Every year on December 17, Russia celebrates a memorable date - the Day of the Strategic Missile Forces (Strategic Missile Forces). Next year, the Strategic Missile Forces will celebrate their 60th anniversary; they were formed in 1959. On December 17, 1959, a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was issued, in accordance with which the post of commander-in-chief of the missile forces was established in the structure of the armed forces, the General Staff of the Strategic Missile Forces was formed, as well as other military command and control bodies. Until 1995, the Day of the Strategic Missile Forces was celebrated in Russia on November 19 as part of the Day of Missile Forces and Artillery. Today it is a separate memorable date and a professional holiday for all servicemen and civilian personnel of the Ministry of Defense related to the strategic missile forces.
Today, the Strategic Missile Forces are a separate branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the main component of our strategic nuclear forces (SNF). The Strategic Missile Forces are troops of constant combat readiness, carrying continuous duty and ready to perform assigned combat missions at any time by order of the President of the Russian Federation - the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces. Every day, about six thousand servicemen are on duty at combat posts. The Strategic Missile Forces are designed for nuclear deterrence of possible aggression against our country and defeat in the strategic nuclear forces or independently by massive, group or single nuclear missile strikes of strategic enemy targets located in one or several strategic aerospace sectors and forming the basis of the enemy's military-economic and military potential … At present, the Strategic Missile Forces concentrates up to two-thirds of the nuclear carriers of Russia's strategic nuclear forces.
59 years of the Strategic Missile Forces
The history of this type of troops dates back to after the end of World War II and is inextricably linked with the improvement of rocket technology. The first missile unit in the Soviet Army - the special purpose brigade of the reserve of the Supreme High Command (RVGK) - was formed in July 1946. The brigade was formed on the basis of the 92nd Guards Gomel Mortar Regiment. The birth of the Strategic Missile Forces is inextricably linked with the development of domestic and world rocketry and the development of missile weapons, and then nuclear missile systems, as well as the improvement of the possibilities of their use in combat conditions. The material basis for the creation of the Strategic Missile Forces was the deployment in the Soviet Union of a new branch of the defense industry - rocketry.
In 1946-1959, in our country, new nuclear missile weapons were actively created and designed, as well as the first samples of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), there was a process of forming missile units capable of solving operational tasks in front-line and strategic offensive operations in all adjacent military theaters. action. At the time of the creation of the Strategic Missile Forces in December 1959, the USSR Armed Forces had one unit armed with ICBMs (R-7 and R-7A missiles), as well as 7 engineering brigades and more than 40 engineering regiments of medium-range missiles (IRBMs) armed with R- missiles. 5 and R-12 with a range of 1200 and 2000 km, respectively. About half of these regiments were part of the long-range aviation of the Air Force.
In 1959-1965, missile units and formations equipped with ICBMs and IRBMs were actively deployed and put on alert. These units were capable of solving any strategic tasks in various military-geographical regions and in any possible theater of military operations. The process of continuous increase in the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the domestic missile systems being put into service contributed to the establishment of nuclear parity between the two superpowers, the USA and the USSR, by the beginning of the 1970s. At the same time, the growth of the combat capabilities of each of the sides was not stopped - more and more powerful and sophisticated ballistic missiles were adopted, and the traditional monoblock missile warheads were replaced by multiple missile warheads, and quite quickly such multiple warheads of ballistic missiles received individual targeting systems. …
By the mid-1980s, the country began mass production of Topol mobile ICBMs, the development and production of which was a major step in ensuring the secrecy and invulnerability of strategic forces. The massive deployment of the Topol mobile ground-based missile system (PGRK) as part of the Strategic Missile Forces grouping of the Republic of Kazakhstan made it possible to solve the problem of its survivability in the face of a possible enemy nuclear strike. Experts attributed the main advantages of the complex to high mobility, the degree of camouflage, the ability to launch missiles from pre-prepared route points and, due to this, great survivability.
