Several decades ago, in the Soviet Union, work began on the subject of mobile ground-based missile systems (PGRK), designed to arm strategic missile forces. It was believed that such systems, entering patrol routes, could remain intact after a nuclear missile strike by a potential adversary by moving away from potentially dangerous areas. Work in a promising direction gave the expected result. As a result, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces still have several types of PGRKs, and in the future, new similar systems are likely to appear.
In the early eighties, one of the new projects of a mobile ground rocket complex was launched at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT). According to some reports, it was originally called "Temp-SM", but later received a new designation - 15P159 "Courier". It was under this name that the project went down in the history of Russian rocketry. The Courier project was a response to the American Midgetman program. Since 1983, American specialists have been developing a mobile missile system armed with an intercontinental ballistic missile with a flight range of at least 10 thousand km. An important feature of the Midgetman project was the limitations on the size and launch weight of the rocket. The latter, ready for launch, was supposed to weigh no more than 15-17 tons.
This is exactly the unit that was tested. The only thing that has been corrected in the photo is his number has been removed.
On July 21, 1983, the USSR Council of Ministers issued a decree, according to which the MIT was to develop a missile system with similar characteristics. The limitations on the dimensions and launch weight of the rocket, although they complicated the development, could have a number of positive consequences. Studies have shown that a relatively small rocket can be used not only with silo launchers or vehicles based on special chassis. The carriers of the "Courier" product could be special automobile semi-trailers or containers of standard sizes and trains. In addition, the transportation of missiles by military transport aircraft was facilitated.
The initiator and one of the main supporters of the new project was the commander-in-chief of the Strategic Missile Forces V. F. Tolubko. The head of work on the "Courier" theme was A. D. Nadiradze. In 1987, B. N. Lagutin. The Votkinsk Machine-Building Plant was involved in the project, which first had to build the required number of experimental missiles, and then master the mass production of new products. Tests and the start of serial production of the Kurier missile systems were planned for the beginning of the nineties.
The main element of the new complex was to be an intercontinental ballistic missile 15Ж59 "Courier". Specific requirements for this product forced MIT and related organizations to conduct a large number of research and testing, to master new materials and technologies. So, it is known that the latest composite materials were widely used in the design of the rocket body, and the instrumental equipment had to be built on the basis of the most modern element base. Thus, the Kurier missile system could be considered a representative of a new generation of systems of its class.
Tests on the stand of lateral stability SO-100
The 15Zh59 rocket, according to a number of sources, was to be built according to a three-stage scheme with a separate stage of breeding. All stages of the product were supposed to be equipped with solid-propellant rocket engines using a new type of fuel. In the design of engines, in order to reduce their dimensions, nozzles partially recessed into the body could be used. In the head part, there was to be a breeding stage with a payload.
The Kurier rocket turned out to be uniquely compact. Its length did not exceed 11, 2 m, and the maximum hull diameter was 1, 36 m. In the early stages of the project, it was supposed to “keep within” the starting weight at the level of 15 tons, but later it had to be increased to 17 tons. The throw weight was about 500 kg. The 15Zh59 rocket was supposed to carry a monoblock warhead with a nuclear warhead with a capacity of no more than 150 kt.
For guidance, the Kurier rocket had to use an inertial guidance system based on a modern element base. Rotary engine nozzles and lattice rudders of the first stage could be used as controls.
According to available data, despite its low weight and dimensions, the promising intercontinental missile "Courier" was supposed to deliver a warhead at a range of up to 10-11 thousand km. The circular probable deviation should not have exceeded 350-400 m.
At the manufacturing plant, the rocket was to be loaded into a transport and launch container, which was supposed to be installed on the lifting mechanisms of a self-propelled launcher. The launcher itself was proposed to be built on the basis of a special multi-axle chassis with appropriate characteristics. During the development of the project, the appearance of the chassis was constantly changing. The "Courier" complex could use a chassis with three, four and five axles. According to some sources, it was first proposed to use a 6x6 chassis, but then, due to certain difficulties, it was necessary to develop and integrate machines with a more complex chassis into the complex. According to other sources, the first to appear was a six-axle (!) Chassis, after the design of which there was a proposal to reduce the base machine by several wheelsets.
