"Vanguard", "Sarmat" and "Dagger": what are the latest Russian weapons. News from the President: Sarmat ICBM project Sarmat missile system

RS-28 “Sarmat” (according to the NATO classification Satan-2) is a Russian promising silo-based strategic missile system of the 5th generation with a heavy multi-stage liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile. It was intended to replace the R-36M (SS-18 Satan) missile system.

The concept of the Sarmat complex is not just an emphasis on the maximum weight of warheads, as in the R-36M, which can be hit by missile defense systems, but the delivery of, albeit not such a large number of warheads, but along trajectories and methods that make their destruction significantly more difficult even by promising systems PRO. The technology of “orbital bombardment”, embedded in a rocket with a strike on US territory along a suborbital trajectory through the South Pole of the Earth, bypassing deployed missile defense systems and allows launching civilian spacecraft.

In addition, the Avangard (U-71) guided warheads make it possible for the first time to use Soviet and Russian ICBMs in local wars according to the “global strike” strategy, without nuclear explosion with the defeat of enemy strategic targets with the kinetic energy of the warhead.

The missile uses an upgraded RD-264 engine from the previously used Soviet-made R-36M2 ICBM.

The Sarmat ICBM should go into serial production at the Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant in 2021; the first regiment equipped with such missiles will be on combat duty by the same date.

How did it all begin?

By the middle of the 20th century, humanity fell into a “nuclear trap.” Compared to other types of weapons, the simple qualitative and quantitative superiority of WMD units from any country in the world did not guarantee victory. The fact itself mass use nuclear warheads one of the countries could lead to the death of all humanity. Since the 70s, strategic parity has been a guarantee of peace, however, weapons mass destruction acts as a tool for exerting political pressure.

Guaranteed response or first strike?

Today, the very presence and quantity of charges plays a secondary role. Now the urgent task is either to be able to attack with impunity, or to ensure retaliation against the aggressor country. If the deployment of an American-made global missile defense system is intended to fulfill the offensive doctrine, then the development of retaliatory strike weapons is the main and priority direction of development strategic forces Russia.

Today, the basis of the Strategic Missile Forces are the carriers of “Voevoda” (they are known as “Satan”). They cannot be intercepted by any anti-missile systems. These ICBMs were produced back in Soviet times in Dnepropetrovsk, which became Ukrainian after the collapse of the USSR.

For all their advantages, the complexes fire like any military equipment. Not long ago, military analysts assumed that their service life would continue until 2022, but the current political situation, associated with specific maintenance issues, dictates a reduction in the time remaining until they are tested. But the task of adopting the modern strategic carrier “Sarmat” has become even more urgent. In 2018, the missile should replace the Voyevoda missiles currently in service in the silos.

Balance of power

Today, nuclear weapons in service with all countries are distributed in the following way: approximately 45% of such military stocks are in the Russian Federation and the United States. The number of charges is known and, according to the START-3 treaty, is approximately 1,550 each. land and sea based plus 700 pcs. on aircraft.

In terms of the number of speakers, the picture is slightly different. Russia has 528 of them, and America has 794. But this does not mean the advantages probable enemy, it’s just that the USA has a large number of monoblock systems.

90% of all atomic (neutron, hydrogen) charges are in service with the American and Russian armies. The remaining 10% belongs to China, Britain, France and other countries of the “nuclear cube”. It is difficult to say which side states will choose in a global conflict. It is possible that many of them (who are not members of NATO) will choose neutrality.

New "Satan"

By the end of the second decade of the 21st century, the Sarmat ballistic missile will replace the Voyevoda - Satan, which fulfills the task of the guarantor of retaliation. At one time, the number of RS-20Vs exceeded 3 hundred; now there are 52 of them. All of them have 10 warheads installed, for a total of 520 warheads (750 kilotons of TNT equivalent) - this is almost a third of the entire sea and ground strategic defense potential.

The weight of “Voevoda” is more than 200 tons. The nuclear potential of the Russian Federation is being updated; in 2015, the Strategic Missile Forces will receive 500 new sets of other types, but they will have to perform other tasks. Typically this is mobile installations who are on duty in operational areas.

