15.06.2019

Missile system Satan characteristics. Project "Satan". The story of the rocket that gave us the right to life. The USSR required a rocket-propelled Kalashnikov assault rifle

Modern Russians, regardless of their political leanings, hardly think about the fact that our country could cease to exist or turn into a semi-colony back in the mid-nineties.

Russia's "final argument"

At the height of the First Chechen war Western fans of action films, called Shamilya Basayeva and those like him, none other than the “rebels,” sometimes asked NATO officials: is it worth using force against the “bloody Kremlin,” which suppresses the freedom-loving Caucasian people? To such brave souls, their more sober colleagues whispered only one word in their ears: “Satan.”

Arguing about the future, expressing your approval or dissatisfaction, lazily drinking coffee and taking your children to school in 2018 is only possible thanks to the fact that Soviet scientists, designers and engineers created weapons that ensured the sovereignty of the state for decades to come. At that moment, when NATO bombers dropped bombs on Belgrade, Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of the country, the Satan missile protected from a similar fate.

Surprisingly, Russia’s “last argument”, which ensures a peaceful sky above, is better known to us under the name that appeared in the West. “Satan” is the name given to several modifications of Soviet strategic missile systems that went on combat duty in the seventies and eighties.

The USSR needed a rocket-propelled Kalashnikov assault rifle

When in the sixties Nikita Khrushchev threatened the USA with “Kuzka’s mother”, domestic designers and military knew that before nuclear parity Washington is still a long way off. Super Power Bombs, which shook the planet, amazed the imagination, but it was difficult to deliver them to the territory probable enemy. The first domestic intercontinental missiles were formidable weapons, but capricious and rather poorly protected. This was enough to discourage those who dreamed of a nuclear blitzkrieg. But overseas they did not sit idly by and develop anti-missile systems, designed to reduce Soviet nuclear potential to zero.

The USSR needed something new, in accordance with our traditions, simple and effective. Like a T-34 tank, like a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Adjusted, of course, for the fact that we were talking about rocket technology.

Mikhail Yangel. Photo: wikipedia.org

“Products” of Comrade Yangel

In the fall of 1969, the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued a decree to begin work on the creation of a new missile complex. The task was assigned to the design bureau Mikhail Yangel, ally and competitor Sergei Korolev.

Mikhail Yangel, who worked on both combat missiles and space technology, nevertheless became more famous in the military field. His combat systems significantly surpassed the Korolev analogues and eventually became the basis of the USSR’s “nuclear shield”. The R-36M project, draft versions of which were ready before the end of 1969, was supposed to surpass all previous developments by an order of magnitude. This missile system was supposed to effectively hit all types of targets, including fortified bunkers, overcome all existing and future missile defense systems, remaining effective even if the base area was hit by enemy nuclear weapons.

Yangel died in 1971, when work on the complex was gaining momentum. A student of Yangel became the new head of the Dnepropetrovsk Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, where the R-36M was developed. Vladimir Utkin.

They will definitely arrive: what the USSR’s retaliatory strike could have looked like

The United States knew that something revolutionary was being prepared in the Soviet Union. Off the coast of Kamchatka, where the missile test site is located, American reconnaissance ships were constantly on duty, trying to collect as many more information about the new product. It didn’t work out very well: the information that was managed to be obtained was not very credible. Some kind of fantasy: a warhead that is divided into several warheads, which create their own false “clones,” thereby complicating the possibility of interception. The first regiment equipped with the new missiles entered service in 1974. But work on the R-36M was in full swing. At that time, monoblock missiles were on combat duty, formidable, but still vulnerable to missile defense systems.

However, by the end of the seventies, the troops received a version that sent chills down the spine of the American military. Imagine a situation in which the American military became aware of the location of the Soviet nuclear missiles. By order of the US President, a strike is carried out there, turning the territory into a desert. While the US generals shake hands, a “flock” of R-36Ms rises from silos that withstood a nuclear strike. The dark heat-protective coating makes it easier for them to pass through the radiation dust cloud that appeared after nuclear explosion. The control system is turned off so that it cannot be damaged by gamma radiation: special sensors are responsible for this. At the same time, the engines operate, carrying combat unit to the goal. When the area where the radiation is rampant is passed, the control system turns on, adjusting the flight path.

American missile defense systems turn on in order to repel a retaliatory missile attack, but at this moment each of the warheads of the Soviet complexes is divided into 10 warheads of 750 kilotons each. Together with 10 warheads, 40 decoys are formed. While missile defense systems are going crazy, Soviet nuclear “gifts” are arriving at their destinations.

How do you like that, Ronald Reagan?

After analyzing the characteristics of the complex, the Americans gave it the name “Satan”. All anti-missile developments could be scrapped: the Soviet missile system guaranteed that a retaliatory strike would cause unacceptable destruction to the United States.

When in 1983 US President Ronald Reagan launched the so-called Strategic Defense Initiative, better known as the star Wars", Vladimir Utkin’s team was given the order to improve their brainchild. This is how the fourth generation missile system R-36M2 “Voevoda” was born. All security indicators of the complex have been improved by an order of magnitude. The warhead yield was increased to 800 kilotons.

Impact of a dozen "Voevod" carrying in total 100 warheads, could ensure the destruction of 80 percent of the US industrial potential. There were simply no analogues of “Voevoda” in the world. The missile was capable of overcoming not only all existing missile defense systems, but also those that were just being developed at that moment. And the long service life intended by the designers made this weapon almost ideal.

At that time, the Americans wrote a lot about the prospects of their combat lasers, which were supposed to shoot down Soviet missiles. Domestic designers politely remained silent. Much later it became known that the billions of dollars spent by the Pentagon were flushed down the toilet: the Voevoda missile was also protected from the effects of a combat laser.

And how else can we call something like this, if not “Satan”?

"New version of "Satan""

Interestingly, in 1991, work began in the USSR on the fifth generation R-36M3 Icarus complex, which was interrupted due to the collapse of the country. Were American intelligence agencies hunting for the secrets of “Satan”? Of course. But the fact is that, even knowing some secrets, it is not always possible to find an antidote. The United States realized that effective defense systems against “Satan” could only be developed after several decades. Thanks to this, post-Soviet Russia received a respite of a quarter of a century, during which internal problems were not aggravated by the presence of direct military threat from outside. The “Satan” complex winked merrily from its shaft at everyone who wanted to threaten them.

In 2016, the Makeev State Rocket Center published the first image of a promising ballistic missile RS-28 "Sarmat". The Daily Mail immediately reported that one such missile could wipe out England and Wales, and The Sun newspaper added that five such missiles could destroy East Coast The entire USA. Promising Russian missile again called "Satan". Tradition is tradition.

NATO gave the name “SS-18 “Satan” (“Satan”) to a family of Russian missile systems with a heavy ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile, developed and put into service in the 1970s - 1980s. According to the official Russian classification, these are R-36M, R-36M UTTH, R-36M2, RS-20. And the Americans called this missile “Satan” for the reason that it is difficult to shoot it down, and in the vast territories of the United States and Western Europe These Russian missiles are going to raise hell.

SS-18 “Satan” was created under the leadership of chief designer V.F. Utkin. In terms of its characteristics, this missile surpasses the most powerful American missile, Minuteman-3.

Satan is the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile on Earth. It is intended, first of all, to destroy the most fortified command posts, ballistic missile silos and air bases. The nuclear explosives of one missile can destroy Big city, a very large part of the USA. Hit accuracy is about 200-250 meters.

“The rocket is housed in the most durable silos in the world”; according to initial reports - 2500-4500 psi, some mines - 6000-7000 psi. This means that if there is no direct hit by American nuclear explosives on the mine, the rocket will withstand a powerful blow, the hatch will open and “Satan” will fly out of the ground and rush towards the United States, where in half an hour he will give the Americans hell. And dozens of such missiles will rush towards the United States. And each missile contains ten individually targetable warheads. The power of the warheads is equal to 1,200 bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima. With one strike, the Satan missile can destroy US and Western European facilities over an area of up to 500 square meters. kilometers. And dozens of such missiles will fly towards the United States. This is complete kaput for the Americans. “Satan” easily breaks through the American system missile defense.

