Rocket on wheels
Russian Topol mobile missile systems (“Serp” according to NATO classification) still do not allow American “hawks” to sleep peacefully. No one but Russians could attach wheels to an intercontinental ballistic missile.
In early March, the Strategic Missile Forces (Strategic Missile Forces) reported on another successful launch from the state central interspecific Kapustin Yar testing ground in the Astrakhan Region intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) RS-12М Topol. As expected, the training unit of this missile struck a conventional target at a given accuracy at the Sary-Shagan test site (Republic of Kazakhstan).
It would seem nothing special. Well, bummed and bummed ... But the current launch of "Topol" is interesting in at least two circumstances. The first is that since the beginning of the development of this complex, 40 years have passed, but no country in the world, except Russia, has ever been able to create a “rocket on wheels” of this magnitude. The second - the purpose of the current launch, as the military put it, was to "test the prospective combat equipment of intercontinental ballistic missiles." Translated into civilian language, this may mean that after these tests Topol, and after them Yarsy, Milestones, and other Russian ICBMs can be equipped with new specialized anti-missile defense systems (ABM), which will reduce to "No" many US efforts to create a missile defense system.
And 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 middle of the 60-s of the last century. By that time, Soviet designers and military leaders apparently had already begun to assume that the exploration of near-Earth space would cause the rapid development of space reconnaissance. And after some time, potential adversaries with an accuracy of up to a meter will know the location of each other’s mines, in which intercontinental ballistic missiles are on alert.
Therefore, at the end of the 60 of the last century, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT) and TsKB “Titan” began the development of two mobile soil rocket complexes (PGRK), one of which was intended to launch ICBMs and the second to launch medium-range ballistic missiles . Both complexes were put into service practically at the same time - at the turn of 1975 \ 1976. The most famous of them received the Pioneer PGRK (SS-20 according to NATO classification) with a two-stage medium-range ballistic missile 15Ж45. “Pioneers” with a range of shooting up to 5 thousand km and a weight of more than 1,5 tons dropped became one of the most significant factors of world politics in the 70-80 of the last century. By the 1986 year, according to American intelligence, the USSR deployed such a complex on 441 duty, which, of course, terrified impressionable Europeans. About PGRK “Temp-2С” with ICBM 15Ж42 (SS-16 Sinner according to NATO classification), much less is known.
According to, again, the foreign press, from 1976 to 1985 in the USSR, it was deployed from 50 to 100 of similar complexes, each of which could throw a single nuclear warhead over a distance of 10 thousand km. In general, the idea of “rockets on wheels” for Soviet military engineers 30-40 turned out to be very productive years ago. The Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (Ukraine), for example, in conjunction with the Special Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau (St. Petersburg) in the 80 of the last century created the 15P961 combat railway missile complex, which was able to carry three intercontinental ballistic missiles RT-23 UTTH, each of which threw into the territory of a probable enemy 10 warheads with a capacity of 0,43 MT for a distance of more than 10 thousand km. A "MIT", continuing the theme of a medium-range ballistic missile, based on the second and third stages of the RS-12M rocket and the head section with three warheads from 15Ж45 developed a new rocket "Speed", which further enhanced the combat capabilities of Soviet medium-range missiles at the European theater of possible hostilities.
However, soon there was no trace of this variety. According to the Soviet-American agreements, in 1986, the PGRK Temp-2С was removed from combat duty and destroyed. A year later, MIT was ordered to stop all work on the new medium-range ballistic missile and its corresponding mobile carrier. Following this, in a hurry, literally in 4 of the year, all the existing Pioneer PGRs were destroyed. Last of all, as early as in 2003-2005, the combat railway missile systems were removed from combat duty and destroyed (although at the insistence of the UK they were put to death in the 1992 year).
At the same time, which is especially interesting, not a single foreign country managed to create something like a combat railway missile system and mobile ground-based missile systems, which were mass-produced in the USSR in the 80s. For Americans, for example, the only known development is the PGRK with a light (starting mass of 13,6 tons) MBR MGM-134 Midgetman. But they only started work on its creation in 1983-1985. And in 1991, this program was successfully closed, due to the obvious success of US diplomats in disarmament of the Soviet Union.