“Satan” is scary because of its 2 important capabilities: enormous destructive power and the ability to quickly pass missile defense lines. Each such carrier can turn an entire metropolis with its surroundings and industrial area into a jet desert. It is assumed that the Sarmat missile will replace the world's most powerful carrier around the time it reaches 30 years of age, which is very honorable for an ICBM.

The main difference between the new rocket

All design, development work and production of new weapons were entrusted to the State Center named after. Makeev, which is located in the city of Miass (Chelyabinsk region). The designers did not limit themselves to modernizing the “Satan”, despite the fact that it performed well, and immediately decided to choose the difficult path of pioneers. The main task was to create a lighter and more compact sample. Thus, the “Sarmat” was conceived - a missile whose performance was supposed to significantly exceed the characteristics of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces previously in service. The main indicator of any ballistic projectile is its energy-to-weight ratio, that is, the ratio of weight to the force driving it. A significant breakthrough was planned in this area. "Satan" is a heavy 210-ton rocket, while the mass of "Sarmat" is half that.

Liquid fuel

Most of the rocket's weight comes from the fuel, which is located in the stages. All strategic media are divided into 3 main categories:

• Heavy up to 200 tons weighing (at this moment there are no big ones yet).
• Medium - from 51 to 100 tons.
• Lightweight, weighing up to 50 tons.

This gradation also explains the flight range: the more fuel there is, the correspondingly longer the range of action will be. For example, the American Minutemen weigh 35 tons and are classified as light. Relatively not heavy weight– this is a huge advantage, because such missiles require smaller silos and are easier to hide and transport. But at the same time, almost all of them are solid fuel. And this provides a huge number of advantages: shelf life increases, highly toxic components are not used, and maintenance is cheaper. But the problem is that the energy saturation of solid fuel will be lower compared to liquid. Therefore, "Sarmat" is a rocket with liquid fuel. So far nothing is known about the power plant, except that its power capacity is unparalleled.

Tests

The production of a new technical sample always involves a serious risk, but if successful, it is completely justified.

Work on this project began in 2009. Design Bureau, after 2 years of research, has finally started testing.

In the early fall of 2011, the surroundings of the Kapustin YR cosmodrome suffered from powerful explosion. The Sarmat rocket, on which serious hopes were pinned, crashed to the ground a few minutes after launch. All further launches, unfortunately, also turned out to be unsuccessful.

Only a year later there was a successful launch. This time, experts took into account basic ballistics indicators. Tests have shown that the Sarmat liquid rocket is capable of covering more than 11,000 km, while carrying fighting compartment weighing 4350 kg. In the spring of 2014, Yu. Borisov (Deputy Minister of Defense) announced that all work on the development of a new strategic complex proceed smoothly, according to a clearly planned schedule. He believes that the new Sarmat missile will have no restrictions in direction combat use, will be able to hit targets along trajectories that pass through both poles of the planets. This is critical because NATO rugged systems are not designed for this kind of versatility.

Warhead

Sarmat has unique energy and mass characteristics. The launch vehicle is, of course, important element design, but the warhead containing 10 individually targeted parts is no less significant. And he, apparently, is also unique. This is because each of the warheads combines 2 qualities different types weapons: hypersonic and cruise missile. Both types of weapons still had a defined range of tasks. Until today, RKs with a flat trajectory have not flown so fast.

Winged hypersonic units

The characteristics of the warheads seem contradictory. This is because the usual type of cruise missile sneaks up on the enemy at a relatively low speed. Taking into account the terrain, hiding behind its unevenness, it is forced to be slow-moving so that the electronic “brain” can have time to evaluate obstacles, as well as develop solutions to fly around them. For example, the American Tomahawk cruise missile flies at the speed of a passenger airliner (less than 900 km per hour).

In addition, a cruise missile has mass (like any other aircraft), which means that both the inertia and the control actions of the air rudders must be proactive. This is how the Sarmat ICBM units operate. The missile, whose performance is as close as possible to hypersonic, after separation begins to maintain a flat trajectory, which makes its interception impossible.

Unpredictability

All the advantages of the unique personal control of the warheads of the separable warhead are rendered useless if the enemy can destroy the ICBM before it enters the combat course. The Sarmat rocket flies quickly, however, its trajectory at any moment can leave the usual predictable arc - a parabola. Additional maneuvering engines change direction, altitude, speed, and then the onboard computer determines new flight parameters to reach the target. Such unpredictability is also inherent in other types of modern domestic nuclear charge carriers. As a result, it became their “calling card” or an asymmetric response to the attempts of a potential enemy to ensure their own invulnerability, which would allow them to strike the first blow.