She was invulnerable in the 80s and continues to be creepy for Americans today. Americans will not be able to create reliable protection against the Russian “Satan” until 2015-2020. But what scares the Americans even more is the fact that the Russians have begun developing even more satanic missiles.

“The SS-18 missile carries 16 platforms, one of which is loaded with decoys. When entering a high orbit, all “Satan” heads go “in a cloud” of false targets and are practically not identified by radars.”

But, even if the Americans see the “Satan” on the final segment of the trajectory, the heads of the “Satan” are practically not vulnerable to anti-missile weapons, because to destroy the “Satan” it is only necessary direct hit into the head of a very powerful anti-missile missile (and the Americans do not have anti-missile missiles with such characteristics). “So such a defeat is very difficult and almost impossible with the level of American technology in the coming decades. As for the famous laser weapons for damaging heads, the SS-18 has them covered with massive armor with the addition of uranium-238, an extremely heavy and dense metal. Such armor cannot be “burned through” by a laser. In any case, with those lasers that can be built in the next 30 years. Impulses cannot knock down the SS-18 flight control system and its heads electromagnetic radiation, because all control systems of “Satan” are duplicated, in addition to electronic ones, by pneumatic automatic machines”

SATAN - the most powerful nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile

The development of the R-36M strategic missile system with a third-generation heavy intercontinental ballistic missile 15A14 and a silo launcher with increased security 15P714 was led by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. The new missile used all the best developments obtained during the creation of the previous complex, the R-36.

The technical solutions used to create the rocket made it possible to create the world's most powerful combat missile system. It was significantly superior to its predecessor, the R-36:

in terms of shooting accuracy - 3 times.
in terms of combat readiness - 4 times.
in terms of the energy capabilities of the rocket - 1.4 times.
according to the initially established warranty period of operation - 1.4 times.
in terms of security launcher- 15-30 times.
in terms of the degree of utilization of the launcher volume - 2.4 times.

The first stage uses the RD-264 propulsion system, consisting of four single-chamber 15D117 engines operating in a closed circuit, developed by KBEM ( chief designer- V. P. Glushko). The engines are hinged and their deflection according to commands from the control system provides control of the rocket's flight.

The rocket's liquid-propellant rocket engines operated on high-boiling two-component self-igniting fuel. Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) was used as a fuel, and dinitrogen tetroxide (AT) was used as an oxidizing agent.

The separation of the first and second stages is gas-dynamic. It was ensured by the actuation of explosive bolts and the outflow of pressurized gases from the fuel tanks through special windows.

Thanks to the improved pneumatic-hydraulic system of the rocket with complete ampulization of fuel systems after refueling and the elimination of leakage of compressed gases from the side of the rocket, it was possible to increase the time spent in full combat readiness to 10-15 years with the potential for operation up to 25 years.

The schematic diagrams of the rocket and control system were developed based on the possibility of using three variants of the warhead:

Lightweight monoblock with a charge capacity of 8 Mt and a flight range of 16,000 km;
Heavy monoblock with a charge capacity of 25 Mt and a flight range of 11,200 km;
Multiple warhead (MIRV) of 8 warheads with a capacity of 1 Mt each;

One of the technical innovations that largely determined high level characteristics of the new missile system was the use of a mortar launch of a missile from a transport and launch container (TPC). For the first time in world practice, a mortar design for a heavy liquid-propelled ICBM was developed and implemented. At launch, the pressure created by the powder pressure accumulators pushed the rocket out of the TPK and only after leaving the silo the rocket engine was started.

The missile, placed at the manufacturing plant in a transport and launch container, was transported and installed in a silo launcher (silo) in an unfuelled state. The rocket was refueled with fuel components and the warhead was docked after installing the TPK with the rocket in the silo. Checks of onboard systems, preparation for launch and launch of the rocket were carried out automatically after the control system received the appropriate commands from a remote command post. To prevent unauthorized launch, the control system accepted for execution only commands with a certain code key. The use of such an algorithm became possible thanks to the implementation at all command posts of the Strategic Missile Forces new system centralized management.

The acceleration of the gyroplatform (15L555) was carried out by forced acceleration automatic machines (AFAs) of digital ground-based equipment (TsNA), and in the first stages of work - by software devices for accelerating the gyroplatform (PURG). On-board digital computer (ONDVM) (15L579) 16-bit, ROM - memory cube. Programming was done in machine codes.

The developer of the control system (including the on-board computer) was the Electrical Instrumentation Design Bureau (KBE, now JSC Khartron, Kharkov), the on-board computer was produced by the Kiev Radio Plant, the control system was mass-produced at the Shevchenko and Kommunar factories (Kharkov).

The missile system was created as a result of the implementation of a program to improve and increase the combat effectiveness of the previously developed 15P014 (R-36M) complex. The complex ensures the destruction of up to 10 targets with one missile, including high-strength small-sized or particularly large area targets located on terrain of up to 300,000 km², in conditions of effective counteraction by enemy missile defense systems. Increased efficiency of the new complex was achieved through:

increasing shooting accuracy by 2-3 times;
increasing the number of warheads (BB) and the power of their charges;
increasing the BB breeding area;
the use of highly protected silo launchers and command posts;
increasing the probability of bringing launch commands to the silo.

The layout of the 15A18 rocket is similar to the 15A14. This is a two-stage rocket with a tandem arrangement of stages. The new rocket uses the first and second stages of the 15A14 rocket without modifications. The first stage engine is a four-chamber liquid propellant rocket engine RD-264 of a closed design. The second stage uses a single-chamber propulsion rocket engine RD-0229 of a closed circuit and a four-chamber steering rocket engine RD-0257 of an open circuit. The separation of stages and the separation of the combat stage is gas-dynamic.

The main difference of the new missile was the newly developed propagation stage and MIRV with ten new high-speed units with increased power charges. The propulsion stage engine is a four-chamber, dual-mode (thrust 2000 kgf and 800 kgf) with multiple (up to 25 times) switching between modes. This allows you to create the most optimal conditions for the breeding of all warheads. Another one design feature This engine has two fixed positions of the combustion chambers. In flight, they are located inside the propagation stage, but after the stage is separated from the rocket, special mechanisms move the combustion chambers beyond the outer contour of the compartment and deploy them to implement the “pulling” scheme for propagation of warheads. The MIR itself is made according to a two-tier design with a single aerodynamic fairing. The memory capacity of the onboard computer was also increased and the control system was modernized to use improved algorithms. At the same time, the shooting accuracy was improved by 2.5 times, and the readiness time for launch was reduced to 62 seconds.

On September 18, 1979, three missile regiments began combat duty at the new missile complex. As of 1987, 308 R-36M UTTH ICBMs were deployed as part of five missile divisions. As of May 2006, the Strategic Missile Forces included 74 silo launchers with R-36M UTTH and R-36M2 ICBMs, equipped with 10 warheads each.

The high reliability of the complex has been confirmed by 159 launches as of September 2000, of which only four were unsuccessful. These failures during the launch of serial products are due to manufacturing defects.

After the collapse of the USSR and the economic crisis of the early 1990s, the question arose about extending the service life of the R-36M UTTH until they were replaced by new Russian-developed complexes. For this purpose, on April 17, 1997, a successful launch R-36M UTTH missile, manufactured 19.5 years ago. NPO Yuzhnoye and the 4th Central Research Institute of the Moscow Region carried out work to increase the warranty period of missiles from 10 years successively to 15, 18 and 20 years. On April 15, 1998, a training launch of the R-36M UTTH rocket was carried out from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, during which ten training warheads hit all training targets at the Kura training ground in Kamchatka.

