Actuality 2007, summer

A bomb containing almost half of tone of extinguishant is able to put out flame even in the conditions of frightful fire gale on the area of 1000 square meters.
The massed point bombing will smother the forest and anthropogenic fire of any complicacy in a few minutes. The state scientific production association “Basalt” specialized on development of drop bombs also for decades. When time of directive conversion came, the specialists of enterprise set about the project of a bomb, in which decided to put in it all all military know-how, but to make it absolutely peaceful. The aviation mean of fire extinguishing weighing 500 kilograms was created – ASP-500.

It was assumed that these bombs in an enormous amount would be received by air force as training ones. And as soon as a serious fire will begin somewhere, the armadas of front Su-24 (the name of battle airplane) or even strategic Tu-160 (name of battle airplane) will rise in sky and, having sharpened skills of bombing, in a few minutes will put out everything that burns. And if workshop of some factory blazed, the attack planes Su-25 diving would put out this anthropogenic fire by point bombing.

And to get into the window of burning high-rise building the variant of creation of the smart gliding bomb ASP of different gravimetric categories was examined.
The distinguishing characteristic of new type of weapon there was its absolute safety for a human. First, it would be used wherein all living burned out a long ago, and, secondly, even if someone appeared in the area of explosion, he/she would get a contusion at the worst.
All documents on the final completion of bombs and their mass production were signed in 1991, but the breakup of USSR happened, and Russia became the sovereign state …
And only in 2000 on initiative of new head of “Basalt” a fire-prevention bomb started to be carried to the ready model at the expense of of enterprise. Since 2004 it has been shown at different specialized exhibitions, also that year this project was supported very actively in the Department of Economic Development, giving the commissions to the core departments to pay attention to the bomb.

Meantime new generation ASP-500 can be dropped not only from bombers and attack planes but also from the civil airplanes Il-76 and An-12. And one approach of Il-76 provides extinguishing of fire on the area of 10 hectares.

Calculations show that combined fire extinguishing is the most effective. The first echelon are bombers which beat the fire and heat out, followed by tanker airplanes Il-76 and Be-200, which on flyby quench the areas of the recent burning, and, finally, helicopters Mi-26, Mi-8 and Ka-32P from low after flare by pointed spillage of enormous mass of water finally put out hotbed of fire. In the case of good organization even a few echelons of such fire extinguishing, yielding 100% results during takes not more than an hour. And now on the exhausting fight weeks and even months at enormous financial expenses leave against a fire.

With present-day technologies thousands of tons of water, poured out from the height of a few hundreds meters (it’s dangerous to fly lower if it’s conflagration), mainly evaporate even not reaching the ground. And according to news of Department of Emergency Situations, in spite of the fact that during last days, the Russian pilots in Greece made 17 flights and poured out in all 1360 tons of water, fires continue to rage. But the ASP-500 application would allow to cope with the avalanche of fire not only in the district of ancient Olympia but also in Balkans, and in the Crimea in the first day of the active extinguishing.
In 2005 Russian State Department of Air Forest Conservation examined the question about adding to its armory of these bombs, and is still examining. The Department of Emergency Situations of Russia is also ready to buy ASP-500, but in the future. The Air Force of Russia now has absolutely forgotten about old variant of using of “water bombs” as educational ones. Despite the efforts of Department of Economic Development of Russia there is no state order for the state enterprise, which means, that there is no mass production.

The General Manager of “Basalt” Vladimir Koren’kov says, that after every exhibition show the representatives of all “inflammable” countries make a request for selling them the peaceful miracle-weapon. Greece, and Bulgaria, and Spain, and Italy, and Malaysia, and Turkey and distant Australia are ready to buy thousands of ASP-500. Interest to Russian product is great, but, according to Koren’kov the personal funds of enterprise are enough only for development revisions.