Invulnerability on earth

For an aggressor planning to launch a massive unpunished nuclear strike, the most important task- deprive the enemy of the opportunity to respond to this blow in initial stage unleashing a military conflict. This means that launchers, ground and aircraft carriers must be destroyed (neutralized) in the first salvo. But this is unlikely. The mines where the Sarmat missiles are located are distinguished by multi-level protection, both passive (high reliability of fortifications) and active (in the form of air defense and anti-missile systems). For 100% destruction of an underground launcher, you will need to land at least 7 accurate nuclear strikes in the operational deployment area covered by missile defense systems. In addition, the location of the deployment has not yet been declassified. And the Sarmat missile itself is a state secret. Only information intended for military analysts and the media is disclosed.

Device and performance characteristics

The Sarmat rocket uses an engine that was created on the basis of the reliable NPO Energomash RD-264 engine. According to a statement by Colonel General S. Karakaev, Commander-in-Chief of the Missile Forces strategic purpose, the missile uses a silo-based system and can be located in ready-made silos launchers. The complex carries out a mortar launch, the powder accumulator pressurizes the missile from the silo at a height of 20-30 m, after which the missile engine is automatically activated.

Based on the first sketches of the rocket, most experts considered it to be a two-stage rocket. After placement official photo rockets, some sources suggested that the rocket could also be a three-stage one, like classic launch vehicles that carry satellites into orbit.

The liquid rocket engines of the stages were “recessed” into the fuel tank, while the fuel tanks were load-bearing with combined dividing bottoms. The missile will use reliable and proven engines from the R-36M, such as the RD-264 in its improved modification RS-99, the testing of which has been effectively completed.

Chu Fuhai, an expert at the Command Military Institute of the PRC Missile Forces, believes that two modifications of missiles with different fuel reserves will be created to hit targets in Western Europe and the USA. The initial weight of the missile with a target in the USA is 150-200 tons, the flight range is 16,000 km, the payload is 5 tons. The range of the missile aimed at Western European countries is 9,000 - 10,000 km, the launch weight is 100 - 120 tons, maximum throw weight – 10 tons.

One missile, according to experts, carries from 10 to 15 warheads (it all depends on their power). When 10 warheads are delivered, their yield is 750 Kt each. Also, some experts believe that conventional warheads are used, if maneuvering hypersonic warheads Yu-71 are used, then there will be three of them, and each will weigh about 1 ton.

The Sarmat missile is not the first missile to have such different range and loading characteristics. various options, since such indicators are related. The R-36 and R-36 orbs, made using almost the same technology, with the same weight of 180 tons, have ranges depending on the mass of the loaded warheads of 10,000 km, 15,000 km and the “orbital bombardment” option.

In addition, it is worth considering that in addition to warheads, according to the designers, a significant mass limit will be allocated for traditional missile defense penetration systems, such as decoys. If classic decoys such as inflatable warhead simulators, angular, springy and additional reflectors have a lot of weight, then when entering the atmosphere, simulating warheads are quasi-heavy decoys, and although they are lighter than warheads, their weight is still quite significant , since they represent a missile with thermal protection, a plasma generator, a pre-acceleration engine and an electronic warfare module for glowing, simulating the trajectory and ESR of the warhead.

Design and performance characteristics of the warhead

According to the Izvestia publication, this warhead may have the following tactical and technical characteristics:

• maximum flight speed in the atmosphere - 15M (with an average speed in the range of 5-7 kilometers per second);
• The product operates at an altitude of about 100 km (this is upper limit atmosphere of planet Earth);
• the warhead performs maneuvers in the atmosphere while descending to overcome missile defense.

Mysterious "Sarmat"

Everything related to the development of this complex is shrouded in mystery. This is exactly the case when not all taxpayers will be able to find out in the near future where their paid funds are going. Only meager promises from the news media about successful launches and security overhead are proof that public money was not spent in vain

At present, too little is known about Sarmat. Apparently, this class of carriers nuclear weapons will play the role of the country's main shield, together with aviation, sea and mobile based systems. Only some scattered data have been published about what the Sarmat missile is. The tactical and technical characteristics are also given only approximately: the range of action is 11 thousand kilometers, but at the same time it provides the opportunity to defeat the targets of a potential enemy through the Southern Policy.

