They say that the new is the well-forgotten old. Nevertheless, sometimes there are situations when a return to the old is both expedient and even necessary.
We are talking about BZHRK - combat railway missile systems. At the end of the Soviet era, our country possessed such a miracle weapon. Moreover, the term "miracle weapon" is not ironic. BZHRK "Molodets", in spite of all the difficulties of operation, have become even more hemorrhoids for the special services of our potential enemy.
Today, a potential adversary is mostly called "partner", but the essence of this does not change one iota. NATO, as it pulled itself up to the borders of Russia, continues its march in this direction, and the missile defense system, no matter how the United States tries to convince everyone that it is directed against Iran, more and more strives to position itself near our borders.
President Putin announced that we will take adequate measures to counteract. Apparently, one of such measures was the revival of the BZHRK. Of course, not at all in the form in which they existed in the 90s.
A small excursion into history.
The Soviet missile system 15P961 "Molodets" (RT-23 UTTH) was on alert in the Strategic Missile Forces of the Armed Forces of the USSR and Russia in the period from 1987 to 1994 in the amount of 12 units. Then (by 2007) all the complexes were dismantled and destroyed, with the exception of two transferred to museums.
On the railways of the USSR and Russia it had the symbol “train number zero”.
The BZHRK consisted of a standard train configuration for the complex:
- three three-car launch modules with RT-23UTTKh ICBMs;
- command module consisting of 7 cars;
- tank car with reserves of fuel and lubricants;
- two diesel locomotives DM-62.
A separate locomotive brigade was on duty in each of the locomotives. When preparing officer locomotive brigades of the BZHRK, for a detailed acquaintance with the route, they were periodically dispatched to civilian trains following the same route.
The BZHRK looked like a regular train of refrigerated and passenger cars. The launch modules had eight wheelsets each. The rest of the wagons - supply wagons - have four wheelsets each.
Even from the satellite, it was difficult to distinguish the BZHRK from the usual mixed composition. The only thing that the BZHRK could give out were built-in locomotives. But over time, more powerful diesel locomotives were developed, and there were two locomotives. And for camouflage, heavy trains of the USSR Ministry of Railways were also equipped with two pairs of locomotives.
An ingenious creation of Soviet engineering. It was created by teams led by brothers, Academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin and Alexei Fedorovich Utkin. Alexey Utkin created the launch train itself, and Vladimir Utkin created the rocket and the launch complex. And they coped with the task, leaving behind a weapon that the United States has never been able to create. This applies to both the BZHRK as a whole and the RT-23 missile.
RT-23 missile, NATO classification SS-24 "Scalpel".
The warhead of an individual targeting missile with ten warheads with a yield of 0.43 Mt and a complex of means of overcoming missile defense.
The firing range is 10100 km.
The length of the rocket is 23.0 m.
The length of the launch container is 21 m.
The maximum diameter of the rocket body is 2.4 m.
The launch weight of the rocket is 104.8 tons.
The mass of the rocket with the launch container is 126 tons.
The TR-23 was solid propellant, the warhead was covered with a variable geometry aerodynamic fairing (initially inflatable, later folding). This design of the fairing is due to the presence of restrictions imposed on the dimensions of the rocket by the dimensions of a railway car.
In general, 512 inventions and patents were registered during the creation of this railway rocket launcher. It makes no sense to list them, because it will take up too much space, and behind each patent is the work of Soviet engineers who have successfully created a unique combat complex. That there is only retractable nozzles and fairings, fitted to the size of the car, a system for removing gases from the bed, a system for removing contact wires, if the launch was carried out from an electrified section of the road.
A strange device on the roof of the outer car: a mechanism for removing the contact wires
Hydraulic supports, which were loaded when the rocket was extended to the launch position
BZHRK "Well done", immediately became a headache for the Pentagon. To track them, a special constellation of satellites was launched into orbit, and in the late 80s, when the BZHRK had already entered the routes, a container with tracking equipment was sent from Vladivostok to Sweden by rail under the guise of commercial cargo. However, Soviet counterintelligence quickly "figured out" the container and was taken off the train. American General Colin Powell once confessed to the creator of the BZHRK Academician Alexei Utkin: "Looking for your rocket trains is like a needle in a haystack."
Paradoxically, the Americans spent more money per year on tracking, or rather, on attempts to track the BZHRK than the creators spent on developing the train. And "Well done" quietly dissolved in the vast expanses of our vast country. And they threatened potential opponents with Scalpels.
By 1991, three missile divisions were deployed, equipped with 12 BZHRKs: in the Kostroma and Perm regions, the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Within a radius of 1,500 kilometers from the location of the connections, the railway track was modernized: wooden sleepers were replaced with reinforced concrete ones, heavy rails were laid, the embankments were reinforced with denser gravel.
For complete camouflage, such work was carried out in other regions of the country.
Out of combat duty, the BZHRK was in cover. Then he moved to a certain point on the railway network and divided into three. The locomotives took the launchers to the launch sites - usually they were located around the point in a triangle. But in general, the launch could be made from any point on the route.
