home Ideas A powerful explosion occurred at the Avangard pyrotechnics plant. Latest materials from the "Incidents" section

A powerful explosion occurred at the Avangard pyrotechnics plant. Latest materials from the "Incidents" section

On the evening of October 19, an explosion occurred at a pyrotechnics plant in Gatchina. Part of the building collapsed, killing at least four people. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, 11 more were injured, two were hospitalized. Due to the incident, train traffic on nearby tracks was stopped.

"Paper" collected everything that is known about the explosion in Gatchina.

The explosion in Gatchina occurred around 17:00. Four people died

In the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Leningrad region "Paper" They said that the explosion occurred in the main building of the Avangard pyrotechnic plant. According to the department, as of 19:20 on November 19, at least two people were killed and two more were injured. By the morning of October 20, the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that four people had died. As of 7 a.m. on October 20, rescuers had cleared 80% of the rubble.

The press service of the Leningrad region government reported that the explosion at the plant occurred after the main shift left the workshop. Plant worker Dmitry says that everyone was released early because a short circuit occurred in one of the workshops. “They put out everything with fire extinguishers and turned off the power,” he said, noting that the fire occurred 200-300 meters from this place.

According to RIA Novosti, there were five people in the building at the time of the explosion.

Residents of the village of Malye Kolpany, which is located 58 kilometers from St. Petersburg, began reporting an explosion at approximately 16:45. Photos of thick smoke were reported from residents several kilometers away from the epicenter. In buildings nearby, judging by photographs, windows were broken and roofs were damaged. At least 13 houses were damaged by the explosion, said Leningrad Region Governor Alexander Drozdenko.

Due to the explosion, the plant building partially collapsed. People were pulled out from under the rubble

The factory building was partially destroyed. Two people were pulled out from under the rubble formed at the epicenter of the explosion, the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported. They were sent to the hospital.

According to official data, the Avangard is a hypersonic glider. Note: not a hypersonic missile, since it does not have its own propulsion system and does not maintain speed in flight. That is, it uses the kinetic energy imparted to it by the launch accelerator - an intercontinental ballistic missile - for gliding flight in the atmosphere.

Conventional warheads are sent by ICBMs along a high ballistic trajectory - essentially an orbit that crosses the earth's surface at the target location. Most time, conventional warheads spend in free fall in space, entering the atmosphere only a short time directly near the target.

Avangard, according to official data, uses the speed imparted by the ICBM to move along a wave-like trajectory in the atmosphere. Let me remind you once again: “Avangard” is NOT a rocket, but a glider. It receives all the energy for its movement from the reserve of kinetic energy initially given to it by the ICBM. The Avangard flight means spending this reserve to create lift in the atmosphere.

Due to this trajectory and the ability to use friction with the atmosphere for active maneuvering, Avangard is much less vulnerable to systems missile defense, carrying out interception in the transatmospheric section of the trajectory. The main advantage is the ability to unpredictably change the trajectory while “diving” into the atmosphere, performing maneuvers both horizontally and vertically, with a “turn radius” of hundreds and even thousands of kilometers.

The use of the atmosphere allows the Avangard - using the initially accumulated reserve of kinetic energy - to maneuver much more actively than an extra-atmospheric rocket, forced to use only extremely limited on-board fuel reserves, can. In essence, the Avangard is engaged in continuous aerobraking, using friction with the atmosphere to correct the trajectory, and the lifting force of its body to maintain flight altitude. Therefore, interception of the Avangard by extra-atmospheric systems - like GBI and SM-3 - is difficult. The interceptors have to, in fact, try to block all possible directions of the Vanguard's maneuver at once, so that at least one interceptor is close enough for the terminal maneuver. This, quite naturally, complicates and increases the cost of interception.

An additional advantage of Avangard is the high accuracy of the system - due to the possibility of constant correction of the trajectory, including the terminal stage (at this moment it is unclear whether this is carried out during a gliding flight, or whether the device makes a ballistic “jump” and then “dives” on the target from outside the atmosphere). CEP down to meters seems quite achievable (in theory), which is not usually associated with ballistic missiles.