A joint Russian-Ukrainian venture was also created for the development and further commercial use of the Dnepr light-class launch vehicle based on the R-36M UTTH and R-36M2 missiles

On August 9, 1983, by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau was tasked with modifying the R-36M UTTH missile so that it could overcome promising system American missile defense (BMD). In addition, it was necessary to increase the protection of the missile and the entire complex from the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion.

View of the instrument compartment (expansion stage) of the 15A18M rocket from the warhead side. Elements of the propagation engine are visible (aluminium-colored - fuel and oxidizer tanks, green - spherical cylinders of the displacement supply system), control system instruments (brown and sea-green).

The upper bottom of the first stage is 15A18M. On the right is the undocked second stage, one of the steering engine nozzles is visible.

The fourth generation missile system R-36M2 "Voevoda" (GRAU index - 15P018M, START code - RS-20V, according to the US and NATO classification - SS-18 Mod.5/Mod.6) with a multi-purpose heavy-class intercontinental missile 15A18M is intended for hitting all types of targets protected modern means Missile defense, in any conditions of combat use, including multiple nuclear impacts in a positional area. Its use makes it possible to implement a strategy of a guaranteed retaliatory strike.

As a result of using the latest technical solutions, the energy capabilities of the 15A18M rocket are increased by 12% compared to the 15A18 rocket. At the same time, all conditions for restrictions on dimensions and starting weight imposed by the SALT-2 agreement are met. Missiles of this type are the most powerful of all intercontinental missiles. In terms of technological level, the complex has no analogues in the world. Used in the missile system active protection silo launcher from nuclear warheads and high-precision non- nuclear weapons, and for the first time in the country, low-altitude non-nuclear interception of high-speed ballistic targets was carried out.

Compared to the prototype, the new complex managed to achieve improvements in many characteristics:

increasing accuracy by 1.3 times;
3 times increase in battery life;
reducing the combat readiness time by 2 times.
increasing the area of the warhead disengagement zone by 2.3 times;
the use of high-power charges (10 individually guided multiple warheads with a power of 550 to 750 kt each; total throw weight - 8800 kg);
the possibility of launching from the constant combat readiness mode according to one of the planned target designations, as well as operational retargeting and launching according to any unplanned target designation transmitted from the highest level of control;

To ensure high combat effectiveness in especially difficult conditions combat use during the development of the R-36M2 Voevoda complex, special attention was paid to the following areas:

increasing the security and survivability of silos and command posts;
ensuring sustainability combat control in all conditions of use of the complex;
increasing the autonomy time of the complex;
increasing the warranty period;
ensuring the missile's resistance in flight to the damaging factors of ground-based and high-altitude nuclear explosions;
expanding operational capabilities to retarget missiles.

As a result, the radius of the missile's damage zone with a blocking nuclear explosion, compared to the 15A18 missile, is reduced by 20 times, resistance to X-ray radiation is increased by 10 times, and resistance to gamma-neutron radiation is increased by 100 times. The missile is resistant to the effects of dust formations and large soil particles present in the cloud during a ground-based nuclear explosion.

The rocket is made according to a two-stage design with a sequential arrangement of stages. The missile uses similar launch schemes, stage separation, warhead separation, and disengagement of combat equipment elements, which have shown a high level of technical excellence and reliability in the 15A18 missile.

The propulsion system of the first stage of the rocket includes four hinged single-chamber liquid propellant engines with a turbopump fuel supply system and made in a closed circuit.

The control system is developed on the basis of two high-performance digital control systems (on-board and ground) of a new generation and continuously operating during combat duty high-precision complex command devices.

A new nose fairing has been developed for the rocket, providing reliable protection of the warhead from the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion. The tactical and technical requirements provided for equipping the missile with four types of warheads:

two monoblock warheads - with a “heavy” and a “light” warhead;
MIRV with ten unguided warheads with a capacity of 0.8 Mt;
Mixed MIRV consisting of six uncontrolled and four controlled warheads with a homing system based on terrain maps.

Flight design tests of the R-36M2 complex began at Baikonur in 1986. The first launch on March 21 ended in an emergency: due to an error in the control system, the first stage propulsion system did not start. The missile, emerging from the TPK, immediately fell into the shaft of the mine, its explosion completely destroyed the launcher. There were no human casualties.

On December 21, 2006, at 11:20 am Moscow time, a combat training launch of the RS-20V was carried out. According to the head of the information service and public relations Strategic Missile Forces of Colonel Alexander Vovk, combat training missile units launched from the Orenburg region (Ural region), hit conditional targets with specified accuracy at the Kura training ground of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Pacific Ocean. The first stage fell in the area of Vagaisky, Vikulovsky and Sorokinsky districts Tyumen region. It separated at an altitude of 90 kilometers, the remaining fuel burned as it fell to the ground. The launch took place as part of the Zaryadye development work. The launches gave an affirmative answer to the question about the possibility of operating the R-36M2 complex for 20 years.

On December 24, 2009, at 9:30 a.m. Moscow time, the RS-20V intercontinental ballistic missile (“Voevoda”) was launched, said Colonel Vadim Koval, press secretary of the press service and information department of the Ministry of Defense for the Strategic Missile Forces: “December twenty-four, 2009 At 9.30 Moscow time, the Strategic Missile Forces launched a missile from the position area of the formation stationed in the Orenburg region,” Koval said. According to him, the launch was carried out as part of development work in order to confirm the flight performance characteristics of the RS-20V missile and extend the service life of the Voevoda missile system to 23 years.

I personally sleep peacefully when I know that such weapons protect our peace…………..

NATO gave the name “SS-18 “Satan” (“Satan”) to the family of Russian missile systems with a heavy ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile, developed and put into service in the 1970s - 1980s. According to the official Russian classification, this is R- 36M, R-36M UTTH, R-36M2, RS-20. And the Americans called this missile “Satan” for the reason that it is difficult to shoot it down, and in the vast territories of the USA and Western Europe these Russian missiles will create hell.

SS-18 "Satan" was created under the leadership of chief designer V.F. Utkin. In its characteristics, this missile surpasses the most powerful American missile "Minuteman-3". "Satan" is the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile on Earth. It is intended primarily for in order to destroy the most fortified command posts, ballistic missile silos and air bases. The nuclear explosives of one missile can destroy a large city, a very large part of the United States. Hit accuracy is about 200-250 meters. “The missile is placed in the strongest silos in the world"; according initial reports - 2500-4500 psi, some mines - 6000-7000 psi. This means that if there is no direct hit by American nuclear explosives on the mine, the rocket will withstand a powerful blow, the hatch will open and "Satan" will fly out of the ground and rush into direction towards the USA, where in half an hour he will give the Americans hell. And dozens of such missiles will rush towards the USA. And each missile has ten individually targeted warheads. The power of the warheads is equal to 1200 bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima. With one blow, the Satan missile can destroy US objects and Western Europe on an area of up to 500 sq. kilometers. And dozens of such missiles will fly towards the United States. This is complete kaput for the Americans. "Satan" easily penetrates the American missile defense system. She was invulnerable in the 80s and continues to be creepy for Americans today. Americans will not be able to create reliable protection against the Russian “Satan” until 2015-2020. But what scares the Americans even more is the fact that the Russians have begun developing even more satanic missiles.

But, even if the Americans see the “Satan” on the final segment of the trajectory, the heads of the “Satan” are practically invulnerable to anti-missile weapons, because to destroy the “Satan” only a direct hit on the head of a very powerful anti-missile is necessary (and the Americans do not have anti-missiles with such characteristics) . “So such a defeat is very difficult and almost impossible with the level of American technology in the coming decades. As for the famous laser weapons for damaging heads, the SS-18 has them covered with massive armor with the addition of uranium-238, an extremely heavy and dense metal. Such armor cannot be “burned through” by a laser. In any case, with those lasers that can be built in the next 30 years. Pulses of electromagnetic radiation cannot knock down the SS-18 flight control system and its heads, because all the control systems of “Satan” are duplicated, in addition to electronic ones, by pneumatic automatic machines.”

