What is the relationship between military weather and war?

From the Battle of Chibi during the Three Kingdoms period to the Normandy landings in World War II, war and weather have always been inseparable.

Weather is a "double-edged sword" for military activities. Different weather conditions often have different impacts on military activities. Even the same weather conditions often depend on whether commanders and troops use them properly. And produce different results. Liu Jun, director and senior engineer of the General Staff Meteorology and Hydrology Center, explained the relationship between weather and war from three aspects: meteorology, hydrology and space weather.

The impact of meteorology on war

Wind: Strong winds and strong vertical airflow are important factors that endanger the safety of aircraft flight, missile launch, and affect the accuracy of artillery shooting;

Clouds: Low clouds affect reconnaissance, shooting, and bomb delivery. Cumulonimbus clouds pose a great threat to the safety of missiles, rocket launches, and aircraft flights. Clouds can corrode missile warheads that re-enter the atmosphere, thereby enhancing or weakening the optical radiation effects of nuclear explosions;

Fog: Heavy fog brings difficulties to aircraft takeoff and landing, ship formation navigation, and coordinated operations of services and arms. The fog layer can cause chemical poison vapor to condense, settle, and hydrolyze, thereby reducing the killing effect. Fog can also be used as a "Natural smoke screen" to cover the combat operations of troops;

Precipitation: Heavy rain, heavy rain and continuous rainfall can cause disasters such as flash floods, soil erosion and mudslides, thus destroying military facilities. Drizzle and snow will reduce visibility, and freezing rain can cause ice accumulation on aircraft, missile casings, and radar antennas, affecting performance;

Sandstorms: can cause electromagnetic wave attenuation, interfere with radio communications, and harm weapons and equipment. Strong sandstorms Rolling up sand and gravel can form a sand wall that pushes forward, bringing visibility close to zero.

Typical war example - During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhou Yu ordered Zhuge Liang to make 100,000 spike arrows within a three-day period. Zhuge Liang was confident, and prepared 20 warships with thousands of loads of grass, and sailed into Cao's camp in the heavy fog. Cao Cao mistook Zhou Yu for stealing the camp and ordered Zhuge Liang to "borrow" 100,000 wolf-fang arrows.

In World War II, the U.S. Third Fleet was hit by a strong typhoon. About 800 people died, 146 aircraft were destroyed, and several ships sank.

During the 2003 Iraq War, a strong sandstorm forced US military aircraft to land or stop taking off. Communication network equipment was destroyed, two helicopters crashed, and all soldiers were "driven" into nearby skirmishers. pits, military vehicles and tents.

The impact of hydrology on war

Wave waves: can change the course and speed of a ship, and even cause hull vibrations to cause the hull to break, damaging harbor terminals, underwater projects and Coastal protection projects affect the use of radar, the take-off and landing of seaplanes and carrier-based aircraft, mine laying, mine clearance, maritime supply, the use of ship-borne weapons, and maritime rescue and salvage. Small waves are helpful for submarines to covertly approach the enemy, while large waves affect torpedo launching and safe navigation of ships, and are not conducive to landing operations;

Tide: Mastering the time of tide occurrence and the water depth at high and low tides is to ensure the safety of ship navigation, entry and exit It is an important condition for ports, passage through narrow waterways and activities in shallow water areas. It is also necessary for building military ports, water airports, conducting hydrographic surveys, mine-laying and mine clearance, rescue and salvage, building coastal defenses, organizing landings, anti-landing operations and underwater engineering construction. Important factors to consider;

Tide: During landing operations, riding the high tide and going with the current will facilitate the landing of troops; going against the current will reduce the speed of the ship, prolong the time, and increase the difficulty of landing. Sea areas with strong currents are not suitable for laying mines, placing underwater obstacles, and anchoring ships.

Typical combat example - In the early days of World War II, German submarines took advantage of the changes in the British coastal tide to sneak into the British naval base at Forrow, sank the nearly 30,000-ton British flagship "Royal Oak" and returned safely.

During the Falklands War in 1982, the British army took the opportunity to recapture the Falklands due to strong waves and heavy rain. But at the same time, due to strong winds and waves and poor visibility, a British helicopter crashed, killing 21 people.

The impact of space weather on war

The impact on spacecraft: Upper atmospheric resistance can reduce the kinetic energy of the spacecraft, reduce the altitude of the orbit, and shrink the orbit; high-energy charged particles in the universe Continuous bombardment of the spacecraft surface can cause radiation damage to the spacecraft. Higher energy particles can pass through electronic devices and change data bits in the electronic signal string, causing the instrument to issue confusing instructions or provide erroneous data;

For Impact on military electromagnetic communications, early warning, navigation and positioning: When disastrous space weather occurs, radio communications and radar signal transmission will be affected, and satellite microwave communications will also reduce communication quality due to ionospheric disturbances. Ionospheric scintillation can cause GPS satellite navigation and positioning errors to reach tens to hundreds of meters, or even signal interruption;

Impact on the use of strategic weapons: When solar eruptions cause severe disturbances in the density of the upper atmosphere , the actual trajectory of the missile flight will seriously deviate from the predicted trajectory;

Impact on people: It is estimated that if the spacecraft flies in deep space or conducts extravehicular activities outside the magnetosphere, about one in ten of astronauts would be exposed to lethal doses of high-energy charged particle radiation.

Typical incident - On December 26, 1982, the visible and infrared scanning radiometer of the U.S. Geostationary Operations 4 satellite failed 45 minutes after the arrival of high-energy protons from a solar flare. In a series of It was eventually completely damaged when a powerful magnetic storm hit the California coast.

During the great space geomagnetic storm in March 1989, radio communications in low-latitude areas almost completely failed. Four navigation satellites of the U.S. Navy were forced to cease effective service a year in advance, and the navigation systems of aircraft and ships failed. .

In the early morning of April 3, 2001, the largest solar X-ray burst in 25 years blocked my country's shortwave communication and detection user systems and interrupted them for about 3 hours.