Russian mobile missile systems "Topol" ("Serp" according to NATO classification) still do not allow American "hawks" to sleep peacefully. No one other than the Russians was able to attach wheels to an intercontinental ballistic missile
In early March, the Strategic Missile Forces (Strategic Missile Forces) reported on another successful launch of an RS-12M Topol intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from the Kapustin Yar state central inter-service range in the Astrakhan region. As expected, the training warhead of this missile hit a conditional target at the Sary-Shagan training ground (Republic of Kazakhstan) with a given accuracy.
It would seem nothing special. Well, they shot and shot … But the current launch of Topol is interesting for at least two reasons. First, 40 years have passed since the beginning of the development of this complex, but not a single country in the world, except Russia, has been able to create a "rocket on wheels" of this scale. Second, the purpose of the current launch, as the military put it, was "to test promising combat equipment for intercontinental ballistic missiles." Translated into civilian language, this may mean that after these tests, Topol, and after them - Yars, Rubezh, and other Russian ICBMs can be equipped with new specialized anti-missile defense (ABM) complexes, which will be reduced to "No" many US efforts to create a missile defense system.
Why not?
The development of strategic missile systems, which would be located on the basis of a wheeled chassis, began in the Soviet Union in the mid-60s of the last century. By that time, Soviet designers and military leaders, apparently, had already begun to assume that the development of near-earth space would cause a rapid development of space reconnaissance. And after a while, potential adversaries will know, with an accuracy of a meter, the location of each other's mines, in which intercontinental ballistic missiles are on alert.
Therefore, back in the late 60s of the last century, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT) and the Central Design Bureau "Titan" began the development of two mobile ground-based missile systems (PGRK) at once, one of which was intended for launching ICBMs, and the second for launching medium-range ballistic missiles. … Both complexes were put into service at almost the same time - at the turn of 1975 / 1976. The most famous of them was the Pioneer PGRK (SS-20 according to NATO classification) with the 15Zh45 two-stage medium-range ballistic missile. "Pioneers" with a range of up to 5 thousand km and a throw weight of over 1.5 tons became one of the most significant factors in world politics in the 70s and 80s of the last century. By 1986, according to American intelligence, the USSR deployed 441 such a complex on alert, which, of course, terrified impressionable Europeans. Much less is known about PGRK "Temp-2S" with ICBM 15Zh42 (SS-16 Sinner according to NATO classification).
According to the data, again, of the foreign press, from 1976 to 1985 in the USSR, from 50 to 100 such complexes were deployed, each of which could throw one nuclear warhead at a distance of 10 thousand km. In general, the idea of "missiles on wheels" for Soviet military engineers 30-40 years ago turned out to be very productive. Design Bureau Yuzhnoye (Ukraine), for example, together with the Design Bureau for Special Engineering (St. Petersburg) in the 80s of the last century, created the 15P961 Molodets combat railroad missile system, which was capable of carrying three RT-23 ICBMs on board. UTTH, each of which threw 10 warheads with a capacity of 0.43 Mt into the territory of a potential enemy at a distance of more than 10 thousand km. And MIT, continuing the theme of medium-range ballistic missiles, on the basis of the second and third stages of the RS-12M missile and a warhead with three warheads from 15Zh45, developed a new Velocity missile, which further enhanced the combat capabilities of Soviet medium-range missiles on the European theater of possible hostilities.
However, soon there was no trace of this diversity. According to the Soviet-American agreements, in 1986 the PGRK "Temp-2S" was removed from combat duty and destroyed. A year later, MIT was ordered to cease all work on a new medium-range ballistic high-speed missile and its corresponding mobile carrier. Following this, in a hurry - literally in 4 years, all the existing PGRK "Pioneer" were destroyed. The latter, already in 2003-2005, were removed from combat duty and destroyed the combat railway missile systems (although, at the insistence of Great Britain, they were put on hold already in 1992).
At the same time, which is especially interesting, not a single foreign country has managed to create anything like a combat railway missile system and mobile ground missile systems, which were mass-produced in the USSR in the 80s. The Americans, for example, have only one known development - a PGRK with a light (launch weight of 13.6 tons) MGM-134 Midgetman ICBMs. But they only started work on its creation in 1983-1985. And in 1991 this program was successfully closed, due, obviously, to the obvious successes of US diplomats in disarming the Soviet Union.