Because of these features, a somewhat mystical, I would say, idea has developed about Avangard on the RuNet. This weapon is called not only advanced (which is quite true) and has no analogues (which is also true - at the present time, of course), but also “fundamentally invulnerable” (which is NOT true). In recent discussions on various forums, I was surprised to note that any doubts about the fundamental invulnerability of the Avangard are perceived with irritation, almost with indignation. On reflection, I came to the conclusion that this is precisely the effect of stripping away the halo of mysticism - a kind of “session of magic with its complete exposure.” Obviously, the “exposure” of the trick as such will be of interest mainly to specialists who are able to evaluate not only the external side, but also internal structure. Most viewers are interested exclusively in the external component of the trick, and “exposing the magic” will most likely only cause dissatisfaction.

However, as we know, no advantage comes without its price. And in this case, the price of advantages for Avangard is as follows:

High visibility for orbital sensors - while for ground-based radars "Avangard" is really inconspicuous (primarily due to the low altitude of the trajectory, allowing long time remain below the radar horizon), this does not apply to satellite systems.

The launch of the Avangard - which uses a conventional ICBM as a booster - will be marked by infrared missile warning systems in the same way as the launch of a conventional ICBM. When moving in the atmosphere, the plasma trail left by the Avangard will be clearly visible both in the infrared range (due to plasma radiation) and in the radio wave (due to the electrical conductivity of the plasma).

Due to the flight mode used by the Avangard, it cannot use any decoys to mislead enemy detection and targeting systems. Atmospheric friction will immediately filter out any "light" (eg inflatable) decoys. Creating a “heavy” decoy target capable of reliably simulating the Avangard’s flight trajectory will be an extremely non-trivial task. There is reason to assume that such a decoy target will be not much different in weight and dimensions (as well as cost) from the Avangard itself, thereby becoming absolutely meaningless.

This means that the enemy will not have to worry about distinguishing the flying Avangard from the background of decoys.

Vulnerability for terminal missile defense systems - that is, for those working directly at the target of the attack.

In the terminal section, the Avangard (which has lost a significant part of its speed when gliding through the atmosphere) is already flying significantly slower than the ICBM warhead. And, unlike the ICBM warhead, the Avangard cannot be protected at the terminal site by “heavy” decoys (in order to reliably imitate the Avangard, such decoys must be similar in design and dimensions to hypersonic gliders, which makes them economically untenable ). Active maneuvering certainly makes it difficult to defeat the Avangard, but near the target its trajectory becomes a priori more predictable - otherwise, it risks missing.

Systems capable of hitting the Avangard in the terminal area include missile systems short-range missile defense, similar to the American THAAD (at the moment - generally recognized as the most efficient system PRO, the only one that has never made a mistake during testing). In the future, electromagnetic weapons (railguns and Gauss cannons), capable of simply “throwing” potential trajectories of the Avangard with clouds of tungsten shrapnel, can also become a threat to hypersonic gliders.

Vulnerability to space-based lasers is in extra-atmospheric areas. As we found out earlier, a space laser with a good focusing system is capable of melting a hole in anything, including centimeter-thick steel. Conventional ICBMs are vulnerable to laser radiation only during acceleration and in the phase of disengagement of warheads - the warheads themselves (no more than “bricks” of thermal protection with a nuclear charge inside, flying along a ballistic trajectory) are low-vulnerable to lasers, and most importantly, evaluate the results of irradiation warheads is very difficult.

“Avangard,” for its part, is vulnerable to laser weapons not only during acceleration, but also in all transatmospheric sections of its trajectory. This is due to its flight mode, which takes place partially in the atmosphere. The thermal and dynamic loads that the Avangard has to withstand are a priori much higher and longer than those of a conventional ballistic warhead. Even minor damage to the thermal protection (especially weakening of the skin) will lead to the fact that the device runs the risk of prosaically collapsing and burning at the entrance to the atmosphere.