"Sarmat" will hit targets around the globe: The military has revealed the capabilities of the newest missile

The Russian intercontinental missile The RS-28 “Sarmat”, which requires interception, has no analogues and will not appear in the near future.

This was stated by the commander of the Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), Colonel General Sergei Karakaev. According to him, by 2025, more than 40 Sarmatovs should enter service with the Strategic Missile Forces, which will replace the existing arsenal of R-36Ms. First

As Karakaev noted, the missile will be able to hit targets at any distance around the globe and overcome any missile defense lines. Read about the latest Russian development in RT's material.

The commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel General Sergei Karakaev, told reporters about some of the capabilities of the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

“It will replace the existing Voevoda missile. The weight and size characteristics of the Sarmat will allow it to be placed in existing silo launchers with minimal modifications to the infrastructure of the position areas,” Karakaev noted.

According to him, tests of the Sarmat missile, which will surpass its predecessor in many respects, started in December 2017. By 2025, the Strategic Missile Forces should receive more than 40 RS-28s, which will replace the R-36M.

“The Sarmat missile system does not have and in the near future will have no analogues in the global military missile industry,” added the commander of the Strategic Missile Forces.

Range and power

"Sarmat" is a fifth-generation heavy missile aimed at overcoming any missile defense system. According to experts, the RS-28 will externally resemble its predecessor. This is indirectly evidenced by the same mass (over 200 tons) and liquid engine.

However, in terms of combat effectiveness, the Sarmat is significantly superior to the Voevoda. As Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on March 1, 2018, the range of the newest missile, as well as the number and power of warheads, is greater than that of the R-36M.

“The Voevoda has a range of 11 thousand km, the new system has practically no range restrictions. As can be seen from the video materials, it is capable of attacking targets through both the North and South Pole. "Sarmat" is very formidable weapon, due to its characteristics, no, not even advanced systems Missile defense is not a hindrance to him,” Putin said.

From the video that the president showed during his address to the Federal Assembly, it follows that the RS-28 can cover at least 20 thousand km.

The power plant allows the Sarmat to take off one and a half times faster than the Voevoda. The duration of the RS-28 boost phase is comparable to the light-class solid-fuel ICBMs RS-12M2 Topol-M and PC-24 Yars. The short acceleration section ensures earlier disengagement of warheads, which makes it difficult for missile defense systems to detect the missile.

The Sarmat payload is 3 tons. The rocket is equipped with the most modern means counteraction radar stations. According to the military, even advanced technical means of a potential enemy will not be able to distinguish false warheads from real ones.

Wide range of ammunition

In his speech, Putin emphasized that Sarmat will be “equipped wide range nuclear weapons, “including hypersonic, and the most modern systems overcoming missile defense."

Chief Researcher of the Strategic Missile Forces Military Academy Vasily Laga explained to reporters that the warhead of the RS-28 can be equipped with approximately 20 types of warheads of various power classes (low, medium, high, high).

In addition, the Sarmat design provides for the placement of three gliding winged blocks - the calling card of the Avangard missile system. These munitions fly in dense layers atmosphere located several tens of kilometers from the Earth's surface.

“The unit flies at hypersonic speed (about Mach 20 - RT) to an intercontinental range. Maneuvering along the course and altitude, it is capable of bypassing the detection and destruction zones of all modern and promising means missile defense,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement following the president’s address.

Various types of maneuver of a winged unit reduce to virtually zero the likelihood that the enemy will determine its flight path.

Appearance similar weapons also indicates a breakthrough in domestic materials science. The block body is made of composites that can withstand aerodynamic heating of several thousand degrees. According to Putin, at the time of flight the temperature on the surface of the Sarmat reaches 1600–2000 °C.

The Ministry of Defense is convinced that the transition of the Strategic Missile Forces to the RS-28 will not lead to serious financial costs. Firstly, no new infrastructure will be created for Sarmat. Secondly, the operating period of ICBMs is two and a half times longer than the warranty period of the Voevoda.