Surviving sprout
The only one who survived after such a defeat of Soviet mobile missile systems was the RS-12M Topol PGRK (SS-25 Sickle according to NATO classification), the development of which was carried out by MIT in the early 80s of the last century using developments in "Tempu-2S" and "Pioneer" (the latest version of the "Pioneer" launcher - "Pioneer-3", was largely unified with the "Topol"). The first regiment, equipped with "Topols", according to the generally accepted version, took up combat duty in July 1985 in the Yoshkar-Ola area, although the complex itself was officially adopted only in 1988.
The 15Zh58 rocket is a solid-propellant rocket, made according to the scheme with three sustainer stages. The total mass of the rocket is 45 tons. It is housed in a sealed transport and launch container 22.3 m long and 2 m in diameter, in which constant temperature and humidity are maintained. The warhead is monoblock. Throwing weight - 1 ton. Charge power - 0.55 mt. The maximum firing range is 10 thousand km. The warranty period of the rocket (the time during which the rocket is capable of performing the assigned tasks) was initially set at 10 years. However, in November 2005, a rocket was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the direction of the Kura test site in Kamchatka, which had been on alert for 20 years by that time. The rocket worked properly. In September 2011, the military launched the Poplar, launched in 1988. This launch was also successful.
The semi-axle MAZ-7912 was originally used as a chassis for the launcher of the mobile complex. Later, MAZ-7917 with a 14x12 wheel arrangement began to be used. Diesel engine power of the car is 710 hp. The mass of the missile launcher is about 100 tons. Despite this, the Topol complex has good mobility and maneuverability. In addition to the mobile launcher, the complex includes a command post and other auxiliary units located on 4-axle wheeled off-road chassis (MAZ-543A, MAZ-543M).
The combat readiness (preparation time for the launch) from the moment the order is received to the missile launch is 2 minutes. At the same time, unlike, for example, the "Pioneers", the launch can be carried out both from the patrol route of the complex, and from stationary duty stations (for this, the roofs of hangars, where the "Topol" are located, are made sliding). To launch from a march, the launcher stops in the most suitable place for this, powerful jacks fix it horizontally, the container with the rocket rises in a vertical position, the powder pressure accumulator placed in the container throws the rocket up several meters, the first stage engine is turned on and …. hello to the one who attacked us. In addition to the increased survivability of the Topol, which is directly related to their mobility, their missiles have the ability to actively penetrate the enemy's anti-missile defense system. Unlike conventional ballistic missiles, they, for example, can drastically change their flight path, minimizing the possibility of interception.
According to data from open sources, the maximum number of "Topols" in service with the Soviet / Russian Strategic Missile Forces was 369 units. Now, of course, there are fewer of them, since back in the early 90s of the last century, the Russian leadership decided to modernize this missile system, and in April 2000, the 15Ж65 intercontinental ballistic missile (15Ж55 in the PGRK version) was adopted by the Strategic Missile Forces, and the complex itself became known as RS-12M2 "Topol-M". Unlike the "old" missile, the new "Topol" is made in two versions - silo-based and mobile-based (hence the different missile indexes). He has, according to data from open sources, increased the flight range to 11 thousand km. Judging by some of the available information, the missile began to rise faster at the initial stage of the trajectory, more quickly to dodge enemy anti-missiles and received more opportunities to deceive the missile defense system. She, for example, can release up to 20 decoys at the final stage of the trajectory. But the power of the missile's warhead remained the same, as well as the number of warheads - one. It was decided to use the eight-axle development of the same Minsk plant MZKT-79221 as the chassis of the launcher. He increased the engine power to 800 hp. and the cruising range at one fuel filling increased to 500 km. In addition, last year it became known that new engineering support and camouflage vehicles began to enter service with the Topol-M PGRK, the purpose of which is to disguise the traces of combat mobile missile systems that went on duty, and to create traces clearly visible to enemy satellites leading to the false combat positions of the PGRK.
Nevertheless, apparently, and "Topol-M" will gradually begin to disappear from the scene, giving way to the newer "Yars" (RS-24), which was developed by "MIT". The military argue that Yars, first of all, should replace the mine-based RS-18 missiles, which have been in service since 1975 (these 105-ton vehicles throw 6 warheads of 550 kt each at a distance of 10 thousand km). And such a replacement has already been underway for the past few years. However, back in 2009, the Strategic Missile Forces command stated that the Topol-M, of course, is a good machine, but one warhead is still not very good.
And Yars, which, in fact, is a continuation of the Topol family, has at least four such warheads (American journalists call the number 10, but this is probably because of emotions). At the same time, it is obvious that it has similar data to the Topol in terms of weight and size, so the Yars is already being supplied to the Strategic Missile Forces not only in a mine, but also in a mobile ground version. This year, for example, the Russian armed forces are to receive more than two dozen mobile ground-based missile systems armed with Yars.