For now, space-based lasers are mostly an emerging threat. But this prospect is already much closer than it was before. Currently, the US military is pursuing a number of parallel laser weapons development programs with the common goal of creating a megawatt laser suitable for space launch by the mid-2020s.

Vulnerability to neutron warheads on anti-missiles - although anti-missiles with nuclear warheads are not currently in service, nothing prevents their return. Historically, they were considered not particularly effective against conventional warheads for a fairly simple reason: conventional warheads are not very vulnerable to the damaging effects of a high-altitude nuclear explosion. There is no shock wave in a vacuum, only the warhead detonation system is vulnerable to neutron radiation (and even that can be made very stable), but for effective damage by X-ray radiation the explosion must occur close enough.

Unlike a conventional ballistic warhead, the Avangard is very vulnerable to the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion. Neutron radiation can disrupt the operation of its numerous electronics, control and terminal guidance systems. X-ray radiation can weaken thermal protection, damage (due to ablation-induced shock waves) the skin, aerodynamic controls and attitude control engines.

So what can we sum up?

The Avangard system is a valuable addition to the nuclear (and probably not only) arsenal of the Russian Federation, significantly expanding the range of capabilities and potential responses in conflicts of varying intensity.

– At present, neither the United States nor China, the two main competitors in the “hypersonic race,” have a working analogue of such a system.

– The system has (probably) high strike accuracy, making it an effective “scalpel” strategic weapon.

– The system is low-vulnerable to existing and future means of extra-atmospheric kinetic missile defense (using kinetic interceptors).

– The system is vulnerable to terminal defenses, probably to a greater extent than conventional warheads.

– The system is highly vulnerable to space-based laser weapons and nuclear warheads of interceptor missiles.

A company with history

The Avangard plant began producing pyrotechnics back in 1944. The company is located in locality Malye Kolpany, Gatchina district, Leningrad region.

In the 1960s it was expanded, adding several new structural divisions, and the plant itself was renamed the Gatchina Metal Products Plant. Since 2002, the company received the name “Avangard”. Today, it employs more than 700 people.

In addition to pyrotechnics, the plant produces camping furniture and metal curtain rods. The plant's pyrotechnic products include firecrackers, sparklers, sets of toys, confetti and streamers. According to information from the company's official website, the products produced have all the necessary certificates and licenses.

As reported on the website of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee for the Leningrad Region, investigators opened a criminal case into the explosion.

“Investigative bodies of the investigative department of the Investigative Committee Russian Federation A criminal case was initiated in the Leningrad region on the grounds of a crime under Part 2 of Art. 217 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Violation of safety rules at explosive objects, resulting in the death of a person through negligence”),” the message says.

The most important result of the year is new Russian weapons. The balance of power now can be compared with 1945, when the United States had an atomic bomb and the USSR did not. Only now - in our favor. A fundamental shift occurred just recently, when the President actually accepted the Avangard intercontinental missile while visiting the National Defense Management Center. From the Orenburg region it flew to the Kamchatka training ground, accurately hitting the conditional targets.

The Americans have nothing like this, and no one else has anything like this - only Russia. This is a real breakthrough - one of those that Putin spoke about in his March Address. The launch can be compared with the first breakthrough into space, when the Soviet Sputnik flew in 1957. Then there was general rejoicing in our country, but in the world there was simply shock.

Just as the satellite became a technological breakthrough - the first flight into space - with a revolutionary use of new physical principles, so now Avangard has shown the unprecedented and unheard of. The speed is 27 times faster than the speed of sound! At different altitudes the speed of sound is different. The higher, the slower.

So when we talk about Mach 27, it is in a rarefied atmosphere, at certain stages of the trajectory. In any case, the Avangard flies at a speed close to the first cosmic speed. And this is in the atmosphere, in a ball of fiery plasma, like a meteorite. The temperature of such a ball is far over a thousand degrees. In this case, the metal should melt, but the Avangard flies and still “thinks” where to go.