By mid-1988, 308 Satan intercontinental missiles were ready to fly from the underground mines of the USSR towards the United States and Western Europe. “Of the 308 launch mines that existed in the USSR at that time, Russia accounted for 157. The rest were in Ukraine and Belarus.” Each missile has 10 warheads. The power of the warheads is equal to 1,200 bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima. With one strike, the Satan missile can destroy US and Western European facilities over an area of up to 500 square meters. kilometers. And if necessary, three hundred such missiles will fly towards the United States. This is complete kaput for Americans and Western Europeans.
SATAN - the most powerful nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile Satan, missile, weapon
The development of the R-36M strategic missile system with a third-generation heavy intercontinental ballistic missile 15A14 and a silo launcher with increased security 15P714 was led by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. The new missile used all the best developments obtained during the creation of the previous complex, the R-36.
The technical solutions used to create the rocket made it possible to create the world's most powerful combat missile system. It was significantly superior to its predecessor, the R-36:
in terms of shooting accuracy - 3 times.
in terms of combat readiness - 4 times.
in terms of the energy capabilities of the rocket - 1.4 times.
according to the initially established warranty period of operation - 1.4 times.
in terms of launcher security - 15-30 times.
in terms of the degree of utilization of the launcher volume - 2.4 times.
The two-stage R-36M rocket was made according to the “tandem” design with a sequential arrangement of stages. To optimize the use of volume, dry compartments were excluded from the rocket, with the exception of the second stage interstage adapter. The applied design solutions made it possible to increase the fuel supply by 11% while maintaining the diameter and reducing the total length of the first two stages of the rocket by 400 mm compared to the 8K67 rocket.
The first stage uses the RD-264 propulsion system, consisting of four 15D117 single-chamber engines operating in a closed circuit, developed by KBEM (chief designer - V.P. Glushko). The engines are hinged and their deflection according to commands from the control system provides control of the rocket's flight.

The second stage uses a propulsion system consisting of a main single-chamber 15D7E (RD-0229) engine operating in a closed circuit and a four-chamber steering engine 15D83 (RD-0230) operating in an open circuit.
The rocket's liquid-propellant rocket engines operated on high-boiling two-component self-igniting fuel. Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) was used as a fuel, and dinitrogen tetroxide (AT) was used as an oxidizing agent.
The separation of the first and second stages is gas-dynamic. It was ensured by the actuation of explosive bolts and the outflow of pressurized gases from the fuel tanks through special windows.
Thanks to the improved pneumatic-hydraulic system of the rocket with complete ampulization of fuel systems after refueling and the elimination of leakage of compressed gases from the side of the rocket, it was possible to increase the time spent in full combat readiness to 10-15 years with the potential for operation up to 25 years.
The schematic diagrams of the rocket and control system were developed based on the possibility of using three variants of the warhead:
Lightweight monoblock with a charge capacity of 8 Mt and a flight range of 16,000 km;
Heavy monoblock with a charge capacity of 25 Mt and a flight range of 11,200 km;
Multiple warhead (MIRV) of 8 warheads with a capacity of 1 Mt each;
All missile warheads were equipped with an improved system of means to overcome missile defense. For the first time, quasi-heavy decoys were created for the 15A14 missile defense system to penetrate the missile defense system. Thanks to the use of a special solid-propellant booster engine, the progressively increasing thrust of which compensates for the aerodynamic braking force of the decoy, it was possible to imitate the characteristics of warheads in almost all selectivity characteristics in the extra-atmospheric part of the trajectory and a significant part of the atmospheric part.

One of the technical innovations that largely determined the high level of performance of the new missile system was the use of mortar launch of a missile from a transport and launch container (TPC). For the first time in world practice, a mortar design for a heavy liquid-propelled ICBM was developed and implemented. At launch, the pressure created by the powder pressure accumulators pushed the rocket out of the TPK and only after leaving the silo the rocket engine was started.
The missile, placed at the manufacturing plant in a transport and launch container, was transported and installed in a silo launcher (silo) in an unfuelled state. The rocket was refueled with fuel components and the warhead was docked after installing the TPK with the rocket in the silo. Checks of onboard systems, preparation for launch and launch of the rocket were carried out automatically after the control system received the appropriate commands from a remote command post. To prevent unauthorized launch, the control system accepted for execution only commands with a specific code key. The use of such an algorithm became possible thanks to the introduction of a new centralized control system at all command posts of the Strategic Missile Forces.

The missile control system is autonomous, inertial, three-channel with multi-tier majority control. Each channel was self-tested. If the commands of all three channels did not match, control was assumed by the successfully tested channel. The on-board cable network (BCN) was considered absolutely reliable and was not defective in tests.
The acceleration of the gyroplatform (15L555) was carried out by forced acceleration automatic machines (AFAs) of digital ground-based equipment (TsNA), and in the first stages of work - by software devices for accelerating the gyroplatform (PURG). On-board digital computer (ONDVM) (15L579) 16-bit, ROM - memory cube. Programming was done in machine codes.
The developer of the control system (including the on-board computer) was the Electrical Instrumentation Design Bureau (KBE, now JSC Khartron, Kharkov), the on-board computer was produced by the Kiev Radio Plant, the control system was mass-produced at the Shevchenko and Kommunar factories (Kharkov).

The development of the third generation strategic missile system R-36M UTTH (GRAU index - 15P018, START code - RS-20B, according to the US and NATO classification - SS-18 Mod.4) with a 15A18 missile equipped with a 10-block multiple warhead has begun August 16, 1976.
The missile system was created as a result of the implementation of a program to improve and increase the combat effectiveness of the previously developed 15P014 (R-36M) complex. The complex ensures the destruction of up to 10 targets with one missile, including high-strength small-sized or particularly large area targets located on terrain of up to 300,000 km², in conditions of effective counteraction by enemy missile defense systems. Increased efficiency of the new complex was achieved through:
increasing shooting accuracy by 2-3 times;
increasing the number of warheads (BB) and the power of their charges;
increasing the BB breeding area;
the use of highly protected silo launchers and command posts;
increasing the probability of bringing launch commands to the silo.
The layout of the 15A18 rocket is similar to the 15A14. This is a two-stage rocket with a tandem arrangement of stages. The new rocket uses the first and second stages of the 15A14 rocket without modifications. The first stage engine is a four-chamber liquid propellant rocket engine RD-264 of a closed design. The second stage uses a single-chamber propulsion rocket engine RD-0229 of a closed circuit and a four-chamber steering rocket engine RD-0257 of an open circuit. The separation of stages and the separation of the combat stage is gas-dynamic.
The main difference of the new missile was the newly developed propagation stage and MIRV with ten new high-speed units with increased power charges. The propulsion stage engine is a four-chamber, dual-mode (thrust 2000 kgf and 800 kgf) with multiple (up to 25 times) switching between modes. This allows you to create the most optimal conditions for the breeding of all warheads. Another design feature of this engine is two fixed positions of the combustion chambers. In flight, they are located inside the propagation stage, but after the stage is separated from the rocket, special mechanisms move the combustion chambers beyond the outer contour of the compartment and deploy them to implement the “pulling” scheme for propagation of warheads. The MIR itself is made according to a two-tier design with a single aerodynamic fairing. The memory capacity of the onboard computer was also increased and the control system was modernized to use improved algorithms. At the same time, the shooting accuracy was improved by 2.5 times, and the readiness time for launch was reduced to 62 seconds.