The train included a fuel tank (also disguised as a refrigerator) and a pipeline system that made it possible to refuel locomotives on the go. There were also sleeping cars for the crew, supplies of water and food. The autonomy of the BZHRK was 28 days.
Having worked out the launch of missiles at one point, the train set off for the next - there were more than 200 of them in the Soviet Union. The BZHRK could cover over a thousand kilometers per day. For reasons of secrecy, the routes were laid past large stations, and if it was impossible to bypass them, then their rocket trains passed without stopping and at dawn, when there were fewer people.
Since the BZHRK was planned as a retaliatory strike weapon, in 1991 the "Shining" experiment was carried out - on the effect of electromagnetic radiation, and "Shift". The latter simulated a kiloton nuclear explosion. At the test site in Plesetsk, 650 meters from the rocket train, 100,000 anti-tank mines, taken from warehouses in eastern Germany and laid in a 20-meter pyramid, were detonated.
A funnel with a diameter of 80 meters formed at the site of the explosion, the sound pressure level in the habitable compartments of the BZHRK reached the pain threshold (150 decibels), one of the launchers showed withdrawal from readiness. But after rebooting the onboard computer complex, the rocket was launched.
According to the START-2 treaty (1993), Russia had to remove from service all RT-23UTTKh missiles by 2003. At the time of decommissioning, Russia had three missile divisions (Kostroma, Perm and Krasnoyarsk), a total of 12 trains with 36 launchers. For the disposal of "rocket trains" a special "cutting" line was installed at the Bryansk repair plant of the Strategic Missile Forces. Despite Russia's withdrawal from the START II treaty in 2002, during 2003-2007 all trains and launchers were destroyed, except for two demilitarized ones and installed as exhibits in the museum of railway equipment at the Varshavsky railway station in St. Petersburg and in the Technical Museum of AvtoVAZ …
In early May 2005, as the commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov officially announced, the BZHRK was removed from combat duty in the Strategic Missile Forces. The commander said that instead of the BZHRK, starting in 2006, the troops will begin to receive the Topol-M ground mobile missile system.
But "Topol-M" is absolutely no match for "Scalpel". Yes, more modern and protected, the Topol-M is ten times inferior to the Scalpel in terms of warhead power.
And finally, the news came that the revival of the BZHRK had begun in Russia. Moreover, on May 12, there was information that the production of components for a new train, which will be called "Barguzin", has begun. And by 2020 the Barguzins will be on alert.
Of course, the development of technology affected the appearance and composition of the new BZHRK. Three (and even two) powerful diesel locomotives are likely to replace one. As an option - GT1-001 gas turbine locomotive (locomotive with a gas turbine engine). It uses an electric transmission: a gas turbine engine that runs on liquefied natural gas is connected to a generator, and the current generated by the latter is supplied to electric motors, which drive the locomotive.
The capacity of the gas turbine locomotive is 8, 3 thousand kW, which is the highest indicator for this type of locomotive in the world.
Russian Railways gives the following characteristics of the tested model: the speed is up to 100 km / h, one filling is enough for 750 km, the fuel is liquefied natural gas.
On September 7, 2011 GT1-001 set a new world record by driving a freight train along the VNIIZhT ring weighing 16 thousand tons (170 cars).
One BZHRK will be armed with not one, but 6 missiles. And one train will be equated to a shelf.
The RS-26 missile system, aka Yars-M, aka Avangard, aka Rubezh. In the modification specifically for the BZHRK, it will be "Rubezh".
The missile is equipped with an individual targeting multiple warhead and has a complex of means of overcoming antimissile defense. Solid-fuel, three-stage, flight range up to 11 thousand km, can be equipped with 4 warheads with a capacity of 150-300 kilotons.
Rubezh is equipped with hypersonic maneuvering warheads to break through even promising missile defense systems. According to experts, at least 50 SM-3 interceptor missiles are required to defeat the RS-26 hypersonic maneuvering warhead (hello, missile defense!).
Is this approach adequate, recalling the words of Putin? I am sure that it is. Our "potential n" calculated that when 25 such complexes are dispersed over our vast territory, the possibility of hitting the BZHRK is estimated at no more than 10%. Provided that a Voevoda missile is used, or similar in accuracy and ability to fly. What our "potential n" has not yet been observed. But the "Rubezhi", capable of flying 11,000 kilometers, will quite calmly reach those lines …
Well, there will be something to talk about before the US Congress, demanding new and new allocations of funds "for defense." Good luck, as they say.
If, indeed, by 2020 the Barguzins will take over the DB, it will be a little easier for us to breathe. Yes, creating and building everything you need is a very expensive business. But BZHRK is not an aircraft carrier. It will be easier and cheaper. And how much pleasure the "potential" …
Unfortunately, we live in such times.
The only pity is that brothers Alexei and Vladimir Utkin, who watched the death of their offspring in the cutting lines, kindly provided to us by their American partners, will not see this.
Vladimir Fedorovich died in 2000, Alexey Fedorovich - in 2014.
But if the "Barguzins" replace the "Molodtsev" to protect the peace of our country, it means that the work to which the geniuses from the very heart of the Ryazan region gave their whole lives is done.
