The worst that our nightmares have been able to cook up for decades involves nuclear-burst clouds, radiation burns impossible to recover from, vaporization en masse, buildings standing stripped of the living.
But what we already have are missiles that can inflict nuclear-level catastrophe—without being nuclear. Russia slung one at Ukraine in the fourth week of November, causing significant devastation and flabbergasting NATO. The Oreshnik—meaning ‘hazel tree’ in Russian, a reference to its many branches sharpened to killing points with six warheads, each with six payloads—is a ‘conventional’ intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that travels at over 14,000 kmph; it’s unstoppable by any extant antimissile technology. Its 36 warheads can be individually directed to strike different targets.
The Oreshnik stunned military strategists across the world because, at Mach 11, it beat the Mach 9.6 scramjet NASA X-43, the fastest jet-powered aircraft on record. The Russian IRBM has the range to hit all the European capitals in less than 15 minutes (but not the US, although reports suggest an intercontinental version is on the cards by 2025).
If this is the stuff of nightmares, there are petits cauchemars or little nightmares in the making, too: dragon drones. A deadly new weapon in the Russo-Ukrainian war, they spray a molten metal heated to 2,427°C—a rain of fire. Dragon drones carry thermite, a mixture of metal powder often made of aluminum and powdered everyday rust.
この記事は The New Indian Express の December 05, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The New Indian Express の December 05, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
2 'IS sympathisers' assault warders, try to escape from Coimbatore jail
TWO alleged Islamic State (IS) sympathisers lodged in Coimbatore Central Prison tried to escape from the facility after allegedly assaulting the jail warders on Friday morning.
Music Academy appeals single judge order barring award in name of MS
THE Music Academy and The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited have filed appeals in the Madras High Court against a single judge's order barring the latter from using the name of legendary carnatic singer MS Subbulakshmi in the mirror award they present along with the annual Sangita Kalanidhi award conferred by the academy.
VCK chief reiterates allegiance to DMK alliance
Political power one of our goals, but we must be clear about whom it caters to & what we are able to do with it
Female Nilgiri Tahr dies hours after sedation to fix radio collar at MTR
IN a suspected case of overdose, an eight-year-old female Nilgiri Tahr was found dead at Avalanche Forest in the Mukurthi Forest range in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve on Friday afternoon, hours after receiving sedation for radio-collaring.
VCK cadre fume over Aadhav Arjuna's comments
VCK cadre and senior functionaries seem to be fuming over the recent comments of the party's deputy general secretary Aadhav Arjuna and have strongly appealed to the leadership to take stringent action against him.
Suspected water contamination: 16 still in hosp
OF the 44 patients who were undergoing treatment at Chromepet GH for consuming sewage-contaminated drinking water, 28 have been discharged.
Climate park near KCBT open to public
THE Kalaignar Centenary Climate Park was opened by Chief Minister M K Stalin through video-conferencing from the Secretariat on Saturday.
CB-CID arrests agent linked to cyber slavery
TAMIL Nadu police have arrested a middleman from West Bengal, who has been identified as an important link in the cyber slavery case involving trafficking of several Indians to scam compounds in Laos, an official release said.
College girl claims rape by 10 men, two held; probe on
A third-year college student with mental health issues was allegedly raped by a group of 10 young men over a period of 10 months, among whom two have been arrested, Greater Chennai Police sources said on Saturday.
Preserving rare literary gems, one book at a time
The roar of construction machinery and the cacophony of city life were a constant backdrop to S. Narayanan's days. He had built a successful business from the ground up, brick by brick, but amidst the relentless demands of his work, he yearned for an escape. He found it not in the blueprints of buildings, but in the blueprints of language—the intricate patterns and rhythms of Tamil literature.