The R-36M UTTH missile in a transport and launch container (TPK) is installed in a silo launcher and is on combat duty in a fueled state in full combat readiness. To load the TPK into a mine structure, SKB MAZ has developed special transport and installation equipment in the form of a high-cross-country semi-trailer with a tractor based on the MAZ-537. The mortar method of launching a rocket is used.
Flight design tests of the R-36M UTTH rocket began on October 31, 1977 at the Baikonur test site. According to the flight test program, 19 launches were carried out, 2 of which were unsuccessful. The reasons for these failures were clarified and eliminated, and the effectiveness of the measures taken was confirmed by subsequent launches. A total of 62 launches were carried out, of which 56 were successful.
On September 18, 1979, three missile regiments began combat duty at the new missile complex. As of 1987, 308 R-36M UTTH ICBMs were deployed as part of five missile divisions. As of May 2006, the Strategic Missile Forces included 74 silo launchers with R-36M UTTH and R-36M2 ICBMs, equipped with 10 warheads each.
The high reliability of the complex has been confirmed by 159 launches as of September 2000, of which only four were unsuccessful. These failures during the launch of serial products are due to manufacturing defects.
After the collapse of the USSR and the economic crisis of the early 1990s, the question arose about extending the service life of the R-36M UTTH until they were replaced by new Russian-developed complexes. For this purpose, on April 17, 1997, the R-36M UTTH rocket, manufactured 19.5 years ago, was successfully launched. NPO Yuzhnoye and the 4th Central Research Institute of the Moscow Region carried out work to increase the warranty period of missiles from 10 years successively to 15, 18 and 20 years. On April 15, 1998, a training launch of the R-36M UTTH rocket was carried out from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, during which ten training warheads hit all training targets at the Kura training ground in Kamchatka.
A joint Russian-Ukrainian venture was also created for the development and further commercial use of the Dnepr light-class launch vehicle based on the R-36M UTTH and R-36M2 missiles

On August 9, 1983, by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau was tasked with modifying the R-36M UTTH missile so that it could overcome the promising American missile defense (ABM) system. In addition, it was necessary to increase the protection of the missile and the entire complex from the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion.
View of the instrument compartment (expansion stage) of the 15A18M rocket from the warhead side. Elements of the propagation engine are visible (aluminium-colored - fuel and oxidizer tanks, green - spherical cylinders of the displacement supply system), control system instruments (brown and sea-green).
The upper bottom of the first stage is 15A18M. On the right is the undocked second stage, one of the steering engine nozzles is visible.
The fourth generation missile system R-36M2 "Voevoda" (GRAU index - 15P018M, START code - RS-20V, according to the US and NATO classification - SS-18 Mod.5/Mod.6) with a multi-purpose heavy-class intercontinental missile 15A18M is intended for hitting all types of targets protected by modern missile defense systems in any combat conditions, including multiple nuclear impacts in a positional area. Its use makes it possible to implement a strategy of a guaranteed retaliatory strike.
As a result of the use of the latest technical solutions, the energy capabilities of the 15A18M rocket have been increased by 12% compared to the 15A18 rocket. At the same time, all conditions for restrictions on dimensions and starting weight imposed by the SALT-2 agreement are met. Missiles of this type are the most powerful of all intercontinental missiles. In terms of technological level, the complex has no analogues in the world. The missile system uses active protection of the silo launcher from nuclear warheads and high-precision non-nuclear weapons, and for the first time in the country, low-altitude non-nuclear interception of high-speed ballistic targets was carried out.

Compared to the prototype, the new complex managed to achieve improvements in many characteristics:
increasing accuracy by 1.3 times;
3 times increase in battery life;
reducing the combat readiness time by 2 times.
increasing the area of the warhead disengagement zone by 2.3 times;
the use of high-power charges (10 individually guided multiple warheads with a power of 550 to 750 kt each; total throw weight - 8800 kg);
the possibility of launching from the constant combat readiness mode according to one of the planned target designations, as well as operational retargeting and launching according to any unplanned target designation transmitted from the highest level of control;
To ensure high combat effectiveness in particularly difficult combat conditions, during the development of the R-36M2 Voevoda complex, special attention was paid to the following areas:
increasing the security and survivability of silos and command posts;
ensuring the stability of combat control in all conditions of use of the complex;
increasing the autonomy time of the complex;
increasing the warranty period;
ensuring the missile's resistance in flight to the damaging factors of ground-based and high-altitude nuclear explosions;
expanding operational capabilities to retarget missiles.
One of the main advantages of the new complex is the ability to support missile launches in conditions of a retaliatory strike when exposed to ground-based and high-altitude nuclear explosions. This was achieved by increasing the survivability of the missile in the silo launcher and significantly increasing the resistance of the missile in flight to the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion. The rocket body has a multifunctional coating, protection of the control system equipment from gamma radiation has been introduced, the speed of the executive bodies of the control system stabilization machine has been increased by 2 times, the head fairing is separated after passing through the zone of high-altitude blocking nuclear explosions, the engines of the first and second stages of the rocket have been increased in thrust.
As a result, the radius of the missile's damage zone with a blocking nuclear explosion, compared to the 15A18 missile, is reduced by 20 times, resistance to X-ray radiation is increased by 10 times, and resistance to gamma-neutron radiation is increased by 100 times. The missile is resistant to the effects of dust formations and large soil particles present in the cloud during a ground-based nuclear explosion.
For the missile, silos with ultra-high protection from damaging factors of nuclear weapons were built by re-equipping the silos of the 15A14 and 15A18 missile systems. The implemented levels of missile resistance to the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion ensure its successful launch after a non-damaging nuclear explosion directly at the launcher and without reducing combat readiness when exposed to an adjacent launcher.
The rocket is made according to a two-stage design with a sequential arrangement of stages. The missile uses similar launch schemes, stage separation, warhead separation, and disengagement of combat equipment elements, which have shown a high level of technical excellence and reliability in the 15A18 missile.

The propulsion system of the first stage of the rocket includes four hinged single-chamber liquid propellant engines with a turbopump fuel supply system and made in a closed circuit.
The second stage propulsion system includes two engines: a sustainer single-chamber RD-0255 with a turbopump supply of fuel components, made in a closed circuit, and a steering RD-0257, a four-chamber, open circuit, previously used on the 15A18 rocket. Engines of all stages operate on liquid high-boiling components of UDMH+AT fuel; the stages are completely ampulized.
The control system is developed on the basis of two high-performance digital control systems (on-board and ground-based) of a new generation and a high-precision complex of command instruments continuously operating during combat duty.
A new nose fairing has been developed for the rocket, providing reliable protection of the warhead from the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion. The tactical and technical requirements provided for equipping the missile with four types of warheads:
two monoblock warheads - with a “heavy” and a “light” warhead;
MIRV with ten unguided warheads with a capacity of 0.8 Mt;
Mixed MIRV consisting of six uncontrolled and four controlled warheads with a homing system based on terrain maps.
As part of the combat equipment, highly effective missile defense penetration systems have been created (“heavy” and “light” decoys, dipole reflectors), which are placed in special cassettes, and thermally insulating BB covers are used.
Flight design tests of the R-36M2 complex began at Baikonur in 1986. The first launch on March 21 ended in an emergency: due to an error in the control system, the first stage propulsion system did not start. The missile, emerging from the TPK, immediately fell into the shaft of the mine, its explosion completely destroyed the launcher. There were no human casualties.
The first missile regiment with the R-36M2 ICBM went on combat duty on July 30, 1988. On August 11, 1988, the missile system was put into service. Flight design tests of the new fourth-generation intercontinental R-36M2 (15A18M - “Voevoda”) with all types of combat equipment were completed in September 1989. As of May 2006, the Strategic Missile Forces included 74 silo launchers with R-36M UTTH and R-36M2 ICBMs, equipped with 10 warheads each.
On December 21, 2006, at 11:20 am Moscow time, a combat training launch of the RS-20V was carried out. According to the head of the information and public relations service of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel Alexander Vovk, the missile training and combat units launched from the Orenburg region (Ural region) hit conditional targets with specified accuracy at the Kura training ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Pacific Ocean. The first stage fell in the Vagaisky, Vikulovsky and Sorokinsky districts of the Tyumen region. It separated at an altitude of 90 kilometers, the remaining fuel burned as it fell to the ground. The launch took place as part of the Zaryadye development work. The launches gave an affirmative answer to the question about the possibility of operating the R-36M2 complex for 20 years.
On December 24, 2009, at 9:30 a.m. Moscow time, the RS-20V intercontinental ballistic missile (“Voevoda”) was launched, said Colonel Vadim Koval, press secretary of the press service and information department of the Ministry of Defense for the Strategic Missile Forces: “December twenty-four, 2009 At 9.30 Moscow time, the Strategic Missile Forces launched a missile from the position area of the formation stationed in the Orenburg region,” Koval said. According to him, the launch was carried out as part of development work in order to confirm the flight performance characteristics of the RS-20V missile and extend the service life of the Voevoda missile system to 23 years.