In flight, it is controlled vertically and horizontally, which means no one knows where it will be in the next second. Highest speed and unpredictability make Avangard invulnerable to any missile defense (BMD). This means that Avangard is capable of destroying the most valuable thing - space communications centers - and then any missile defense system will instantly go blind.

The Americans tried to create something similar, but they failed. Their huge corrupt military budget is for someone else.

If we consider that earlier this year new air-launched Kinzhal missiles were put into service - also hypersonic and also invulnerable - this means that aircraft carriers have ceased to be invulnerable. "Dagger" is called in America - "aircraft carrier killer." That is, the expensive aircraft carriers that have always been considered a symbol of American power, the same ones that the United States uses in local wars around the world, are now nothing more than floating scrap metal.

Yes, Russia has now made a radical breakthrough. But let no one think that for no apparent reason we just decided to get ahead of someone. The arms race was proposed by the United States by unilaterally withdrawing from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM). Back in 2004, we warned that in response to their determination to create a global missile defense system, we would be forced to take care of ways to overcome it, so that America would not have a feeling of impunity from having a missile defense system in the event of a first strike on Russia. We were then told: do what you want. They simply shrugged it off, not believing in Russia’s capabilities. Now that their missile defense system has been devalued, the situation is as it is. Not our choice, but our right to protect ourselves from stupidity.

Snowy Orenburg steppe. Positional area of the Missile Forces strategic purpose Dombarovsky is one of five Russian cosmodromes. In one of the shafts there is a launch vehicle, under the fairing of which is a . Everything is ready to start.

The National Defense Command Center includes the Supreme Commander, the President. He receives a report from Colonel General Sergei Karakaev, commander of the Strategic Missile Forces. He answers very briefly: “I allow it. Good luck.”

After a few seconds, the shaft lid opens. In the professional terminology of rocket scientists, this is called a “protective device.” A flame bursts out - the first stage begins to work. "Vanguard" starts.

“Dear comrades, I want to appeal to everyone, first of all to the general designer, engineers, workers, to everyone who created this promising weapons system. I congratulate you on a major event in the life of the Armed Forces and in ensuring the security of the Russian state,” he said head of state.

According to the calculated characteristics, the Avangard is capable of moving 20 times faster than sound. But even such a seemingly fantastic speed is not the limit for him.

“The latest tests have shown that it has reached speeds close to Mach 30. At these speeds, not a single anti-missile missile can shoot it down,” said Yuri Borisov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation for the military-industrial complex.

The flight took place along the route Dombarovsky - Kura. It was at the Kamchatka test site that many of our missile weapons were tested. This time too, the rocket crews successfully accepted the Avangard warhead. There is probably a video of the hit. But for now everything is top secret.

This is the main difference between the Avangard and an intercontinental ballistic missile. Ballistically, a missile moves more or less predictably. Start - exit into near space - activation of the booster stage - flight of warheads to the target at speeds from Mach 4 to Mach 8. Along a straight path or with maneuvering. But in any case, the missile defense system of a potential enemy more or less successfully tracks and controls such a flight. Anti-missiles are launched from the ground to intercept. For everything about everything, a maximum of one and a half minutes.

And here's how Avangard works. After separation from the launch vehicle, the warhead develops almost cosmic speeds. Mach 27 is very close to the first cosmic one. At the same time, Avangard can move both in near space and in dense layers of the atmosphere at lower altitudes. Actively maneuvering. That is, detecting it is not only more difficult, but almost impossible. But even if it works, then after the block enters the enemy missile defense zone, there will be 20-25 seconds left before it hits the target. At best, an anti-missile missile aimed at interception will only have time to take off. But in a moment, “Vanguard” will find itself in a completely different point in space.

“This means that the unit has no trajectory. And any air defense and missile defense system is based on the fact that the trajectory is calculated and on a collision course an anti-missile missile meets a missile and destroys it. But when there is no trajectory, it is impossible to calculate anything in principle,” Sergei explained Ivanov, special representative of the President of the Russian Federation on environmental issues, ecology and transport.

