In total there were several projects under the general leadership of Sergey Korolev. The rocket 8K96, its second stage, was created in KB-7 of the Leningrad artillery plant “Arsenal”, was led by the chief designer of the design bureau Pyotr Tyurin. The 8K97 rocket was developed in the Perm Design Bureau under the leadership of Mikhail Tsirulnikov, and there it was supposed to develop the first stage for the 8К96 rocket. The 8K98 rockets, or its other designation, the intercontinental rocket RT-2 and 8K98P, were created by S. Korolyov himself together with Igor Sadovsky, one of the creators of the RT-1 rocket. The development of the 8K99 rocket was started by another Soviet designer, Mikhail Yangel, according to the project this rocket was supposed to have the first stage on solid fuel, the second on liquid fuel. After a thorough study of the working drawings, it was decided to use the development of M. Tsirulnikov, which has the best performance and the PAL-17 / 7 engine on solid fuel, as the first step.
However, in 1963, all work on the 8K96 or RT-15 project, which is essentially a RT-2 missile, without a first stage, was suspended until the development of the RT-2 missile was completed. After that, the RT-1965, as part of the 15P15 mobile complex, was renewed again in 696, it was adopted by the Strategic Rocket Forces of the Soviet Army and put into serial production at Leningrad Plant No. 7. Development of SPU (self-propelled launcher) 15U59 based tank T-10 was carried out in the design bureau of the Kirov plant under the supervision of J. Y. Kotin. Developments were also carried out to create launch complexes on wheels and on railway platforms. For the first time, a missile system under the designation SPU “Object 815” was demonstrated during the parade on November 7, 1965.
After the first test launches, it became clear that the range of the RT-15 rocket (according to the NATO classification SS X-14 "Spacegoat") exceeds the calculated one and reaches 4,5 thousands of kilometers. Given this fact, P. Tyurin is instructed to continue work on the further development of the rocket. The work was carried out up to the 1970 year, during which time the 20 test launches of the RT-15 missiles were conducted at the Kapustin Yar test site. After which the work was completely curtailed, and designer P. Tyurin set about creating the first solid-fuel missile in the USSR for nuclear submarines. The 8K96 design consisted of two stages (the second and third stages from the PT-2 rocket) with solid-fuel engines installed on them, specially modified to ensure optimal operation, both at launch and in flight. In the tail of the rocket in the first stage were four stabilizers. The rocket in flight was controlled by cruise engines (15D27-first stage and 15D92-second stage) and split nozzles. The warhead of the rocket, the total mass of the charge 535 kg, was a nuclear, single-block type with a power of 1,1 Megatonn.
A missile was aimed at a target using an inertial control system with a gyroscopic platform created at the Scientific-Research Institute of Apparatus under the supervision of Chief Designer N. Pilyugin. The launch control was carried out by the launch remote control system developed at Impulse Design Bureau under the supervision of T. Sokolov. Fuel charges, according to one source, were bonded to the rocket engine, according to the scientific research institute-9 technology of Biysk, by pouring the fuel mass into the engine block. According to other data, the fuel charges were supplementary, manufactured using the scientific research institute-130 technology of Perm. It can also be assumed that both variants were possibly used, as in the PT-2 rocket. At the first stage, the fuel charges of scientific research institute-9 were used, at the second stage, scientific research institutes-130. However, according to the recollections of the participants in the tests, who claim that after opening the nozzle plugs, no less than a bucket of water was poured from the engine, which is not typical of the PT-2 rocket stages engines. The total length of the rocket was 12,7 meters, diameter from 1,9 to 2,1 meter, starting weight 1, 87 tons, useful weight warhead more than 500 kg.