Japanese Engineers Tested a Captured VT Proximity Fuse—Then Realized Why Their Kamikazes Had Failed скачать в хорошем качестве

Japanese Engineers Tested a Captured VT Proximity Fuse—Then Realized Why Their Kamikazes Had Failed

When Japanese engineers finally recovered a damaged American shell in 1945, they were stunned by what they found inside. It wasn’t a timed fuse or contact detonator—it was a miniature radar system. The device was the U.S. Navy’s secret weapon: the VT (Variable Time) proximity fuse, the invisible shield that had destroyed Japan’s kamikaze waves before they ever reached the fleet. During testing, Japanese scientists discovered how the fuse emitted tiny radio waves, detonating a shell automatically when it came within 70 feet of a target. Suddenly, the mystery was solved — why so many suicide planes had vanished mid-dive, why entire squadrons had failed to break through the American flak barrier. The VT fuse had turned every 5-inch gun into a radar-guided killer, creating a curtain of explosions impossible to evade. For Japan’s engineers, it was both awe-inspiring and horrifying — proof that American technology had quietly rewritten the rules of warfare.