The RS-28 will significantly strengthen the power of the Strategic Missile Forces, says Vasily Laga. In his opinion, “Sarmat” embodies those unique characteristics that Russian scientific thought has always strived for.

“This complex embodies new technological solutions. It has no restrictions on range, accuracy and many other parameters. This complex can hit targets at any distance around the globe,” the expert concluded.

Alexey Zakvasin

In early January, at a meeting at the Ministry of Defense, the head of the military department, Sergei Shoigu, instructed to prepare a draft of a new State armament program for 2018-2025 by July. According to the minister, special attention in this program should be paid to the creation of a promising strategic missile system, which is being made at the Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant, where Shoigu has already flown more than once, personally supervising the process. Moreover, the minister demanded that reports on this project be heard at the military department every day until the work entered into the approved schedule. What kind of complex this is, the creation of which is receiving such increased attention, the minister did not specify at the meeting. However, it was already clear to everyone that we're talking about about the heavy intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) “Sarmat”, which should replace the famous “Satan”. Why do we need a new heavy ICBM? This story was told to me by the former head of the military security department of the Security Council apparatus, chief of the Main Staff of the Strategic Missile Forces (1994-1996), Colonel General Viktor Esin: - In 1997 - then I visited the USA for the first time as part of a delegation from Russia - we went with Americans on a bus in San Francisco, chatting, joking... Suddenly I saw a lighthouse through the window and said: “Oh, this lighthouse is familiar to me.” “Where,” the Americans ask, “are you in California for the first time?” “You forgot that I was involved in nuclear planning, and this beacon was the aiming point for our missiles. There's a fault running right next to it. earth's crust. If you hit it, half of California will immediately slide into the ocean."
The bus became quiet. Nobody joked anymore. All the Americans traveling with us lived in San Francisco, and in the event of such a strike, their city, along with their homes and families, would also be buried by the ocean... Later, intercontinental ballistic missiles R-36ORB (orbital), which could fly around the globe and hit California lighthouse were destroyed under the SALT I Treaty - the world briefly became safer. But when the United States again confronted Russia with the fact of deploying its global missile defense system, including in Europe, directly on our borders, it became clear that this supposed “defense system” against some mythical threat, either Iranian or North Korean, actually pursues the goal of leveling out the Russian nuclear potential. Moreover, the deployment of a global missile defense system will allow the country that owns this system to be the first to strike strategic, including nuclear, targets of its potential enemy under the pretext of preempting his attack. In fact, the creation of a global missile defense system makes it possible for the United States to implement an offensive military doctrine. Defense in this situation can be either the deployment of a similar missile defense system - which is very expensive, or the creation of a retaliatory strike weapon, capable in any case of providing guaranteed retaliation to the aggressor. This is much less costly in an economic sense and more effective in a military sense. This is precisely the step that Russia chose as a response to the deployment of US missile defense. Creating a new one heavy complex, which would fundamentally solve the problem of strategic containment of the United States, was also important because any technology, including nuclear carriers, tends to age. Until recently, the basis of the Strategic Missile Forces were carriers of the R-36M “Voevoda” (aka “Satan”), which no missile defense system was able to intercept. “Satan” carried ten powerful warheads to the target, while simultaneously releasing thousands of false ones, creating an absolutely hopeless situation for the enemy’s missile defense system. These still Soviet ICBMs were made in the city of Dnepropetrovsk, in Ukraine. After the collapse of the USSR, their maintenance and extension of terms became too problematic, and in the light of recent political events, even impossible. That is why, with the gradual decommissioning of the “Satan” Strategic Missile Forces, the creation of a similar heavy nuclear carrier has become especially relevant. What is already known about Sarmat