Since almost all the documentation for the Courier project is still classified, it is difficult to say which version is true. Both versions look plausible, since all the chassis mentioned in the context of the Courier project were actually developed and tested. So, it was proposed to make a six-axle mobile launcher based on the MAZ-7916 chassis, a five-axle one based on MAZ-7929, and a four-axle one MAZ-7909.
Sources describing the sequential reduction in the number of axles provide some details of this process. So, initially, the units of the "Courier" complex were to be mounted on the basis of MAZ-7916, but already at the beginning of 1985 it was proposed to use a promising five-axle chassis, which did not yet exist. In the spring of the same year, they proposed to develop a 6x6 and 8x8 chassis, and in April 86 they decided to build a four-axle chassis. However, such a machine did not fully meet the requirements of the military, which is why at the beginning of 1988 they decided to build a launcher based on the five-axle MAZ-7929. This machine received the index 15U160M.
Oscillations with the choice of the base chassis affected the development time of the launcher. The project of the five-axle vehicle was completed only in 1991, after which the MAZ enterprise supplied the necessary equipment to the Volgograd PO Barrikady, where a set of special equipment was to be installed on it.
Special attention should be paid to a special version of the "Courier" complex, intended for the covert transfer of missiles to a given area. The small weight and dimensions of the product made it possible to place the rocket in a specially equipped standard cargo container or car semitrailer. Such a self-propelled launcher could, without attracting attention, move throughout the country and, if ordered, carry out a launch.
The MAZ-6422 truck tractor and the MAZ-9389 semi-trailer were chosen as the base for the disguised modification of the complex. An interesting fact is that the development of the "automobile" modification of the new missile system began shortly after the start of the project and the bulk of the work was carried out long before the final selection of the chassis for a mobile launcher of the "classic" type.
Already in September 1984, at the test site in Bronnitsy (Moscow region), preliminary tests of the proposed tractor and trailer were carried out. At the end of the first stage of testing, the truck was transferred to the Gomel region, where for a long time it traveled along local roads. The testing ground was the Leningrad-Kiev-Odessa highways (with two bridges), Minsk-Gomel and Bryansk-Gomel-Kobrin.
During the tests, the specialists collected various information about the operation of the machine units, about its characteristics, as well as about the arising loads on objects in the semitrailer, etc. Based on the test results, a list of requirements for the equipment was formed, which was supposed to be transported in a car semitrailer. The collected data was actively used in the development of the 15Zh59 rocket and other elements of the promising missile system.
According to some sources, the modification of the missile system based on a civilian tractor with a semitrailer remained at the stage of preliminary research. The creation of such a version of the "Courier" complex was associated with a number of specific problems. In particular, there were no communication and control systems with the necessary characteristics that could be mounted on a civilian truck.
The Kurier rocket, regardless of the type of base chassis, was supposed to be launched from a transport and launch container attached to the lifting mechanisms of a self-propelled launcher. As in the case with other domestic intercontinental missiles, it was proposed to use the so-called. cold start with a powder pressure accumulator. After leaving the container and rising to a certain height, the rocket had to turn on the first stage engine and go to the target.
In March 1989, the first prototype Courier missiles were delivered to the Plesetsk test site, which had a simplified design and equipment. These products were to be used during drop tests, the purpose of which was to check and test the units of the launcher and the automation responsible for starting. The first throw-in launch took place in March 1989. Such tests continued until May 90. A total of 4 throw launches were performed.
In 1990, specialists from MIT and related enterprises continued to develop the project. At the same time, they had to wait for the completion of work on a mobile launcher based on a special chassis. The assembly of the latter began only in 1991. In the middle of the 92nd, it was planned to complete the preparation of all units of the "Courier" complex and conduct the first flight tests of the new rocket. However, in October 1991, just a couple of months before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the project was closed. The reasons for this were the economic situation in the country, the change in the political situation in the international arena, as well as the cancellation of the development of the American Midgetman project.
The project of the 15P159 Kurier mobile ground missile system with the 15Zh59 missile was closed. Nevertheless, the developments on this system have not disappeared. In the nineties, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering was actively working on a number of promising missile technology projects for the Strategic Missile Forces and the Navy. Certain components, assemblies and technologies are used in the Topol-M, Bulava, etc. missiles. For example, the Kurier small-sized lightweight missile control system is used on the Start launch vehicle, which lasted from 1993 to 2006. Thus, the Kurier project did not lead to the emergence of the PGRK of the same name, but to a certain extent helped with the creation of new weapons.
