The head of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation, Sergei Ivanov, said that an agreement on the prohibition of intermediate and shorter-range ground-based missiles could not exist indefinitely. In an interview with the Russia 24 TV channel within the framework of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Ivanov noted that recently this type of weapon has begun to develop in the countries neighboring Russia. According to the head of the presidential administration, the Americans did not need this class of weapons either before or now, because theoretically they could only fight with Mexico or Canada with it.
So what are medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs)? Why can't Russia now have them and what advantages will the adoption of the MRBM give it?
AT THE Dawn of the Rocket Era
For older people, the cliché: "The American military is intensifying the arms race." However, now, when previously closed information about the development of strategic weapons became publicly available, it turned out that all this was true, but stupid to the point of absurdity by incompetent propagandists. It was the Americans who created the first nuclear bomb, its first carriers - the "flying fortresses" B-29, B-50, B-36, the world's first strategic jet bombers B-47 and B-52. The USA also has the palm in the creation of the MRBM. Another question is that here the difference in terms was not four years, as with the atomic bomb, but was calculated in months.
The "grandmother" of the US and Soviet MRBMs was the famous German ballistic missile FAU-2, designed by SS Sturmbannfuehrer Baron Werner von Braun. Well, in 1950, Wernher von Braun, in collaboration with Chrysler, began work on the Redstone rocket - the development of the FAU-2. Flight range - 400 km, launch weight - 28 tons. The missile was equipped with a W-3942 thermonuclear warhead with a capacity of 3.8 Mt. In 1958, the 217th Redstone Missile Division was deployed to West Germany, where it took up combat duty the same year.
The Soviet response to the Redstone was the R-5 rocket. The preliminary design of the R-5 was completed in October 1951. The weight of the warhead with a conventional explosive according to the project is 1425 kg, the firing range is 1200 km with a probable deviation from the target at a range of ± 1.5 km and lateral ± 1.25 km. Alas, the R-5 rocket initially did not have a nuclear charge. She had a high-explosive warhead or a warhead with radioactive substances "Generator-5". Note that this is the name of the warhead, but in a number of documents the entire product was called that. From September 5 to December 26, 1957, three launches of the R-5 were carried out with the "Generator-5" warhead.
In accordance with the decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of April 10, 1954, OKB-1 on the basis of the R-5 rocket began the development of the R-5M rocket with a nuclear charge. The firing range remained unchanged - 1200 km. The warhead with a nuclear warhead was separated from the hull in flight. The probable deviation from the target in range was ± 1.5 km, and the lateral deviation was ± 1.25 km.
On February 2, 1956, Operation Baikal was carried out. The R-5M missile carried a nuclear charge for the first time. Having flown about 1200 km, the warhead without destruction reached the surface in the area of the Aral Karakum Desert. A percussion fuse went off, causing a nuclear explosion with a yield of about 80 kt. By a decree of the USSR Council of Ministers of June 21, 1956, the R-5M rocket was adopted by the Soviet army under the index 8K51.
Redstone and R-5M can be considered the "mothers" of medium-range ballistic missiles. Von Braun at Chrysler in 1955 began developing the Jupiter MRBM commissioned by the US Army. Initially, the new rocket was conceived as a deep modernization of the Redstone rocket and was even called Redstone II. But after a few months of work it was given a new name "Jupiter" and the index SM-78.
The launch weight of the rocket was 50 tons, the range was 2700–3100 km. The Jupiter was equipped with MK-3 warheads with a W-49 nuclear warhead. The weight of a nuclear charge is 744 - 762 kg, length - 1440 mm, diameter - 500 mm, power - 1.4 Mt.
Even before the decision to accept the Jupiter missile into service (it was adopted in the summer of 1958), on January 15, 1958, the formation of the 864th squadron of strategic missiles began, and a little later another - the 865th squadron. After thorough preparation, which included conducting a combat training launch from standard equipment on the territory of the test site, the squadrons were transferred to Italy (Joya base, 30 missiles) and Turkey (Crucible base, 15 missiles). The Jupiter missiles were aimed at the most important objects on the territory of the European part of the USSR.