Sarmatians (translated from ancient Greek as “lizard-eyed”, lat. sarmatae) - common name Iranian-speaking nomadic tribes inhabiting vast territories between the Tobol rivers (Kustanay region of Kazakhstan, Kurgan and Tyumen region RF) and the Danube. So far there is not much information about the Sarmat missile - work is being carried out in secrecy. However, something is gradually becoming known to specialists and the media, although these data sometimes look quite contradictory. These are the approximate characteristics of the future missile: - the weight of the Sarmat is planned to be two times lighter than the old Satan - about 100 tons, but at the same time, from the point of view of combat characteristics, the Sarmat will have monstrous strength, sharply exceeding the parameters of the Satan "; - the missile will be equipped with additional means of overcoming the US missile defense system - a hypersonic maneuvering warhead, which in the West is called Yu-71; — “Sarmat” uses liquid fuel and will be able to cover more than 11 thousand km in flight, while carrying combat equipment weighing 4350 kg; — most likely the new Sarmat missile will have two stages; - according to Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov, Sarmat will not have restrictions in the direction combat use. That is, one of the central ideas of the Sarmat ICBM is the revival of the concept of “orbital bombardment”, previously implemented in the Soviet R-36ORB missile, which is an excellent means of overcoming missile defense, allowing you to attack objects on US territory along multiple trajectories, including through the South Pole bypassing deployed missile defense systems. This will require the United States to create a “circular missile defense system,” which is significantly more expensive than the individual THAAD batteries currently deployed on the usual flight path of Russian warheads from silo-based ICBMs.
Creation and testing of a new rocket
Work on the heavy ICBM project began in 2009. For two years, the designers of the Makeev State Missile Center (Miass, Chelyabinsk Region) worked on the rocket. They did not follow the path of modernizing the well-known “Satan”, choosing the more difficult path of creating a completely new product with unique combat characteristics. However, in order to reduce the cost of creating the rocket, as well as speed up the time for its adoption into service, the developers proposed using “as much as possible” in the design. Sarmat" already tested components and elements from other serial missiles, which was quite justified and gave the desired effect. For example, according to some information, Sarmat uses a modernized version of the Russian RD-264 engine, already proven in practice for the R-36M, and therefore tests of the propulsion system were completed quickly and successfully. Just two years after the start of work on the project, the developers were already able to begin flight testing of the product. However, the first launches, which took place in the fall of 2011, were unsuccessful, which, however, is quite natural. But a year later the rocket took off. And on October 25, 2016, residents of villages located near the Kura test site witnessed the successful test of a hypersonic warhead and even managed to film its plasma trail as it maneuvered in the atmosphere along an unpredictable trajectory. But officially none detailed information the tests were not made public. Starts were carried out from the site of one of military units, from a mine (Orenburg region, area of ​​​​the village of Dombrovsky), where the Voevoda missile was previously deployed. The flight of both the missile and its warheads took place along a “closed route,” which seriously complicated tracking of the tests by US telemetry control. Fuel efficiency
Sarmat is a rocket that will use liquid fuel. This criterion initially caused a lot of controversy. Opponents of this idea insisted that a liquid-fuel rocket is outdated, and that solid-fuel rockets use more modern technologies, besides, they are more convenient to maintain. The Americans abandoned liquid rockets a long time ago. But the designers from the Makeev State Research Center, which is one of the recognized rocket centers that has specialized in the creation of liquid-propellant rockets since Soviet times, defended their positions. The fact is that the largest part The weight of any ICBM comes from the fuel contained in its stages. According to this criterion, all launch vehicles are conventionally divided into three types: - light, weighing up to 50 tons; - medium, weighing from 51 to 100 tons; - heavy, weighing up to 200 tons. The fuel parameters of an ICBM directly affect its range: the more fuel in the rocket, the farther it flies. Opponents of heavy liquid-propellant rockets have always argued that the low weight of a rocket is its advantage. Such ICBMs do not require large silos and, due to their relatively small size, are easier to transport and maintain. Solid-fuel missiles have a shorter (two to four times) active trajectory section, which is very important for overcoming enemy missile defenses. In addition, thanks to the use of solid fuel, the service life of such a rocket is significantly increased, which means that it is cheaper for the budget. Moreover, from an environmental point of view, solid fuel is much preferable to liquid fuel, the components of which are extremely toxic (liquid rocket fuel heptyl is more toxic, for example, than hydrocyanic acid). However, with all the advantages, a solid fuel rocket has one significant drawback, which can cover all its advantages: the energy efficiency of solid fuel is lower than liquid.