But this project might not have happened. 2004. Many defense enterprises are paralyzed, others are falling apart. And suddenly Putin declares that Russia is on the verge of creating a completely new weapon.

And then there was a lull for several years. At some point, the question of closing the project altogether arose. The main difficulty is how to control a block flying in a plasma cloud. But the general designer asked the president to give him one more chance. And it was used.

“Indeed, this is the third test, which confirmed all the main declared characteristics, and last year we proactively concluded a serial contract for the supply of this complex. We hope that next year the first regiment will enter service,” said Yuri Borisov.

Russian designers have done the seemingly impossible. America, with its battalion of Nobel laureates, is unsuccessfully trying to ride hypersound. And we have - ready-made samples. The President announced in March: hypersonic weapons will soon be on combat duty. But what was it worth?! How many specialists provided this breakthrough? Putin revealed the secret.

“When the work on one of these complexes, including Avangard, was completed, I asked to bring me a list of people who needed to be noted and awarded. They brought me several sheets, where in neat font were not people, but enterprises, research institutes and design bureaus. I flipped through the pages and said: what is this? And the chief designer told me: this is our cooperation. If there weren’t one of them, the product would not have come into being,” the president said.

And now, after just a few months, Avangard is ready for combat use. The position area for its deployment has already been allocated.

The Avangard plant for the production of pyrotechnic products, whose production facilities are located in the village of Malye Kolpany, in the Gatchina district of the Leningrad region, was destroyed by a powerful explosion yesterday, October 19, 2018. According to a statement from an official representative of the plant, none of the company's employees were injured.

Correspondents from the Express-Novosti news agency visited the scene of the incident and personally spoke with employees of the enterprise and local residents. In particular, we established that the incident occurred around 16:40 Moscow time, which led to the destruction of about 30% of the plant’s total production capacity. If we turn to the statement of the head of the press service of the Northwestern regional center Ministry of Emergency Situations Fyodor Polshin, he speaks of destruction on an area of about 1.2 thousand m 2.

According to official statements by the head of the Avangard pyrotechnic products enterprise, Georgy Mikhno, despite such serious destruction, none of the company’s employees were injured. Also, emergency services were able to quickly localize the fire that resulted from the explosion, which made it possible to avoid more serious consequences. Only three cars parked near the explosion site were damaged. Meanwhile, unofficial sources claim that as a result of the incident, two people died and three more were injured. However this information The investigation will already find out.

According to the information available to the editorial staff of the Express-Novosti news agency, the Investigative Committee of Russia for the region has already named the reasons that could have provoked an explosion at the pyrotechnic products enterprise:

“The cause of the explosion at the Avangard pyrotechnics plant in the city of Gatchina was a violation of technology and safety measures by the company’s employees,”- says the official statement of the RF Investigative Committee for the Leningrad Region, published on the department’s website.

Separately, the statement places emphasis on the fact that in one of the workshops in which they were producing a mixture for pyrotechnic products, citizens worked without official registration employment contract. The investigation also found that these employees did not have the appropriate permits to carry out work of this nature. And it was the incompetent actions of these employees that led to the emergence of an explosive situation.

At the moment, the Avangard enterprise has an investigative group that is investigating a criminal case initiated under Article 217 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of safety rules at explosive objects, resulting in the death of a person through negligence.” Meanwhile, as it has just become known, the investigative team has reclassified the criminal case from Part 2 of Art. 217 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, part 3 of Article 217 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of safety rules at explosive objects, resulting in the death of two or more persons through negligence.” Thus, it can be assumed that the information about the death of two employees of the Avangard enterprise was nevertheless confirmed.

All we can do is focus on the fact that the chief and engineer of the enterprise have already been detained as part of the criminal investigation. Investigators are working with him. And yes, the number of dead people may be increased, since rescuers are still clearing the rubble.

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