The US Air Force, independently of the army, on December 27, 1955, signed a contract with Douglas Aircraft to design its own Tor MRBM. Its weight is 50 tons, range is 2800–3180 km, KVO is 3200 m. The Tor missile was equipped with an MK3 warhead with a W-49 nuclear warhead. The weight of the nuclear charge is 744–762 kg, the length is 1440 mm, the diameter is 500 mm, and the power is 1.4 Mt. The production of W-49 warheads was launched in September 1958.
Four squadrons of Thor missile systems with 15 missiles each were based in the southern part of England (York, Lincoln, Norwich, Northampton). A total of 60 missiles were deployed there. Some of the missile systems of this type in 1961 were transferred under the operational leadership of Great Britain, where they were placed at missile bases in Yorkshire and Suffolk. They were considered NATO's nuclear weapons. In addition, two squadrons of Tor missile systems were deployed in Italy and one in Turkey. Thus, in Europe, by mid-1962, there were 105 deployed Tor missiles.
OUR RESPONSE TO THE GOD OF SKY
The answer to the Jupiter and Thor was the Soviet R-12 and R-14 missiles. On August 13, 1955, the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a decree "On the creation and manufacture of R-12 (8K63) missiles with the beginning of flight design tests - April 1957".
The R-12 rocket had a detachable monoblock warhead with a charge of 1 Mt. In the early 60s, a cluster-type chemical warhead "Tuman" was developed for the R-12 missile. In July 1962, during operations K-1 and K-2, R-12 missiles with nuclear warheads were launched. The purpose of the tests is to study the effect of high-altitude nuclear explosions on radio communications, radars, aviation and missile technology.
On July 2, 1958, the USSR Council of Ministers issued a decree on the development of the R-14 (8K65) ballistic missile with a range of 3600 km. OKB-586 was appointed the lead developer. The start date for flight design tests is April 1960. On June 6, 1960, the first launch of the R-14 rocket was made at the Kapustin Yar test site. Its flight tests were completed in December 1960. By a resolution of the Council of Ministers of April 24, 1961, the combat missile system with the R-14 missile was adopted by the Strategic Missile Forces. Serial production of the R-14 missiles was carried out at plant number 586 in Dnepropetrovsk and plant number 166 in Omsk. In September 1962, R-14 missiles with a nuclear warhead were launched.
The design and operation of the first generation MRBMs of the United States and the USSR had much in common. They were all single-stage and had liquid-propellant jet engines. All were launched from open stationary launchers. The fundamental difference was that the Soviet MRBMs were based exclusively on their own territory and could not pose a threat to the United States. And the American MRBMs were stationed at bases in Europe and Turkey, from where they could strike across the entire European part of Russia.
This imbalance was upset by Nikita Khrushchev's decision to carry out Operation Anadyr, during which the 51st Missile Division under the command of Major General Igor Statsenko was secretly delivered to Cuba in 1962. The division had a special staff, it consisted of five regiments. Of these, three regiments had eight launchers for R-12 missiles and two regiments each had eight launchers for R-14 missiles. In total, 36 R-12 missiles and 24 R-14 missiles were to be delivered to Cuba.
About a third of the American territory from Philadelphia through St. Louis and Oklahoma City to the Mexican border was within the range of the R-12 missiles. The R-14 missiles could hit the entire US territory and part of the Canadian territory.
Within 48 days from the moment of arrival (that is, on October 27, 1962), the 51st division was ready to launch missiles from 24 launches. The missile preparation time for launch ranged from 16 to 10 hours, depending on the time of delivery of the missile warheads, which were stored separately.
A number of liberal historians argue that Operation Anadyr was Khrushchev's gamble. I am not going to polemicize with them, but I will only note that for all Russian emperors from Catherine II to Nicholas II, the arrival of troops of any European power in Turkey would become a "casus belli", that is, a pretext for war.
During the negotiations, the USA and the USSR reached an agreement according to which the USSR removed all missiles from Cuba, and the USA gave a guarantee of non-aggression against Cuba and took out Jupiter medium-range missiles from Turkey and Italy (45 in total) and Thor missiles from England (60 units). Thus, after the Cuban crisis, the US and Soviet MRBMs ended up in their own territories. The Torahs and Jupiters were stored in the United States until 1974-1975, while the R-12 and R-14 remained on alert.