Surviving sprout
The only one who survived after the defeat of the Soviet mobile missile systems was the PGRK RS-12M Topol (SS-25 "Sickle" according to NATO classification), which was developed by MIT in the early 80s of the last century using Tempo-2C and Pioneer (the latest version of the Pioneer launcher, the Pioneer 3, was largely unified with Topol). According to the generally accepted version, the first regiment staffed by the Topol, took up combat duty in July 1985 in the Yoshkar-Ola region, although the complex itself was officially adopted only in 1988 year.
Rocket 15Ж58 - solid, made according to the scheme with three marching steps. The total mass of the rocket is 45 tons. It is located in a sealed transport and launch container with a length of 22,3 m and a diameter of 2 m, in which a constant temperature and humidity is maintained. Warhead - monoblock. Drop weight - 1 ton. Charging power - 0,55 mt. The maximum firing range - 10 thousand km. The warranty period of the rocket (the time during which the rocket is able to perform its tasks) was initially set to 10 years. However, in November 2005 of the year from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the direction of the Kura test site in Kamchatka, a rocket was launched, which by that time had been on combat duty for 20 years. The rocket worked properly. In September 2011, the military launched Topol, released in 1988. This launch was also successful.
The semi-axial MAZ-7912 was originally used as the chassis of the mobile complex launcher. Later, MAZ-7917 wheel formula 14х12 was used. Power of the diesel engine of the 710 hp machine. The mass of the launcher with a rocket is about 100 tons. Despite this, the complex "Topol" has good mobility and maneuverability. In addition to the mobile launcher, the complex includes a command post and other auxiliary units located on all-terrain 4-axle wheeled chassis (MAZ-543А, MAZ-543М).
The readiness (preparation time for the launch) from the moment the order is received until the launch of the rocket is 2 minutes At the same time, unlike, for example, from the “Pioneers”, the launch can be carried out both from the patrol route of the complex and from the stationary duty stations (for this, the roofs of the hangars, where the Topol are standing, are made sliding). For launching "from the march" the launcher stops at the most suitable place for this, powerful jacks fix it horizontally, the container with the rocket rises in the vertical position, the powder pressure accumulator placed in the container throws the rocket up several meters, the first stage engine turns on and .... greetings 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 overcome the enemy's missile defense system. Unlike conventional ballistic missiles, for example, they can dramatically change the trajectory of the flight, minimizing the possibility of interception.
According to data from open sources, the maximum number of Topolovs that were in service with the Soviet / Russian Strategic Missile Forces was 369 units. Naturally, there are fewer of them now, because as early as the beginning of the 90s of the last century, the Russian leadership decided to upgrade this missile system, and in April 2000ЖXX15 (65Х15 in the PGRK version) was adopted by the Strategic Missile Forces, and the complex itself It became known as PC-55М12 "Topol-M". Unlike the “old” rocket, the new “Topol” is made in two versions - mine and mobile-based (hence the different missile indices). He, according to data from open sources, increased the flight range to 2 thousand km. Judging by some of the available information, the rocket began to rise faster at the initial stage of the trajectory, dodge the enemy’s antimissile system and got more opportunities to deceive the missile defense system. She, for example, can release at the final stage of the trajectory to 11 false targets. But the power of the warhead warhead while it remained the same, as well as the number of warheads - one. As a launcher chassis, it was decided to use the eight-axis design of the Minsk Plant MZKT-20. He has increased engine power to 79221 HP. and the power reserve at one fuel station has grown to 800 km. In addition, last year it became known that the Topol-M PGRK began to receive new engineering and camouflage vehicles, the purpose of which was to disguise the traces of combat mobile missile systems that had come on duty, and to create well-visible enemy satellites that lead to false combat positions PGRK.
However, apparently, Topol-M will soon soon begin to leave the stage, giving way to the newer Yars (PC-24), which developed MIT. The military argue that Yars, in the first place, should replace the mine-based missiles RS-18, which have been in service since the 1975 year (these 105-tonne machines throw 10 6 warheads each with 550 tons). And such a replacement is already underway in the last few years. However, back in 2009, the command of the Strategic Missile Forces stated that the Topol-M was, of course, a good machine, but one warhead was 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 due to emotions). At the same time, it is obvious that he has similar data with Topol in mass and size, therefore the Yars is already entering the Strategic Missile Forces not only in the mine, but also in the mobile ground version. This year, for example, more than two dozen mobile ground-based missile systems armed with Yars must come to the Russian armed forces.
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