Exactly a quarter of a century ago, in August 1988, the R-36M2 Voevoda missile system with an 15A18M intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was adopted by the Soviet strategic missile forces. Despite their considerable age, the Voevoda missiles are still one of the most massive strategic weapons in our country. Nevertheless, even such powerful and perfect systems become obsolete over time and exhaust their resources. It should be noted that the resource of the R-36M family of missiles has been extended several times in recent years, and this has a corresponding effect on the average age of strategic weapons and the state of the Strategic Missile Forces as a whole. Therefore, for several years now, scientific and design work has been going on, the purpose of which is to create a new ICBM capable of fully replacing old missiles of this class.
Discussion of the topic of creating a new heavy intercontinental ballistic missile began shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but at that time, due to the difficult economic and political situation in the country, the promising project remained at the level of the first conversations. In the future, the topic was raised again at various levels, but only in the middle of the last decade, the discussion turned into the first real actions. The project called "Sarmat" was launched no later than the first half of 2009. At that time, the first information about the purpose of the new project had already appeared. According to representatives of the Strategic Missile Forces Command, the Sarmat ICBM will replace the weapons of the R-36M family, which are nearing the end of their service life.
ICBM 15A18M complex R-36M2 "Voyevoda" (Orenburg)
As it became known in the past 2012, the head enterprise for the development of a new ICBM is the State Missile Center. V. P. Makeeva (GRTs). In addition, the project involves the Reutov NPO Mashinostroeniya and several other specialized organizations. Some sources contain information about the involvement of the Ukrainian Design Bureau "Yuzhnoye" in the work, but this information is still an assumption and has not been officially confirmed.
Earlier it was stated that by the beginning of 2011, the creation of a draft design of a promising missile complex should have been completed. Further, it was supposed to consider it and make appropriate decisions. As it became known later, the draft version of the Sarmat project passed all the necessary procedures shortly after which, in the same 2011, technical requirements for a promising ICBM were approved. At the same time, the study of the main components of the project began, such as the work plan, economic aspects, etc. As of the second half of last year, a number of works within the framework of the Sarmat project have reached the stage of creating mock-ups of some units of the onboard electronics of the rocket.
In September 2012, the commander-in-chief of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel-General S. Karakaev, spoke about the plans of the Ministry of Defense regarding the creation of new heavy ICBMs. According to him, the promising rocket will have a launch weight of one hundred tons and will appear by 2018. In mid-October, the media reported that the Ministry of Defense had reviewed the preliminary design of a promising missile and generally approved it, making some adjustments and expressing wishes. The customer's comments will be taken into account when creating a finished project, in accordance with which the construction of serial missiles will begin.
Unfortunately, there is still very little information about the Sarmat ICBM project. In fact, only the approximate launch weight of the rocket and the planned construction period for the first serial ammunition are now known. In this regard, more detailed information about the design and characteristics of the rocket in the coming years will be purely evaluative. Nevertheless, taking into account the peculiarities of previous ICBM projects and their characteristics, one can make appropriate assumptions about the Sarmat missile. In addition, over the past years, information has appeared several times that may be relevant to the new project.
There is already information about the type of power plant of the Sarmat ICBM complex - the new ballistic missile will receive liquid-propellant rocket engines. The rest of the nuances of the project are currently classified. At the same time, there is information about the research work "Argumentation", carried out several years ago by the State Research and Development Center im. Makeeva and NPO Mashinostroeniya. In the course of this program, the possibilities of creating a promising ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile were considered, taking into account the available technologies and experience. The general results of the study were as follows. Within 7-8 years, having spent about 8-8, 5 billion rubles, the defense industry of our country is capable of developing and launching into serial production of ICBMs with a range of up to 10 thousand kilometers and with a throw weight of about 4350 kg.
Based on the starting weight of a promising rocket, appropriate conclusions can be drawn about the launcher. Most likely, the Sarmat ICBM will use silo launchers similar to those used in existing missile systems, including the R-36M family. Also, one cannot exclude the possibility that the launching silos of the Voevoda and Sarmat missiles will have a high degree of unification. This assumption is supported by the information provided by the MilitaryRussia.ru portal with reference to sources close to the missile industry. So, back in 2009, it was decided to re-equip several launchers of the Baikonur test site. There are no details about this conversion.
Perhaps the most interesting issue in the context of a new ICBM is its combat load. The Topol and Topol-M missiles carry monobloc warheads, and the newest Yars delivers several individually guided warheads to targets. Exact data on the payload of the Sarmat ICBM, for obvious reasons, are not yet available. At the same time, the most likely seems to be the use of a multiple warhead with individual guidance units. As an argument confirming this assumption, you can cite the launch mass of the rocket and the approximate throw weight (based on the information on the topic "Argumentation"). In addition, the Sarmat missile is designed to replace the Voevoda ICBM, and a full-fledged replacement will probably require a warhead of the same class.
It is worth recalling once again that almost all of the above information is estimates and assumptions. Currently, the Sarmat project is in its early stages and because of this, most of the information about it remains closed to the public. In the coming years, such data will appear rarely and in extremely small volumes. The main stream of news regarding a promising ICBM will begin only in 2016-18, i.e. by the promised completion date of the project. By this time, the R-36M2 Voevoda rocket will be 30 years old and the issue of its replacement will be even more acute than it is now.
