target with highly focused energy without a solid projectile, including lasers, microwaves, particle beams, and sound beams. Potential applications of this technology include w ...
s, like
infrasound Infrasound, sometimes referred to as low frequency sound or incorrectly subsonic (subsonic being a descriptor for "less than the speed of sound"), describes sound waves with a Audio frequency, frequency below the lower limit of human audibility ...
, laser, and super-high frequency weapons * electromagnetic weapons, such as some lasers and super-high frequency weapons *
geophysical Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...
weapons, including climate, ozone, environmental, and seismic weapons * genetic weapons * non-lethal arms *
radiological weapons In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'' consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infr ...


New weapon of mass destructions

New types of " weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons" were defined by the
United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...
in 1975. In 1976, the
US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...
stated that these weapons are based on "qualitatively new principles of action", which can be new due to the nature of the impact, target to be attacked, method of action, or how they are used. Examples given were infrasound weapons designed to damage internal organs and affect human behavior; genetic weapons, the use of which would affect the mechanism of heredity; ray weapons capable of affecting blood and intracellular plasma; robotic military equipment; unmanned controlled aircraft; and weapon systems, like aerospace weapon systems, where nuclear weapons are transported by spaceships and thereby more dangerous. In the never-adopted draft treaty of 1975, the proposed language in the United Nations Disarmament Conference classification for "new weapons of mass description" to be banned included: * radiological means of the non-explosive type acting with the aid of radioactive materials * technical means of inflicting radiation injury based on the use of charged or neutral particles to affect biological targets * infrasonic means using acoustic radiation to affect biological targets * means using electromagnetic radiation to affect biological targets. The Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques of 1977 does not identify specific weapons or technology.


Non-lethal weapons

NATO definition of non-lethal weapons include new responsive technologies—like lasers, kinetic and acoustic devices. Examples of non-lethal weapons are counter-personnel and radio-frequency vehicle stopping technologies. The
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...
's current and future non-lethal weapons programs include active denial, counter-personnel capability that creates a heating sensation, quickly repelling potential adversaries with minimal risk of injury in such missions as force protection, perimeter defense, crowd control, patrols/convoys, defensive and offensive operations.


United Nations conventions

New weapons of mass destruction that have harmful effects on people and the ecological balance of the planet are, in essence, criminal and contrary to the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques of 1977. Rather than identifying specific weapons, the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques of 1977 prohibits use of "military or any other hostile use of environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects as the means of destruction, damage or injury to any other State Party". This includes deliberate actions taken to change the atmosphere, hydrosphere, outer space, or in other ways affect the dynamics, structure or composition of the earth. The
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans biological and toxin weapons by prohibiting their development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpil ...
of 1972. The Seventh Review Conference was held in Geneva in December 2011, which resulted in the Final Declaration document that affirmed that "under all circumstances the use of bacteriological (biological) and toxin weapons is effectively prohibited by the Convention". The Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons, Protocol IV of the 1980
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons The United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW or CCWC), concluded at Geneva on October 10, 1980, and entered into force in December 1983, seeks to prohibit or restrict the use of certain conventional weapons which are cons ...
, was issued by the United Nations on October 13, 1995, and came into force on July 30, 1998.


Weapons development

Russian military doctrine refers to new physical principles weapons, while describing the main features of these weapons as comparable in effect to nuclear weapons but more acceptable in political terms. It was reported in October 2016 that Russia had tested a new electronic weapon, based on new physical principles, that uses directed-energy to neutralize on-board aircraft equipment,
unmanned combat aerial vehicle An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, fighter drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance and carries aircra ...
s, and precision weapons. In November 2016, Putin stated that the new physical principles weapons comply with all of the country's international obligations.


Non-lethal blinding weapons

In 2015, Russia announced a blinding weapon, Rook, that creates a disabling light interference, which can be used against night-vision equipment. It uses
ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...
,
infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...
, and visible regions of the spectrum and can change the width and direction of the beam to target specific objects. In 2018, Russia announced Peresvet, an anti-satellite blinding
laser weapon A laser weapon is a type of directed-energy weapon that uses lasers to inflict damage. Whether they will be deployed as practical, high-performance military weapons remains to be seen. One of the major issues with laser weapons is atmospheric ...
with a range of 1500 km. In 2019, Russia announced the 5P-42 Filin, a non-lethal light-based optical jamming system with a range of up to 5 km. In 2021, Russia announced the Lyutik-N visual-optical interference blinding station with a range of up to 100 meters.https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/08/26/russia-visual-optical-blinding-weapon/


See also

*
Active Denial System The Active Denial System (ADS) is a directed-energy weapon developed by the United States armed forces, U.S. military, designed for area denial, perimeter security and crowd control. Informally, the weapon is also called the heat ray since it wo ...
*
Cyberwarfare Cyberwarfare is the use of cyberattack, cyber attacks against an enemy State (polity), state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, ...
*
Hybrid warfare Hybrid warfare was defined by Frank Hoffman in 2007 as the emerging simultaneous use of multiple types of warfare by flexible and sophisticated adversaries who understand that successful conflict requires a variety of forms designed to fit the goa ...
*
Psychological warfare Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), has been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations ( MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and Mi ...
* High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program *
Sura Ionospheric Heating Facility The Sura Ionospheric Heating Facility, located near the small town of Vasilsursk about 100 km (60 miles) eastward from Nizhniy Novgorod in Russia, is a laboratory for ionosphere research. Sura is capable of radiating about 80 megawatts at ...
* Weather warfare


References


External links

* {{emerging technologies, topics=yes, military=yes Weapons of mass destruction Directed-energy weapons Non-lethal weapons Proposed weapons