R-36M (GRAU index - 15P014, START code - RS-20A, according to the classification of the US Department of Defense and NATO - SS-18 Mod.1,2,3 Satan (Russian) "Satan")) - Soviet third-generation strategic missile system, with a heavy two-stage liquid-propelled, ampulized intercontinental ballistic missile 15A14 for placement in a silo launcher 15P714 of increased security type OS. It was created by industrial cooperation under the leadership of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (Dnepropetrovsk), chief designers M.K. Yangel (1969-1971) and V.F. Utkin (since 1971). The control system was developed by the Kharkov NPO Elektropribor. The chief designer of the control system is V. A. Uralov.

Main features of the complex:

launcher - stationary, silo;

rocket - two-stage with a liquid-propellant engine using high-boiling fuel components, with a mortar launch from a transport and launch container;

the rocket control system is autonomous, inertial, based on an on-board digital computer;

The missile allows the use of various types of combat equipment (warheads), including multiple warheads with individual guidance.

History of creation

The development of the R-36M strategic missile system with the 15A14 third generation heavy intercontinental ballistic missile and the 15P714 enhanced security silo launcher was led by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. The new missile used all the best developments obtained during the creation of the previous complex, the R-36. The leading designer of the complex (since 1985 - chief designer) and all its subsequent modifications since 1971 was S.I. Us.
The technical solutions used to create the missile made it possible to create the world's most powerful combat missile system.

It was significantly superior to its predecessor, the R-36:

in terms of shooting accuracy - 3 times.

in terms of combat readiness - 4 times.

in terms of the energy capabilities of the rocket - 1.4 times.

according to the initially established warranty period of operation - 1.4 times.

in terms of launcher security - 15-30 times.

in terms of the degree of utilization of the launcher volume - 2.4 times.

The two-stage R-36M rocket was made according to the “tandem” design with a sequential arrangement of stages. To optimize the use of volume, dry compartments were excluded from the rocket, with the exception of the second stage interstage adapter. The applied design solutions made it possible to increase the fuel supply by 11% while maintaining the diameter and reducing the total length of the first two stages of the rocket by 400 mm compared to the 8K67 rocket.
The first stage uses the RD-264 propulsion system, consisting of four 15D117 single-chamber engines operating in a closed circuit, developed by KBEM (chief designer - V.P. Glushko). The engines are hinged and their deflection according to commands from the control system provides control of the rocket's flight.

The schematic diagrams of the rocket and control system were developed based on the possibility of using three variants of the warhead:

Lightweight monoblock with a charge capacity of 8 Mt and a flight range of 16,000 km;

Heavy monoblock with a charge capacity of 25 Mt with a flight range of 11,200 km;

Multiple warhead (MIRV) of 8 warheads with a capacity of 1 Mt each;

All missile warheads were equipped with an improved system of means to overcome missile defense. For the first time, quasi-heavy decoys were created for the 15A14 missile defense system to penetrate the missile defense system. Thanks to the use of a special solid-propellant booster engine, the progressively increasing thrust of which compensates for the aerodynamic braking force of the decoy, it was possible to imitate the characteristics of warheads in almost all selectivity characteristics in the extra-atmospheric part of the trajectory and a significant part of the atmospheric part.
One of the technical innovations that largely determined the high level of performance of the new missile system was the use of mortar launch of a missile from a transport and launch container (TPC). For the first time in world practice, a mortar design for a heavy liquid-propelled ICBM was developed and implemented. At launch, the pressure created by the powder pressure accumulators pushed the rocket out of the TPK and only after leaving the silo the rocket engine was started.

The missile, placed at the manufacturing plant in a transport and launch container, was transported and installed in a silo launcher (silo) in an unfuelled state. The rocket was refueled with fuel components and the warhead was docked after installing the TPK with the rocket in the silo. Checks of onboard systems, preparation for launch and launch of the rocket were carried out automatically after the control system received the appropriate commands from a remote command post. To prevent unauthorized launch, the control system accepted for execution only commands with a specific code key. The use of such an algorithm became possible thanks to the introduction of a new centralized control system at all command posts of the Strategic Missile Forces.

Tests

Roll tests of the rocket to test the mortar launch system began in January 1970, flight tests were carried out from February 21, 1973. Already at the first launches from the Plesetsk cosmodrome at the Kura training ground in Kamchatka, the control system made it possible to obtain an azimuth-range deviation of 600x800 meters.
Of the 43 test launches, 36 were successful and 7 failed.

The monoblock version of the R-36M missile with a “light” warhead was put into service on November 20, 1978. The version with a multiple warhead was put into service on November 29, 1979. The first missile regiment with the R-36M ICBM entered combat duty on December 25, 1974 .
In 1980, the 15A14 missiles, which were on combat duty, were re-equipped without removal from the silos with improved MIRVs created for the 15A18 missile. The missiles continued combat duty under the designation 15A18-1.
In 1982, the R-36M ICBMs were removed from combat duty and replaced with R-36M UTTH (15A18) missiles.

Modifications

R-36M UTTH

Increased efficiency of the new complex was achieved through:

increasing shooting accuracy by 2-3 times;

increasing the number of warheads (BB) and the power of their charges;

increasing the BB breeding area;

the use of highly protected silo launchers and command posts;

increasing the probability of bringing launch commands to the silo.

The main difference of the new missile was the newly developed propagation stage and MIRV with ten new high-speed units with increased power charges. The propulsion stage engine is four-chamber, dual-mode (thrust 2000 kgf and 800 kgf) with multiple (up to 25 times) switching between modes. This allows you to create the most optimal conditions for the breeding of all warheads. Another design feature of this engine is two fixed positions of the combustion chambers. In flight, they are located inside the propagation stage, but after the stage is separated from the rocket, special mechanisms move the combustion chambers beyond the outer contour of the compartment and deploy them to implement the “pulling” scheme for propagation of warheads. The MIR itself is made according to a two-tier design with a single aerodynamic fairing. The memory capacity of the onboard computer was also increased and the control system was modernized to use improved algorithms. At the same time, the shooting accuracy was improved by 2.5 times, and the readiness time for launch was reduced to 62 seconds.

Flight design tests of the R-36M UTTH rocket began on October 31, 1977 at the Baikonur test site. According to the flight test program, 19 launches were carried out, 2 of which were unsuccessful. The reasons for these failures were clarified and eliminated, and the effectiveness of the measures taken was confirmed by subsequent launches. A total of 62 launches were carried out, of which 56 were successful.
On September 18, 1979, three missile regiments began combat duty at the new missile complex. As of 1987, 308 R-36M UTTH ICBMs were deployed as part of five missile divisions. As of May 2006, the Strategic Missile Forces included 74 silo launchers with R-36M UTTH and R-36M2 ICBMs, equipped with 10 warheads each.

The high reliability of the complex is confirmed by 159 successful launches as of September 2000, of which only four were unsuccessful. These failures during the launch of serial products are due to manufacturing defects.
After the collapse of the USSR and the economic crisis of the early 1990s, the question arose about extending the service life of the R-36M UTTH until they were replaced by new Russian-developed complexes. For this purpose, on April 17, 1997, the R-36M UTTH rocket, manufactured 19.5 years ago, was successfully launched. NPO Yuzhnoye and the 4th Central Research Institute of the Moscow Region carried out work to increase the warranty period of missiles from 10 years successively to 15, 18 and 20 years. On April 15, 1998, a training launch of the R-36M UTTH rocket was carried out from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, during which ten training warheads hit all training targets at the Kura training ground in Kamchatka.
A joint Russian-Ukrainian venture was also created to develop and further commercially use the Dnepr light launch vehicle based on the R-36M UTTH and R-36M2 missiles.

