In September 2021, CNN disclosed a news that the Russian-made 
M730 "Swift" nuclear-powered cruise missile is about to be tested.
This move means that this unique nuclear-powered aircraft, is close to forming combat capabilities.
Unique nuclear power fantasy
During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union had plans to develop nuclear powered aircraft .
Since the long-range missile technology was not yet mature at that time, in order to form a practical and effective nuclear deterrence against the enemy country, the US Air Force took the lead in proposing a vision to develop a type of bomber using nuclear power, so that the nuclear weapon can be guaranteed to be on standby in the air, forming 's all-weather nuclear deterrence capability . The idea of
now seems almost crazy, but in the Cold War period when human technology exploded , there was nothing impossible. In fact, the US Air Force not only recognized the feasibility of the plan, but was also fascinated by the all-weather nuclear deterrence capability provided by the nuclear-powered aircraft , and immediately launched the nuclear-powered bomber project code-named X-6.
According to the vision of the US Air Force and the US Atomic Energy Commission, the X-6 nuclear-powered bomber will be equipped with a General Electric P-1 micro nuclear reactor, and the energy generated by the nuclear reactor will be supplied to four J47 turbojet engines to operate. Since the X-6 was developed based on the B-36 bomber , the American engineers are extremely optimistic about the prospects of the X-6 .
Seeing that the Americans were the first to take the lead, the Soviet leader could not sit still, so he quickly instructed the Topolev Design Bureau to bring the small reactor produced by the Soviet Union to the 95 strategic bomber, codenamed 119. Although the nuclear-powered bombers of the United States and the Soviet Union successfully entered the sky, they have never been able to solve the control and heat dissipation problems caused by the nuclear reactor when it is running in the air.
As the intercontinental ballistic missile technology is becoming more mature, nuclear-powered bombers have lost the need to exist, and this nuclear-powered fanaticism was forced to stop. It was not until the "Swift" appeared that the world suddenly realized that Russia had never given up on the possibility of applying nuclear power to aircraft . The development history of the "Swift"
"Swift"
9M730 "Swift" missile that breaks through cognition can be traced back to the former Soviet Union. After realizing that the existing technology cannot solve the various problems faced by nuclear reactors running on manned aircraft, the "Navotar" design bureau of Yekaterinburg, which is responsible for the development of Soviet missiles, developed , proposed the concept of carrying small reactors on unmanned aircraft . The research results of this plan have also become the predecessor of "Swift".
"Swift"'s power device is very special. In order to increase the range of the cruise missile , it generally uses small turbojet or turbofan engine to promote it to ensure that the missile's power section flight can last long enough. However, Haiyan uses the unique disposable micronuclear reactor to promote missile flight by continuously sucking in external air and converting it into high-temperature and high-pressure gas.
Although it is not clear about the specific engineering principle of this micro nuclear reactor, it is speculated that there should be some similarities with scramjet engine . Due to the use of nuclear power devices, the theoretical range of "Swift" should be close to infinite . Even if the nuclear fuel is burned out, it is enough to support the missile to fly in the atmosphere for 3 years. The US military also admitted that the emergence of the "Swift" will have a huge impact on the current missile defense system.
With no upper limit range, the "Swift" can completely change the orbit several times during flight, start from a weaker position in the enemy's air defense network, and can change the target to be hit at any time, becoming an infinite nuclear shadow over the enemy's territory.
Since the "Swift" is based on the Russian-made KH-55 ultra-long-range cruise missile, also has the ability to carry a nuclear warhead . This means that the "Swift" can not only be competent for tactical weapons, but also complement Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence capability .
is unprecedentedly difficult to achieve
Since the power of nuclear-powered cruise missiles is so powerful, why are there no similar products in China and the United States? This is related to the micro nuclear reactor used by the missile. According to the data currently released by "Swift", the bomb uses quadrilateral pointed arched bullet + rectangular bullet design , which is somewhat similar to the outer-sperm-spreading sprinkler developed by China and the United States. Although the design of
has a large space inside the bullet, a high lift-resistance ratio, and excellent gliding performance, it also has the flaws of large aerodynamic resistance and slow flight speed. The reason for adopting the aerodynamic shape of " non-mainstream " is that the development unit of "Swift" is attracted by the fact that its relatively spacious internal space is enough to install a micro nuclear reactor.
The biggest difficulty for China and the United States to develop similar products is the miniaturization of the nuclear reactor . It is necessary to ensure that the nuclear reactor can work for a long time, and also put it into the missile body of with a length of . The technical difficulty is difficult to estimate.
In addition to the nuclear reactor itself, the isolation layer used to isolate radiation is also a technical problem. Although cruise missiles are disposable weapons, they will inevitably face the problems of daily storage and maintenance . In order to ensure the safety of ground personnel, radiation-proof isolation layer must be installed.
However, the missile space is already narrow, and it is very difficult to install the isolation layer. At the same time, the increased weight may also affect the flight safety of the missile. In addition, the environmental pollution problem that nuclear-powered aircraft cannot solve. Even if China and the United States have similar ideas, they will give up the development because their feasibility is too low.
"Swift" may have formed combat capabilities
In July 2020, the environmental investigation departments of Norway, Sweden , Finland and other countries also detected traces of the iodine 131 isotope at a secret location in northwestern Russia. Iodine 131 is an radio source , which does not exist in nature. This discovery suggests that Russia may have tested the "Swift" nuclear-powered cruise missile several times.
According to the residual situation of radioactive elements , Russia may even have not installed radiation-proof isolation layer on the "Swift" missile in order to obtain better flight performance. If so, the threatening ability of "Swift" will be improved again.
has no isolation layer, which means that whether the "swift" hits the target or not, it is already a high radioactive source of contamination for . The radioactive plume radiation generated during its flight is enough to pollute the earth's atmosphere. More importantly, even if the hostile countries successfully intercept the "swift", the wreckage of this nuclear-powered missile will completely pollute the fallen area and become an indisputable " dirty bomb " .
After the "swift" was launched, Western countries expressed varying degrees of concern, but the gradual expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe has posed an urgent threat to Russia's national security. Putin also publicly warned: has no Russia's world without the need for .
If Western countries will no longer stop expanding eastward, a doomsday weapon like "Swift" will once again trap the whole world in nuclear war threatening .
