New physical

principles weapons

New physical principles weapons are a wide range of weapons or syst ems creat ed using
emerging t echnologies, like wave, psychophysical, and genet ic weapons.

This definit ion is similar t o "new t ypes of weapons of mass dest ruct ion and new syst ems of such
weapons" used in document at ion from Unit ed Nat ions General Assembly sessions since 1975 and
"non-let hal weapons" used by t he Nort h At lant ic Treat y Organizat ion (NATO).

Definitions

Weapons using new physical principles

The t erm is current ly used primarily in Russia.[1] The Encyclopedia of the Russian Ministry of
Defense ident ifies t he following t ypes of new physical principles weapons t hat have been
developed t o varying degrees by t he 21st cent ury:

direct ed energy weapons, like infrasound, laser, and super-high frequency weapons

elect romagnet ic weapons, such as some lasers and super-high frequency weapons

geophysical weapons, including climat e, ozone, environment al, and seismic weapons

genet ic weapons

non-let hal arms

 radiological weapons[2]

New weapon of mass destruction

New t ypes of "weapons of mass dest ruct ion and new syst ems of such weapons" were defined
by t he Unit ed Nat ions General Assembly in 1975.[3] In 1976, t he US St at e Depart ment st at ed
t hat t hese weapons are based on "qualit at ively new principles of act ion", which can be new due
t o t he nat ure of t he impact , t arget t o be at t acked, met hod of act ion, or how t hey are used.[4]
Examples given were infrasound weapons designed t o damage int ernal organs and affect human
behavior; genet ic weapons, t he use of which would affect t he mechanism of heredit y; ray
weapons capable of affect ing blood and int racellular plasma; robot ic milit ary equipment ;
unmanned cont rolled aircraft ; and weapon syst ems, like aerospace weapon syst ems, where
nuclear weapons are t ransport ed by spaceships and t hereby more dangerous.[4]

In t he never-adopt ed draft t reat y of 1975, t he proposed language in t he Unit ed Nat ions

Disarmament Conference classificat ion for "new weapons of mass descript ion" t o be banned
included:

radiological means of t he non-explosive t ype act ing wit h t he aid of radioact ive mat erials

t echnical means of inflict ing radiat ion injury based on t he use of charged or neut ral part icles t o
affect biological t arget s

infrasonic means using acoust ic radiat ion t o affect biological t arget s

means using elect romagnet ic radiat ion t o affect biological t arget s.[3]

The Convent ion on t he Prohibit ion of Milit ary or Any Ot her Host ile Use of Environment al
Modificat ion Techniques of 1977 does not ident ify specific weapons or t echnology.[5]

Non-lethal weapons

NATO definit ion of non-let hal weapons include new responsive t echnologies—like lasers, kinet ic
and acoust ic devices.[6] Examples of non-let hal weapons are count er-personnel and radio-
frequency vehicle st opping t echnologies.[6] The Unit ed St at es Depart ment of Defense's current
and fut ure non-let hal weapons programs include act ive denial, count er-personnel capabilit y t hat
creat es a heat ing sensat ion, quickly repelling pot ent ial adversaries wit h minimal risk of injury in
such missions as force prot ect ion, perimet er defense, crowd cont rol, pat rols/convoys, defensive
and offensive operat ions.[7][8][9]
 United Nations conventions

New weapons of mass dest ruct ion t hat have harmful effect s on people and t he ecological
balance of t he planet are, in essence, criminal and cont rary t o t he Convent ion on t he Prohibit ion
of Milit ary or Any Ot her Host ile Use of Environment al Modificat ion Techniques of 1977.[10]
Rat her t han ident ifying specific weapons, t he Convent ion on t he Prohibit ion of Milit ary or Any
Ot her Host ile Use of Environment al Modificat ion Techniques of 1977 prohibit s use of "milit ary or
any ot her host ile use of environment al modificat ion t echniques having widespread, long-last ing or
severe effect s as t he means of dest ruct ion, damage or injury t o any ot her St at e Part y". This
includes deliberat e act ions t aken t o change t he at mosphere, hydrosphere, out er space, or in
ot her ways affect t he dynamics, st ruct ure or composit ion of t he eart h.[5]

The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convent ion of 1972. The Sevent h Review Conference was
held in Geneva in December 2011, which result ed in t he Final Declarat ion document t hat affirmed
t hat "under all circumst ances t he use of bact eriological (biological) and t oxin weapons is
effect ively prohibit ed by t he Convent ion".[11] The Prot ocol on Blinding Laser Weapons, Prot ocol
IV of t he 1980 Convent ion on Cert ain Convent ional Weapons, was issued by t he Unit ed Nat ions
on Oct ober 13, 1995 and came int o force on July 30, 1998.[12]