R-36M2 "Voevoda"

Missile complex fourth generation R-36M2 "Voevoda" (GRAU index - 15P018M, START code - RS-20V, according to the classification of the US Defense Ministry and NATO - SS-18 Mod.5/Mod.6) with a multi-purpose heavy-class intercontinental missile 15A18M is designed to destroy all types of targets , protected by modern missile defense systems, in any conditions of combat use, including multiple nuclear impacts in a positional area. Its use makes it possible to implement a strategy of a guaranteed retaliatory strike.

As a result of the use of the latest technical solutions, the energy capabilities of the 15A18M rocket have been increased by 12% compared to the 15A18 rocket. At the same time, all conditions for restrictions on dimensions and starting weight imposed by the SALT-2 agreement are met. Missiles of this type are the most powerful of all intercontinental missiles. In terms of technological level, the complex has no analogues in the world. The missile system uses active protection of the silo launcher from nuclear warheads and high-precision non-nuclear weapons, and for the first time in the country, low-altitude non-nuclear interception of high-speed ballistic targets was carried out.

Compared to the prototype, the new complex managed to achieve improvements in many characteristics:

increasing accuracy by 1.3 times;

3 times increase in battery life;

reducing the combat readiness time by 2 times.

increasing the area of the warhead disengagement zone by 2.3 times;

the use of high-power charges (10 individually targeted multiple warheads with a power of 550 to 750 kt each; general

throw weight - 8800 kg);

the possibility of launching from the constant combat readiness mode according to one of the planned target designations, as well as operational retargeting and launching according to any unplanned target designation transmitted from the highest level of control;

To ensure high combat effectiveness in particularly difficult combat conditions, during the development of the R-36M2 Voevoda complex, special attention was paid to the following areas:

increasing the security and survivability of silos and command posts;

ensuring the stability of combat control in all conditions of use of the complex;

increasing the autonomy time of the complex;

increasing the warranty period;

ensuring the missile's resistance in flight to the damaging factors of ground-based and high-altitude nuclear explosions;

expanding operational capabilities to retarget missiles.

One of the main advantages of the new complex is the ability to support missile launches in conditions of a retaliatory strike when exposed to ground-based and high-altitude nuclear explosions. This was achieved by increasing the survivability of the missile in the silo launcher and significantly increasing the resistance of the missile in flight to the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion. The rocket body has a multifunctional coating, protection of the control system equipment from gamma radiation has been introduced, the speed of the executive bodies of the control system stabilization machine has been increased by 2 times, the head fairing is separated after passing through the zone of high-altitude blocking nuclear explosions, the engines of the first and second stages of the rocket have been increased in thrust.
As a result, the radius of the missile's damage zone with a blocking nuclear explosion, compared to the 15A18 missile, is reduced by 20 times, resistance to X-ray radiation is increased by 10 times, and resistance to gamma-neutron radiation is increased by 100 times. The missile is resistant to the effects of dust formations and large soil particles present in the cloud during a ground-based nuclear explosion.

For the missile, silos with ultra-high protection from damaging factors of nuclear weapons were built by re-equipping the silos of the 15A14 and 15A18 missile systems. The implemented levels of missile resistance to the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion ensure its successful launch after a non-damaging nuclear explosion directly at the launcher and without reducing combat readiness when exposed to an adjacent launcher.
The rocket is made according to a two-stage design with a sequential arrangement of stages. The missile uses similar launch schemes, stage separation, warhead separation, and disengagement of combat equipment elements, which have shown a high level of technical excellence and reliability in the 15A18 missile.
The propulsion system of the first stage of the rocket includes four hinged single-chamber liquid propellant engines with a turbopump fuel supply system and made in a closed circuit.

The second stage propulsion system includes two engines: a sustainer single-chamber RD-0255 with a turbopump supply of fuel components, made in a closed circuit, and a steering RD-0257, a four-chamber, open circuit, previously used on the 15A18 rocket. Engines of all stages operate on liquid high-boiling components of UDMH+AT fuel; the stages are completely ampulized.
The control system is developed on the basis of two high-performance digital control systems (on-board and ground-based) of a new generation and a high-precision complex of command instruments continuously operating during combat duty.
A new nose fairing has been developed for the rocket, providing reliable protection of the warhead from the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion.

The tactical and technical requirements provided for equipping the missile with four types of warheads:

two monoblock warheads - with a “heavy” and a “light” warhead;

MIRV with ten unguided warheads with a capacity of 0.8 Mt;

Mixed MIRV consisting of six uncontrolled and four controlled warheads with a homing system based on terrain maps.

As part of the combat equipment, highly effective missile defense penetration systems have been created (“heavy” and “light” decoys, dipole reflectors), which are placed in special cassettes, and thermally insulating BB covers are used.
Flight design tests of the R-36M2 complex began at Baikonur in 1986. The first launch on March 21 ended in an emergency: due to an error in the control system, the first stage propulsion system did not start. The missile, emerging from the TPK, immediately fell into the shaft of the mine, its explosion completely destroyed the launcher. There were no human casualties.

The first missile regiment with the R-36M2 ICBM went on combat duty on July 30, 1988. On August 11, 1988, the missile system was put into service. Flight design tests of the new fourth generation intercontinental missile R-36M2 (15A18M - “Voevoda”) with all types of combat equipment were completed in September 1989. As of May 2006, the Strategic Missile Forces included 74 silo launchers with R-36M UTTH and R-36M2 ICBMs, equipped with 10 warheads each.
On December 21, 2006, at 11:20 am Moscow time, a combat training launch of the RS-20V was carried out. According to the head of the information and public relations service of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel Alexander Vovk, the missile training and combat units launched from the Orenburg region (Ural region) hit conditional targets with specified accuracy at the Kura training ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Pacific Ocean. The first stage fell in the Vagaisky, Vikulovsky and Sorokinsky districts of the Tyumen region. It separated at an altitude of 90 kilometers, the remaining fuel burned as it fell to the ground. The launch took place as part of the Zaryadye development work. The launches gave an affirmative answer to the question about the possibility of operating the R-36M2 complex for 20 years.

Launch vehicle "Dnepr"

"Dnepr" is a conversion space launch vehicle created on the basis of the intercontinental ballistic missiles R-36M UTTH and R-36M2 "Voevoda" to be eliminated by the cooperation of Russian and Ukrainian enterprises and designed to launch up to 3.7 tons of payload (spacecraft or group satellites) into orbits with an altitude of 300-900 km.

The implementation of the program for the creation and operation of the Dnepr launch vehicle is carried out by the International Space Company CJSC Kosmotras.

The Dnepr launch vehicle is used in two modifications:

"Dnepr-1" - using the main components of the ICBM without modifications, with the exception of the fairing adapter.

“Dnepr-M” is a launch vehicle version, modernized by installing additional attitude control and stabilization engines, improving the control system and using an elongated nose fairing, due to which greater capabilities for launching payload have been achieved, including increased maximum height orbits.
For launches of the Dnepr launch vehicle, a launcher is used at site 109 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome and launchers at the Yasny base of the 13th Red Banner Orenburg missile division in the Orenburg region.

For a beginner, the launch of the world's most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, the SS-18 Satan, invariably turns into disappointment.

For half a day you are shaking on the passing transport “board” to Baikonur. Then you spend a couple of hours dancing at the observation point, trying to warm up under the piercing Kazakh steppe wind (45 minutes before the start, the security service completely blocks traffic on the roads of the training ground, and after that you will never get there). Finally, the pre-start countdown is complete. Far on the edge of the horizon, a tiny “pencil” jumps out of the ground like a jack-in-the-box, hangs for a split second, and then quickly flies up into the sky in a shining cloud. Only a couple of minutes later you are covered with echoes of the heavy roar of the main engines, and the rocket itself is already sparkling at the zenith like a distant star. A yellowish cloud of dust and unburned amylheptyl settles over the launch site.