"PIONEERS" OF THE COUNTRY OF COUNTRIES
In 1963-1964, modified R-12U missiles began to be installed in protected Dvina-type mines, and R-14U - in Chusovaya mines. The survivability of silo launchers for the R-12U Dvina and R-14U Chusovaya missiles was low. The radius of their destruction in the explosion of a 1 megaton bomb was 1.5–2 km. The combat positions of the silo launchers were grouped: four each for the R-12U and three each for the R-14U, located at a distance of less than 100 m from each other. Thus, one explosion of 1 megaton could destroy three or four mines at once. Nevertheless, the protection of missiles in silos was significantly higher than in open installations.
According to the decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of March 4, 1966, the development of a new generation rocket 15Zh45 "Pioneer" began at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT). The launch weight of the rocket is 37 tons, the range is 5000 km.
The self-propelled launcher for the Pioneer complex was developed at the OKB of the Barrikady plant. The chassis was a six-axle MAZ-547V vehicle. The rocket was constantly in a transport and launch container made of fiberglass. The rocket could be launched either from a special shelter at the main position, or from one of the field positions prepared in advance in geodetic terms. To carry out the launch, the self-propelled launcher was hung out on jacks and leveled.
Flight design tests of the missiles began on September 21, 1974 at the Kapustin Yar test site and continued until January 9, 1976. On September 11, 1976, the State Commission signed an act on the acceptance of the 15Ж45 complex into service with the Strategic Missile Forces. Later, the complex received the pseudonym RSD-10. It is curious that the resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 177-67 on the adoption of the complex was adopted six months earlier - on March 11, 1976.
Serial production of 15Ж45 "Pioneer" missiles has been carried out since 1976 at the Votkinsk plant, and self-propelled launchers - at the "Barrikady" plant. The first regiments of Pioneer missiles deployed in Belarus went on alert in August 1976. From these positions, not only all of Europe, but also Greenland, North Africa to Nigeria and Somalia, the entire Middle East and even northern India and western regions of China were within the range of the Pioneer missiles.
Later, Pioneer missiles were deployed beyond the Ural ridge, including near Barnaul, Irkutsk and Kansk. From there, the entire territory of Asia, including Japan and Indochina, was within the range of the missiles. Organizationally, the 15Ж45 missiles were combined into regiments that were armed with six or nine self-propelled launchers with missiles.
Chinese ballistic missiles in parade
July 19, 1977 at MIT began work on the modernization of the 15Zh45 "Pioneer" rocket. The upgraded complex received the index 15Ж53 "Pioneer UTTH" (with improved tactical and technical characteristics). The 15Ж53 rocket had the same first and second stages as the 15Ж45. The changes affected the control system and the aggregate-instrument block. The KVO was increased to 450 m. The installation of new, more powerful engines on the instrument cluster made it possible to increase the warhead disengagement area, which made it possible to increase the number of targets. The firing range was increased from 5000 to 5500 km. From August 10, 1979 to August 14, 1980, flight tests of the 15Zh53 rocket in the amount of 10 launches were carried out at the Kapustin Yar test site. By a resolution of the Council of Ministers of April 23, 1981, the Pioneer UTTH complex was put into service.
In the 1980s, a new modernized rocket was developed, called the Pioneer-3. The missile was equipped with a new warhead, which had a significantly smaller KVO. A new self-propelled launcher for the Pioneer-3 was created at the OKB of the Barrikady plant on the basis of the 7916 six-axle chassis. The first rocket launch took place in 1986. The Pioneer-3 missile system has successfully passed state tests, but was not put into service due to the signing of an agreement on the elimination of medium-range missiles.
The number of Pioneer missiles of all modifications increased rapidly. In 1981, there were 180 self-propelled launchers of the complexes. In 1983, their number exceeded 300, and in 1986 - 405 units.
GUN ATTACHED TO WHISKEY
The American response to the Pioneer MRBM was the Pershing-2 MRBM. Its starting weight was 6, 78 tons, the firing range was 2500 km. On both stages of the Pershing-2 rocket, Hercules solid-propellant engines were installed. Military tests of Pershing-2 missiles were carried out by the US Army from July 1982 to October 1984. During the tests, 22 rockets were launched from Cape Canaveral.