This means that a liquid-fueled missile is capable of carrying a significantly larger number of warheads, including a larger set of decoys, and therefore a liquid-fueled missile has an advantage over a solid-fuel missile in terms of protection from missile defense in the ballistic and, most importantly, final sections due to a larger set of quasi-heavy decoys , which are a big problem for the missile defense system, since it simply does not have time to recognize and distinguish them from real ones. In addition, the following fact was important specifically for Russia: from 2000 to 2009, our Strategic Missile Forces decreased from 756 ICBMs with 3540 warheads to 367 ICBMs with 1248 warheads, that is, twice as many missiles and three times as many warheads. This happened due to the fact that all these years the Strategic Missile Forces received only solid-fuel monoblock ICBMs, and mostly liquid-propellant multi-charge missiles were removed from service. This failure could only be compensated for by the creation of a new heavy multi-charge ICBM, which was supposed to be liquid-fuelled. Warhead of the new ICBM The design of the new rocket contains many unique technical solutions, one of which, judging by the information coming from the military, was the combat unit. According to Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov, the Sarmat ICBM will be equipped with maneuvering warheads. In this regard, a number of experts believe that if we are talking specifically about warheads maneuvering in the atmosphere, then the warheads are in some way the completion of the innovative Albatross atmospheric flight control project, which began to be developed for the R-36 in 1987. At the core The Albatross project contained a proposal for a controlled warhead, which was supposed to be able to perform an evasion maneuver against anti-missile defenses. The block detected the launch of an enemy anti-missile missile, changed the flight path and evaded it. Such a missile system, with increased capabilities to overcome layered missile defense, was conceived as an asymmetric response of the USSR to the US deployment of the SDI program (Strategic Defense Initiative). The new missile was supposed to have maneuvering, gliding (wing) warheads with hypersonic speed, which could perform maneuvers with a range of up to 1000 km in azimuth when entering the atmosphere at speeds of the order of 5.8-7.5 km/s or Mach 17-22. In 1991, it was planned to begin testing the complex, and in 1993 to begin its mass production, however, after the collapse of the USSR, these plans were never realized. And now, apparently, the Sarmat designers, going in the same direction, were able to make significant progress in creating a warhead that moves in hypersonic mode and at the same time maintains a high maneuvering speed. According to some reports, "Sarmat", like "Satan", will have at least 10 individually targeted parts. Only in the new missile will they combine the qualities of the two most different types weapons: cruise and hypersonic missiles, which until now was technically considered incompatible, since cruise missiles with a flat trajectory were not able to fly very quickly. In any case, American missiles cannot withstand such conditions, resulting in a transition to supersonic, which allows Russian funds Anti-aircraft defense to “catch” them. The Americans are generally very concerned about the incoming information regarding the work on the Sarmat project. According to their military experts, high-precision hypersonic warheads Yu-71 for the first time can fundamentally change the strategy and tactics of using ICBMs. According to American analysts, the Yu-71 can make it possible to use Russian and Soviet ICBMs in local wars using the “global strike” strategy, with the destruction of strategic targets by the kinetic energy of the warhead without the use of a nuclear explosion. Hypersonic maneuvering warheads, due to maneuvering, can hit moving targets and, when developed into anti-ship weapons, pose a major threat large ships The United States, because it is capable of hitting them, despite the most advanced missile defense systems.
Basing of Sarmat missiles
It is clear that the missiles that pose such a serious threat would be destroyed by the enemy, who was planning to be the first to launch a nuclear strike, immediately, already in the initial phase of the war, so as not to receive a retaliatory strike on his own strategic targets. That is why the silos where the Sarmat missiles will be located - and they will be placed in the same place where the old heavy liquid missiles RS-18 and RS-20 were previously based - will be seriously modernized. They are planned to be equipped with multi-level protection: active - missile defense systems, and passive - fortifications. According to experts, in order to guarantee the destruction of the Sarmat missile, the enemy would have to launch at least seven precise nuclear strikes on the missile silo installation area, which is practically impossible with the new multi-level defense.