Weapons development

Russian milit ary doct rine refers t o new physical principles weapons, while describing t he main
feat ures of t hese weapons as comparable in effect t o nuclear weapons but more accept able in
polit ical t erms.[13][14] It was report ed in Oct ober 2016 t hat Russia had t est ed a new elect ronic
weapon, based on new physical principles, t hat uses direct ed-energy t o neut ralize on-board
aircraft equipment , unmanned combat aerial vehicles, and precision weapons. In 2015, it
announced a blinding weapon, Rook, t hat creat es a disabling light int erference, which can be used
against night -vision equipment . It uses ult raviolet , infrared, and visible regions of t he spect rum
and can change t he widt h and direct ion of t he beam t o t arget specific object s.[15] In November
2016, Put in st at es t hat t he new physical principles weapons comply wit h all of t he count ry's
int ernat ional obligat ions.[16]

See also

Act ive Denial Syst em

Cyberwarfare

Direct ed-energy weapon

Hybrid warfare

Psychological warfare

References

1. A.N. Terschenko; I.V. Ovcharenko; O.D. Yalnickii; V.N. Kuprii. "Main Directions of Development of
Weapons on New Physical Principles, Science and Technology of the Ukrainian Air Force" (http://www.hu
ps.mil.gov.ua/periodic-app/article/520/eng) . Ivan Kozhedub Kharkiv National Air Force University (in
Ukrainian). Retrieved January 8, 2017.

2. "Оружие на новых физических принципах (New Physical Principles Weapons)" (http://encyclopedia.m

il.ru/encyclopedia/dictionary/details_rvsn.htm?id=13770@morfDictionary) . Ministry of Defense of the
Russian Federation? Encyclopedia (in Russian). Retrieved January 7, 2017. This tertiary source reuses
information from other sources but does not name them.

3. Department of Political and Security Council Affairs, United Nations Centre of Disarmament. "The United
Nations Disarmament Yearbook: Volume 02: 1977" (https://unoda-web.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/
wp-content/uploads/assets/publications/yearbook/en/EN-YB-VOL-02-1977.pdf) (PDF). United
Nations Disarmament Organization. pp. 41, 344. Retrieved January 8, 2017.

4. "Telegram 4005 From the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State - UNGA
Disarmament: Soviet Memorandum on Disarmament" (https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/fru
s1969-76ve14p2/d210) . United States Department of State. September 29, 1976. Retrieved
January 7, 2017.

5. "Convention on the prohibition of military or any other hostile use of environmental modification
techniques (with annex). Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December
1976" (https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%201108/volume-1108-I-17119-English.
pdf) (PDF). United Nations. December 20, 1976. p. 3. Retrieved January 7, 2017.

6. NATO News. "Non-lethal weapons: new technologies to preserve lives" (http://www.nato.int/cps/en/nato

hq/news_135772.htm) . North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Retrieved January 7, 2017.

7. "Developing Non-Lethal Weapons" (http://jnlwp.defense.gov/Developing-Non-Lethal-Weapons/) . United

States Department of Defense. Retrieved January 7, 2017.

8. "Current Non-Lethal Weapons" (http://jnlwp.defense.gov/Current-Non-Lethal-Weapons/) . United

States Department of Defense. Retrieved January 7, 2017.

9. "Future Non-Lethal Weapons" (http://jnlwp.defense.gov/Future-Non-Lethal-Weapons/) . United States

Department of Defense. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
10. "Convention on the prohibition of military or any other hostile use of environmental modification
techniques (with annex). Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December
1976" (https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%201108/volume-1108-I-17119-English.
pdf) (PDF). United Nations. December 20, 1976. Retrieved January 7, 2017.

11. "Final Document of the Seventh Review Conference" (http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/%28http

Assets%29/C2BAA955E58E15C7C1257D01005260D3/%24file/BWC_CONF.VII_07.pdf) (PDF).
BWC/CONF.VII/7. United Nations. 13 January 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2016.

12. "2 .a Additional Protocol to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain
Conventional Weapons which may be deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to have Indiscriminate
Effects (Protocol IV, entitled Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons)" (https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewD
etails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-2-a&chapter=26&lang=en) . United Nations Treaty
Collection. April 7, 2014. Retrieved July 4, 2014.

13. The Russian Federation. "Военная доктрина Российской Федерации (Military Doctrine of the Russian
Federation)" (http://static.kremlin.ru/media/events/files/41d527556bec8deb3530.pdf) (PDF). Kremlin
(in Russian). Retrieved January 7, 2017.

14. "Владимир Путин: "Быть сильными: гарантии национальной безопасности для России" (Vladimir
Putin: "Be strong: National security guarantees for Russia")" (https://rg.ru/2012/02/20/putin-armiya.h
tml) . RG. February 20, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2017.

15. "В России создано уникальное радиоэлектронное оружие (In Russia, created a unique radio-
electronic weapons)" (http://comments.ua/ht/561568-v-rossii-sozdano-unikalnoe.html) . Comments of
Ukraïnski News (in Russian). October 14, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2017.

16. "Путин: в России идут разработки оружия на основе новых физических принципов (Putin:
Russia's are developing weapons based on new physical principles)" (https://regnum.ru/news/polit/220
7173.html) . Regnum (in Russian). November 18, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2017.

External links

Works relat ed t o Environment al Modificat ion Convent ion at Wikisource

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