The missile was intended mainly to destroy command posts, communication centers and other similar targets, that is, primarily to disrupt the operation of command and control systems of troops and the state. The small CEP of the rocket was ensured by the use of a combined flight control system. At the beginning of the trajectory, an autonomous inertial system was used, then, after separation of the warhead, a system for correcting the warhead's flight using radar maps of the terrain. This system was turned on at the final stage of the trajectory, when the warhead was transferred to an almost level flight.
A radar mounted on the warhead captured an image of the area over which the warhead was moving. This image was converted into a digital matrix and compared with the data (map) stored before the launch in the memory of the control system located on the warhead. As a result of the comparison, the error in the movement of the warhead was determined, according to which the on-board computer calculated the necessary data for the flight controls.
The Pershing-2 missile was supposed to use two types of warheads - a conventional one with a capacity of up to 50 kg and one that penetrates the ground. The second option was distinguished by high elongation and high strength and was made of high-strength steel. At a speed of approach of the warhead to the target of 600 m / s, the warhead went deep into the ground by about 25 m.
In 1983, production of W-85 nuclear warheads began for the Pershing-2 missile. The weight of the nuclear warhead was 399 kg, length 1050 mm, diameter 3130 mm. The explosion power is variable - from 5 to 80 kt. The transport and launcher M1001 of Pershing-2 missiles was created on a six-axle wheeled chassis. It consisted of a tractor and a frame semitrailer, on which, in addition to the rocket, were placed power supply units, a hydraulic drive to give the rocket a vertical position before launch, and other equipment.
On December 8, 1987, Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan signed the INF Treaty in Washington. At the same time, Gorbachev said: “The decisive prerequisite for the success of these transformations is democratization and openness. They are also a guarantee that we will go far and that the course we have taken is irreversible. This is the will of our people … Humanity is beginning to realize that it has been conquered. That wars must be ended forever … And, marking a truly historic event - the signing of an agreement, and even being within these walls, one cannot but pay tribute to the many who put their mind, energy, patience, perseverance, knowledge, devotion to duty to their people and the international community. And first of all, I would like to name Comrade Shevardnadze and Mr. Shultz "(" Bulletin of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs "No. 10 of December 25, 1987).
According to the treaty, the US government should not seek "to achieve military superiority" over Russia. To what extent is this promise being fulfilled? The main question is whether this treaty is profitable for Russia? The numbers speak for themselves: the USSR eliminated 608 medium-range missile launchers and 237 short-range missile launchers, and the Americans - 282 and 1, respectively (no, this is not a typo, indeed one).
RUSSIA IN THE RING
What has changed in the quarter century that has passed since the signing of the treaty on the elimination of the MRBM? Almost immediately after the signing of the treaty, Israel adopted the Jericho-2B ballistic missile with a range of about 1,500 km. By 2000, Israel had more than 100 such missiles in service, placed in closed silos. And in 2008, the Jericho-3 MRBM entered service with a range of 4000 km. The missile is equipped with two or three nuclear warheads. Thus, the entire European part of Russia, with the exception of the Kola Peninsula, was within the range of the Israeli missiles.
In addition to Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan, North Korea and China have acquired MRBM along the perimeter of Russia's borders. Their missiles can hit large areas of the Russian Federation. Moreover, of these countries, only Iran does not yet possess nuclear weapons. Curiously, according to the official statements of the White House and the Pentagon, it was Iranian missiles that forced the United States to create a huge missile defense system both on its territory and in Central Europe and in the World Ocean.
To date, the PRC has hundreds of MRBMs of the type "Dong Fyn-4" (4750 km), "Dong Fyn-3" (2650 km), "Dong Fyn-25" (1700 km) and others. Some of the Chinese MRBMs are installed on wheeled mobile launchers, and some on railway launchers.