All this cannot be compared with the majestic slowness of the launch of peaceful space rockets. In addition, their launches can be observed from a much closer distance, since oxygen-kerosene engines, even in the event of an accident, do not threaten to destroy all living things around. With “Satan” it’s different. Looking at the photos and videos of the launch again and again, you begin to understand: “My mother! This is completely impossible!”

Jumping "Satan"

So the creator of “Satan”, designer Mikhail Yangel, and his fellow rocket scientists initially reacted to the idea this way: “For 211 tons to “jump” out of the mine?! This is impossible!" In 1969, when the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, headed by Yangel, began work on the new heavy rocket R-36M, the normal method of launching from a silo launcher was considered a “hot” gas-dynamic launch, in which the rocket’s propulsion engine was turned on already in the silo. Of course, some experience in designing “products” using a “cold” (“mortar”) start has been accumulated. Yangel himself experimented with it for almost 4 years, developing the RT-20P missile, which was never adopted for service. But the RT-20P was “ultra-light” - only 30 tons! In addition, it was unique in its layout: the first stage was solid fuel, the second stage was liquid fuel. This eliminated the need to solve the puzzling problems associated with a “mortar” launch of guaranteed ignition of the first stage. Yangel's associates from St. Petersburg TsKB-34 (now Design Bureau Spetsmash), who developed the R-36M launcher, initially categorically rejected the very possibility of a “mortar” launch for a liquid-fuel rocket weighing more than 200 tons. Only after a change in the leadership of TsKB-34 did its new chief designer Vladimir Stepanov I decided to try it.

It took a long time to experiment. The launcher developers were faced with the fact that the mass of the rocket did not allow the use of conventional means to cushion it in the shaft - giant metal springs on which its lighter counterparts rested. The springs had to be replaced with powerful shock absorbers using gas high pressure(at the same time, the depreciation properties should not have decreased over the entire 10-15-year combat duty period of the missile). Then it was time to develop powder pressure accumulators (PADs), which would throw this colossus to a height of at least 20 m above the upper edge of the shaft. Throughout 1971, unusual experiments were carried out at Baikonur. During the so-called “throwing” tests, the weight and size prototype of “Satan”, filled with a neutral alkaline solution instead of nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, flew out of the mine under the influence of a PAD. At an altitude of 20 m, the powder accelerators were turned on, which pulled off the pallet from the rocket covering its main engines at the time of the “mortar” launch, but the engines themselves, naturally, did not turn on. “Satan” fell to the ground (into a huge concrete tray specially prepared next to the mine) and broke into pieces. And so nine times.

And still, the first three real launches of the R-36M, already under the full program of flight design tests, were accidents. Only the fourth time, on February 21, 1973, “Satan” managed not to destroy its own launcher and flew to where it was launched - to the Kamchatka Kura training ground.

Rocket in a glass

Experimenting with a “mortar” launch, the designers of “Satan” solved several problems. Without increasing the launch mass, the energy capabilities of the rocket increased. It was also important to reduce the vibration loads on the taking off rocket that inevitably occur during a gas-dynamic launch. However, the main thing was still to increase the survivability of the entire complex in the case of the first nuclear strike enemy. The new R-36Ms put into service were placed in silos in which their predecessors, the heavy R-36 missiles (SS9 Scarp), had previously been on combat duty. More precisely, the old mines were partially used: the gas outlet channels and gratings necessary for the gas-dynamic launch of the R-36 were of no use to Satan. Their place was taken by a metal power “cup” with a shock absorption system (vertical and horizontal) and launcher equipment, into which it was loaded directly in the factory transport and launch container. new rocket. At the same time, the protection of the silo and the missile located in it from the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion increased by more than an order of magnitude.

Brain in blackout

By the way, “Satan” is protected from the first nuclear strike not only by its silo. The design of the missile provides for the possibility of unhindered passage through the zone of an airborne nuclear explosion (in case the enemy tries to cover the R-36M’s positional basing area with it in order to take “Satan” out of the game). On the outside of the rocket there is a special heat-protective coating that allows it to overcome the dust cloud after the explosion. And so that the radiation does not affect the operation of on-board control systems, special sensors simply turn off the “brain” of the rocket when passing through the explosion zone: the engines continue to operate, but the control systems are stabilized. Only after leaving the danger zone do they turn on again, analyze the trajectory, introduce corrections and guide the missile to the target.

An unsurpassed launch range (up to 16 thousand km), a huge combat load of 8.8 tons, up to 10 individually targetable multiple warheads, plus the most advanced missile defense system available today, equipped with a decoy system - all this makes “Satan” scary and unique.

For its latest version (R-36M2), even a breeding platform was developed, on which 20 or even 36 warheads could be installed. But according to the agreement there could not be more than ten. It is also important that “Satan” is a whole family of missiles with subtypes. And each can carry a different set of payloads. In one of the variants (R-36M) there are 8 warheads, covered with a shaped fairing with 4 protrusions. It looks like there are 4 spindles attached to the nose of the rocket. Each contains two warheads connected in pairs (with their bases facing each other), which are deployed above the target. Starting with the R-36MUTTH, which had increased guidance accuracy, it became possible to install weaker warheads and increase their number to ten. They were attached under the head fairing, which was dropped in flight, separately from each other on a special frame in two tiers.

Later, the idea of homing heads had to be abandoned: they turned out to be unsuitable for strategic ballistic carriers due to problems during reentry and for some other reasons.

The many faces of "Satan"

Future historians will have to puzzle over what “Satan” actually was - a weapon of attack or defense. The orbital version of its direct “ancestor,” the first Soviet heavy missile SS-9 Scarp (R-36O), put into service in 1968, made it possible to throw a nuclear warhead into low-Earth orbit in order to strike the enemy at any orbit. That is, to attack the United States not through the pole, where we were constantly monitored by American radars, but from any direction unprotected by tracking and missile defense systems. It was, in fact, an ideal weapon, the use of which the enemy could only learn about when nuclear mushrooms had already risen above his cities. True, already in 1972, the Americans deployed a missile attack warning satellite constellation in orbit, which detected not the approach of missiles, but the moment of launch. Soon, Moscow entered into an agreement with Washington banning the launch of nuclear weapons into space.

In theory, "Satan" inherited these capabilities. At least now, when it is launched from Baikonur in the form of a Dnepr conversion launch vehicle, it easily launches payloads into low-Earth orbits, the weight of which is slightly less than the warheads installed on it. At the same time, the rockets come to the cosmodrome from the combat regiments of the Strategic Missile Forces, where they were on combat duty, in standard configuration. For space programs, only the breeding engines operate abnormally nuclear warheads individual guidance. When launching payloads into orbit, they are used as a third stage. Judging by advertising campaign, deployed to promote the Dnepr to the international commercial launch market, it may well be used for short-range interplanetary transportation - delivering cargo to the Moon, Mars and Venus. It turns out that if necessary, “Satan” can deliver nuclear warheads there.

However, all the modernization of Soviet weapons that followed the removal of the R-36 from service heavy missiles seems to indicate their purely defensive purpose. The very fact that when Yangel created the R-36M, a serious role was given to the survivability of the missile system, confirms that it was planned to be used not during the first or even during a retaliatory strike, but during a “deep” retaliatory strike, when enemy missiles had already covered our territory. The same can be said about the latest modifications of “Satan”, the development of which was carried out by his successor Vladimir Utkin after the death of Mikhail Yangel. So in the recent statement by the Russian military leadership that the service life of the “Satan” will be extended for another decade, there was not so much a threat as concern American plans deployment of a national missile defense system. And the regular launch of a conversion version of the “Satan” (Dnepr missile) from Baikonur confirms that it is in full combat readiness.

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