The achieved balance of nuclear forces, the quantitative and qualitative composition of carriers of nuclear weapons and warheads, and later changes in the military-political situation in the late 1980s - early 1990s made it possible to rethink and assess the futility of the arms race and conclude the USSR, and later and Russia, a number of treaties with the United States on the mutual reduction of strategic nuclear weapons. The first such agreement was signed back in 1972. In 1987, an agreement was signed between the Soviet Union and the United States on the elimination of medium and short-range missiles, as part of the execution of this agreement, the RSD and launchers for them were destroyed, including 72 RSD-10 Pioneer missiles.
Today, the combat strength of the Strategic Missile Forces of Russia includes three directorates of missile armies with units and subdivisions of direct subordination, 12 missile divisions (including 8 mobile-based and 4 stationary). In total, they are armed with about 400 launchers with mobile and stationary missiles. In total, the Strategic Missile Forces missile divisions are armed with six types of missile systems. The basis of the grouping of Russian stationary missiles is made up of “heavy” (RS-20V “Voevoda”) and “light” (RS-18A “Stilet”, RS-12M2 “Topol-M”) missiles. The mobile-based group includes the Topol PGRK with RS-12M missiles, Topol-M with an RS-12M2 monoblock missile and the most modern Yars PGRK with an RS-12M2R intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a multiple warhead in a mobile and stationary basing options. The share of new missile systems in the Strategic Missile Forces grouping is constantly increasing. It is planned that by 2022, 100 percent of the new missile systems will be in the Strategic Missile Forces.
Camouflage of the Topol-M mobile ground-based strategic missile system
So in 2018, another missile regiment equipped with mobile-based Yars was put on alert in the Yoshkar-Ola Strategic Missile Forces formation. In addition, in the current year, measures were completed to put on alert the missile regiment of the Kozelsk compound, which is armed with the stationary-based Yars RK. Over the past few years, the purchase of Yars missile launchers has made it possible to ensure a steady pace of rearmament of a grouping of ICBMs, both mobile and silo-based. The implementation of the planned measures for 2018 to re-equip military units and formations of the Strategic Missile Forces of Russia made it possible to increase the share of modern missile weapons to 70 percent, as well as to give the existing group new capabilities to solve the most important tasks of nuclear deterrence.
During 2018, the Strategic Missile Forces conducted 50 command-staff and tactical exercises (trainings) and more than 30 special exercises in the types of all-round support, more than 200 tactical exercises and 300 tactical combat exercises with missile regiments (divisions). With military units and support units, 100 field exits were carried out, as well as more than 100 exits of missile regiments to combat patrol routes (combat positions), including sudden exits, the official website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reports.
Throughout its history, the Strategic Missile Forces have never been used as a military force, however, together with other components of the domestic strategic nuclear forces, they were visibly present when solving a large number of problematic issues of a military-political nature. Since the establishment of the Strategic Missile Forces, more than 5,000 missile launches have been carried out in our country, including about 500 combat training ones in the course of operational and combat training of troops. Since its inception, more than 12 million people have served in the Strategic Missile Forces. Among them were six twice Heroes of the Soviet Union, 101 Heroes of the Soviet Union, two full holders of the Order of Glory and six heroes of the Russian Federation.
The Strategic Missile Forces is a fairly young branch of the armed forces in all respects. In the 21st century, there is a steady trend towards rejuvenation of the command personnel of the Strategic Missile Forces. As of 2013, the average age of officers serving in the Strategic Missile Forces was less than 33, with 48 percent of officers under 30. Another feature of this type of troops is its staffing with officers by almost 100 percent. The available quantitative and, more importantly, qualitative characteristics of the officers of the Strategic Missile Forces allow them to successfully solve important tasks of maintaining the combat readiness of the units and formations entrusted to them.
Today, professional personnel for the Strategic Missile Forces of Russia are trained at the Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces named after Peter the Great, which is located in the Moscow region in the city of Balashikha. It is here that the training of officers of the Strategic Missile Forces with higher education is carried out, and specialists for the 12th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and directorates of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are trained here. In 2018, this academy and its branch, located in Serpukhov, planned to enroll about 1000 people. Also in 2018, 10 girls were admitted to study at the academy, the competition was 8 people per place. The girls will be trained in the specialty: "Application and operation of automated systems for special purposes", the training period - 5 years on the basis of secondary general or secondary vocational education.
December 17 Voennoye Obozreniye congratulates the active and former military personnel of the Strategic Missile Forces on their professional holiday.