“We are rocket troops, any goal is close to us!” - rocket strategists sang back in Soviet times. And there was no particular exaggeration in these stanzas: the missiles really flew over a long distance and had enormous destructive power, especially with nuclear warheads. You cannot erase the words from the song, even after the passage of time. Soon, he writes weekly "Star", the Russian Strategic Missile Forces will be equipped with a new Sarmat missile system, capable of lifting and launching warheads reaching speeds of more than 11 thousand kilometers per hour. No other rocket in the world has such a speed yet. Deadly "stuffing" Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly announced the completion of tests of a new missile system with a heavy intercontinental ballistic missile "Sarmat" in his message to the Federal Assembly on March 1 of this year. And at a recent gala reception in the Kremlin in honor of graduates of military universities, the president, mentioning the Avangard intercontinental-range missiles, which are already beginning to enter service, assured that Sarmat is also on the way next year. This missile system will replace the formidable “Voevoda”, nicknamed “Satan” in the West (according to NATO classification - SS-18 Mod. 1.2.3 Satan). Here again it is appropriate to recall the words from the song: “How a rocket works - you don’t need to know about it , and about how that rocket is controlled. This matter is familiar to us; those who are entitled to it in their service know this matter very well.” From what is known today: RS-28 “Sarmat” is a Russian promising land-based silo-based missile system with a heavy liquid-fueled ICBM capable of carrying nuclear warheads. It has been developed since the 2000s by specialists of the V.P. Makeev State Rocket Center JSC in the city of Miass, Chelyabinsk region. Named in honor of the Sarmatians, whose nomadic tribes inhabited the territory in the 6th-4th centuries BC modern Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The missile itself is a “blank”, an ammunition carrier, capable of weighing 200 tons and having a short active flight phase, which makes it difficult to intercept by missile defense systems. You can “throw” it both through the Northern and through South pole for unlimited range. But the main surprise is its deadly “filling”. We are talking about hypersonic warheads, known under the code Yu-71.Na maximum height Yu-71 reaches a speed of 15 Max (these are the same 11-12 thousand kilometers per hour). In this case, the warhead flies along a very complex trajectory, which, according to the laws of physics, should reduce the speed of the object. According to experts, the Yu-71, raised to an altitude of 100 kilometers, then flies at a speed of five to seven kilometers per second. Detailed information about the progress of work related to hypersonic weapons is classified. “Product 4202” cannot even be called a rocket - it is lightning from the sky, which is almost impossible to stop. Formidable weapon Chapter Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev, who threatened to “show America Kuzkin’s mother,” meant thermonuclear air bomb AN602 (aka “Tsar Bomb”), the most powerful ammunition in the world at that time. Received the name “Kuzka’s Mother” with the “light hand” of Nikita Sergeevich, the bomb, or rather its model, is stored in the nuclear weapons museum in the city of Sarov, where the Russian Federal nuclear center(RFNC VNIIEF). An impressive thing in its dimensions, it was probably something that could have scared the United States back then. But if we compare it with the Sarmat missile, the length of which exceeds 30 meters, and the weight of over 200 tons (not every museum will fit), and the combat compartment with warheads is capable of lifting more than 10 tons of “cargo” to a given height, then “Kuzkina’s Mother” “It looks like just a child against its background. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about its capabilities without excessive pathos: “Sarmat is a very formidable weapon. Due to its characteristics, no missile defense systems, even promising ones, are a hindrance to it.”
Completely Russian development There is another detail that is cast not in metal, but in politics. Until 1991, the designer and manufacturer of heavy liquid-fuelled ICBMs of the R-36 family was the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (OKB-586) in Dnepropetrovsk in Ukraine. By virtue of known reasons all contacts in the defense industry with this country have now been stopped, and, naturally, there is no talk of any supplies, even components. In Russia, until recently, the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles for the Strategic Missile Forces was carried out by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering, which specialized in solid-fuel ICBMs. Therefore, the creation of a new heavy liquid-propellant rocket was entrusted to the Makeev State Research Center (SKB-385) in Miass, which also deals with ballistic missiles for submarines. A rocket of this class, although it is a “piece product,” is involved in its production many specialized enterprises of the military-industrial complex of our country. For example, the developer of engines for Sarmat was NPO Energomash named after academician V.P. Glushko from Khimki near Moscow (the engine from the Voevoda rocket was used as the basis for development). Their production is carried out at PJSC Proton-PM in Perm. The leading enterprise for the production of Sarmat ICBMs was the Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant (as part of the Makeev GRC holding).
It will come in handy everywhere It is not known for certain where the test launches of the new rocket are being carried out. From open sources you can glean information that the Sarmatians, ready to enter service by the end of 2018, will replace the Voyevoda on combat duty. Whether this will be so will be decided by the military leaders. One thing is clear: wherever the Sarmatians go on combat duty, they will come in handy everywhere to guarantee the security of our country.