But six states along the perimeter of Russia's borders, possessing MRBMs, are only one side of the coin. The second side is even more important, that is, the threat from the sea. Over the past 25 years, the balance of forces at sea between the USSR and the United States has changed dramatically. By 1987, it was still possible to talk about the parity of naval weapons. In the United States, the Tomahawk system was just being deployed, installed on surface ships and submarines. And now the US Navy has 4,000 Tomahawk-class cruise missiles on surface ships and a thousand more on nuclear submarines. In addition, the US Air Force is capable of using approximately 1,200 cruise missiles in a single mission. Total in one salvo - at least 5200 cruise missiles. Their firing range is 2200-2400 km. The weight of the warhead is 340–450 kg, the squared probable deviation (KVO) is 5–10 m. That is, the Tomahawk can even get into a certain Kremlin office or apartment on Rublevka.
By 1987, the Soviet 5th operational squadron, armed with dozens of cruise missiles with nuclear warheads, held the entire southern Mediterranean coast of Europe under fire: Rome, Athens, Marseille, Milan, Turin and so on. Our coastal mobile missile systems "Redut" (range over 300 km) had launching positions in southern Bulgaria, from where they could hit the Strait zone and a significant part of the Aegean Sea with special charges. Well, now the exit of Russian ships to the Mediterranean Sea has become a rarity.
It is hard to disagree with Ivanov - the issue of denunciation of the INF Treaty is ripe. The United States showed us how to technically carry out denunciation by withdrawing from the ABM Treaty on June 12, 2002.
What can be the capabilities of the MRBM of the XXI century? Let's remember recent history. According to the decree of the USSR Council of Ministers of July 21, 1983, No. 696-213, the Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering began to develop a small-sized ICBM "Courier" 15Ж59. The launch weight of the ICBM is 15 tons, the length is 11.2 m, the diameter is 1.36 m. The firing range is over 10 thousand km. Two mobile launchers were developed on the MAZ-7909 four-axle chassis and the MAZ-7929 five-axle chassis. "Courier" could be placed in any railway carriages, on river barges, in the bodies of "Sovtransavto" trailers and had to be air transportable. Thus, the Kurier rocket manufactured at the Votkinsk plant, after being installed on a launcher, simply disappeared both for spacecraft and for spy planes. From March 1989 to May 1990, four test launches of the Couriers were carried out from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. Alas, in accordance with the agreement between the leadership of the USSR and the United States of October 6, 1991, the USSR stopped the development of the "Courier", and the Americans - the ICBM "Midgetman" ("Dwarf") weighing 18 tons and 14 meters long.
Well, the new MRBMs will have much smaller weight and dimensions than the "Courier". They will be able to be transported and launched from ordinary trucks that clog our roads, from ordinary railway cars, from river self-propelled barges. To overcome missile defense, new MRBMs can fly along the most exotic variable trajectories. A combination of hypersonic cruise missiles with ballistic missiles is not excluded. In addition to action on ground targets, the MRBM will be able to hit naval targets - aircraft carriers, cruisers of the Ticonderoga type - cruise missile carriers, and even submarines.
Actually, this idea is nothing new. On April 24, 1962, a resolution of the Council of Ministers was adopted, which provided for the creation of a ballistic missile with a homing warhead capable of striking moving ships. On the basis of the R-27 missiles, the R-27K (4K-18) ballistic missile was created, designed for firing at sea surface targets. The R-27K missile was equipped with a small second stage. The launch weight of the rocket was 13.25 tons, the length was about 9 m, the diameter was 1.5 m. The maximum firing range was 900 km. The head part is monoblock. The control on the passive part of the trajectory was carried out according to the information of the passive radar sighting device, processed in the onboard digital computer system. Guidance of the warhead at moving targets was carried out by their radar radiation by turning on the second stage propulsion system twice in the extra-atmospheric flight segment. However, for a number of reasons, the R-27K anti-ship missile was not put into service, but only for trial operation (1973-1980) and only on one submarine "K-102", converted according to Project 605.
By 1987, the USSR was successfully working on the creation of an anti-ship ballistic missile based on the "Pioneer UTTH".
What they did not do in the USSR, they did in China. Now the mobile MRBM "Dong Fung-21" has been adopted there, which at a distance of up to 2,700 km can hit enemy surface ships. The missile is equipped with a radar homing head and a target selection system.
