On March 4, 1961, the Soviet V-1000 interceptor missile was the first in the world to intercept and defeat a ballistic missile warhead
By the early 1950s, the nuclear bomb had already become the main weapon and the main factor in world politics. In the Soviet Union, the first successes were achieved in the development of anti-aircraft air defense missiles capable of hitting heavy and high-altitude bombers carrying nuclear weapons.
But technological progress, especially in the military sphere, never stands still. A nuclear-powered aircraft was replaced by a missile with an atomic warhead. And if bombers could still be intercepted with the help of high-altitude fighters or the first air defense missiles, then the technical means of combating ballistic missiles in the early 50s of the XX century were not even on the drawings.
The military leaders of our country were well aware of this danger. In August 1953, the top leadership of the USSR received the so-called letter from seven marshals. Among those who signed it were Zhukov, Vasilevsky, Konev and other heroes of the recent battles of World War II.
Soviet marshals warned of a new danger: “In the near future, a potential enemy is expected to have long-range ballistic missiles as the main means of delivering nuclear charges to strategically important objects in our country. But the air defense systems that we have in service and are newly developed cannot fight ballistic missiles ….
Only a rocket could shoot down a missile - planes and anti-aircraft artillery were powerless here. But at that time there were neither controls nor computers necessary for such precision. At the first meeting on the creation of an anti-missile, one of its participants even exclaimed: "This is as stupid as firing a shell at a shell …". But the danger posed to our cities by nuclear warheads in elusive missiles left no choice.
The first studies of missile defense problems began in December 1953, and soon a special design bureau SKB-30 was created for these purposes. It was headed by a specialist in the field of anti-aircraft missiles, Lieutenant Colonel Grigory Kisunko. Prior to that, he created the first S-25 air defense complex in Moscow, which could shoot down strategic bombers. Now it was necessary to "teach" the missiles to shoot down missiles.
The experimental missile defense system was codenamed System "A". To test it, a huge, 80 thousand square kilometers, special test site Sary-Shagan in the steppes of Kazakhstan was created. In 1957, dozens of facilities at the new training ground were built by 150 thousand soldiers.
To successfully create the "A" anti-missile system, it was necessary to solve a lot of complex technical problems: to develop an anti-missile system itself, capable of quickly maneuvering, to create for it reliable communication systems, control and detection of enemy ballistic missiles.
Ballistic missile R-12. Photo: kollektsiya.ru
The anti-missile itself was developed by the design bureau of Pyotr Grushin in the city of Khimki near Moscow. Prior to that, it was Grushin who created the first missiles capable of shooting down high-altitude aircraft.
But due to the high speeds of the missiles, much higher than those of the fastest aircraft, the control of the anti-missile was to be completely carried out by a computer, and not by a human operator. For the middle of the last century, this was a daunting task. The new experimental anti-missile missile, equipped with a computer, was named B-1000.
For the anti-missile, two warheads were created. One "special" - with an atomic charge, to hit enemy missiles in the stratosphere at a great distance with a nuclear explosion. The non-nuclear warhead was a fragmentation warhead, consisting of 16 thousand balls with a core of hard, almost like diamond, tungsten carbide.
By the summer of 1957, System "A" had learned to "see" flying ballistic missiles, a year later, the detection distance was increased to 1000 kilometers. Now it was necessary to learn how to shoot down a rocket at a height behind the clouds. At the same time, the anti-missile was supposed to hit exactly the warhead, distinguishing it from the separating stages of the rocket body.
The first test launches of interceptor missiles to intercept ballistic missiles in 1960 ended in a series of setbacks. The main problem was the interaction of ground-based radar stations with the anti-missile computer.
However, by the spring of 1961, these complex technical problems were solved. On March 4, 1961, the first successful interception of a ballistic warhead by a guided missile took place in the history of mankind.
The R-12 ballistic missile, which was to be the target, was launched from the Kapustin-Yar test site in the Astrakhan region. The radar station of System "A" detected the launched missile at a distance of 1500 kilometers, its trajectory was calculated by automatic equipment, and the anti-missile was launched.
Having flown 60 kilometers to the target, the V-1000 interceptor missile exploded at an altitude of 25 kilometers about 30 meters from the flying warhead. To understand the complexity of the task, it is enough to indicate that the warhead flew at a speed of over 2500 km / h. As a result of being hit by tungsten carbide shrapnel, the warhead of the R-12 missile with the weight equivalent of a nuclear charge collapsed and partially burned out in flight.
The task of intercepting a ballistic missile was successfully accomplished. If earlier the territory of our country was absolutely defenseless against missiles with nuclear warheads, then from now on the situation began to change, the country received its own “missile shield”. March 4, 1961 can rightfully be considered not only a great victory, but also the birthday of the anti-missile defense forces.
