Maximum range of a ballistic missile. Intercontinental ballistic missile (9 photos)

§ 1.2 Fundamentals of Ritz Ballistic Theory There was a great need for an intermediate link that was invented to explain the reason for the equality of action and reaction. I stated in the introduction that radiant energy, generated and emitted at the speed of light,

On January 20, 1960, the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile, the R-7, was put into service in the USSR. On the basis of this rocket, a whole family of medium-class launch vehicles was created, which made a great contribution to space exploration. It was the R-7 that launched the Vostok spacecraft into orbit with the first cosmonaut - Yuri Gagarin. We decided to talk about five legendary Soviet ballistic missiles.

The two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile R-7, which was affectionately called the “seven”, had a detachable head part weighing 3 tons. The rocket was developed in 1956–1957 at OKB-1 near Moscow under the leadership of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. It became the first intercontinental ballistic missile in the world. The R-7 was put into service on January 20, 1960. It had a flight range of 8 thousand km. Later, a modification of the R-7A was adopted with a range increased to 11 thousand km. The R-7 used liquid two-component fuel: liquid oxygen as an oxidizer, and T-1 kerosene as a fuel. Testing of the rocket began in 1957. The first three launches were unsuccessful. The fourth attempt was successful. The R-7 carried a thermonuclear warhead. The throwing weight was 5400–3700 kg.

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R-16

In 1962, the USSR adopted the R-16 missile. Its modification became the first Soviet missile capable of launching from a silo launcher. For comparison, the American SM-65 Atlas was also stored in the mine, but could not launch from the mine: before launching, they rose to the surface. The R-16 is also the first Soviet two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile using high-boiling propellant components with an autonomous control system. The missile entered service in 1962. The need to develop this missile was determined by the low tactical, technical and operational characteristics of the first Soviet ICBM R-7. Initially, the R-16 was supposed to be launched only from ground launchers. The R-16 was equipped with a detachable monoblock warhead of two types, differing in the power of the thermonuclear charge (about 3 Mt and 6 Mt). The mass and, accordingly, the power of the warhead depended maximum range flight distance, ranging from 11 thousand to 13 thousand km. The first rocket launch ended in an accident. On October 24, 1960, at the Baikonur test site, during the planned first test launch of the R-16 rocket at the stage of pre-launch work, approximately 15 minutes before launch, an unauthorized start of the second stage engines occurred due to the passage of a premature command to start the engines from the current distributor, which was caused by a gross violation of the missile preparation procedure. The rocket exploded on the launch pad. 74 people were killed, including the commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, Marshal M. Nedelin. Later, the R-16 became the base missile for creating a group of intercontinental missiles of the Strategic Missile Forces.

RT-2 became the first Soviet serial solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile. It was put into service in 1968. This missile had a range of 9400–9800 km. Throwing weight - 600 kg. RT-2 was distinguished by its short preparation time for launch - 3–5 minutes. For the P-16 it took 30 minutes. The first flight tests were carried out from the Kapustin Yar test site. There were 7 successful launches. During the second stage of testing, which took place from October 3, 1966 to November 4, 1968 at the Plesetsk test site, 16 out of 25 launches were successful. The rocket was in operation until 1994.

RT-2 rocket in the Motovilikha museum, Perm

R-36

The R-36 was a heavy-duty missile capable of carrying a thermonuclear charge and penetrating a powerful missile defense system. The R-36 had three warheads of 2.3 Mt each. The missile entered service in 1967. In 1979 it was withdrawn from service. The rocket was launched from a silo launcher. During the testing process, 85 launches were carried out, of which 14 failures occurred, 7 of which occurred in the first 10 launches. In total, 146 launches of all modifications of the rocket were carried out. R-36M - further development of the complex. This rocket is also known as "Satan". It was the world's most powerful combat missile system. It was significantly superior to its predecessor, the R-36: in shooting accuracy - 3 times, in combat readiness - 4 times, in launcher security - 15–30 times. The missile range was up to 16 thousand km. Throwing weight - 7300 kg.

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"Temp-2S"

"Temp-2S" is the first mobile missile system of the USSR. The mobile launcher was based on a six-axle MAZ-547A wheeled chassis. The complex was intended to strike at well-protected air defense/missile defense systems and important military and industrial infrastructure located deep in enemy territory. Flight tests of the Temp-2S complex began with the first launch of a rocket on March 14, 1972 at the Plesetsk test site. The flight development stage in 1972 did not go very smoothly: 3 out of 5 launches were unsuccessful. A total of 30 launches were carried out during flight testing, 7 of which were emergency launches. At the final stage of joint flight testing at the end of 1974, a salvo launch of two missiles was carried out, and the last test launch was carried out on December 29, 1974. The Temp-2S mobile ground-based missile system was put into service in December 1975. The missile range was 10.5 thousand km. The missile could carry a 0.65–1.5 Mt thermonuclear warhead. A further development of the Temp-2S missile system was the Topol complex.

The comparative assessment was carried out according to the following parameters:

firepower(number of warheads (WB), total power of WB, maximum firing range, accuracy - KVO)
constructive perfection (launch mass of the rocket, overall characteristics, relative density of the rocket - the ratio of the launch mass of the rocket to the volume of the transport and launch container (TPC))
operation (based on a ground-moving missile system (MGRS) or placement in a silo launcher (silo launcher), time of the interregulatory period, possibility of extending the warranty period)

The total points for all parameters gave overall assessment compared ICBM. It was taken into account that each MDB taken from the statistical sample, compared with other MDBs, was assessed based on technical requirements of its time.

Diversity of ICBMs ground-based so large that the sample includes only ICBMs that are currently in service and have a range of more than 5,500 km - and only China, Russia and the United States have such (Great Britain and France abandoned ground-based ICBMs, deploying them only on submarines).

Intercontinental ballistic missiles

Based on the number of points scored, the first four places were taken by:

1. Russian ICBM R-36M2 “Voevoda” (15A18M, START code - RS-20V, according to NATO classification - SS-18 Satan (Russian: “Satan”))

Adopted into service, 1988
Fuel - liquid
Number of accelerating stages - 2

Length, m - 34.3
Maximum diameter, m - 3.0
Launch weight, t - 211.4
Start - mortar (for silos)
Throwing weight, kg - 8,800
Flight range, km -11,000 - 16,000
Number of BB, power, ct -10Х550-800
KVO, m - 400 – 500

The most powerful ground-based ICBM is the 15A18M missile of the R-36M2 "Voevoda" complex (designation of the Strategic Missile Forces RS-20V, NATO designation SS-18mod4 "Satan". The R-36M2 complex has no equal in its technological level and combat capabilities.

The 15A18M is capable of carrying platforms with several dozen (from 20 to 36) individually targeted nuclear MIRVs, as well as maneuvering warheads. It is equipped with a missile defense system, which allows one to break through a layered missile defense system using weapons based on new physical principles. R-36M2 are on duty in highly protected mines launchers resistant to exposure shock wave at a level of about 50 MPa (500 kg/sq. cm).

The design of the R-36M2 includes the ability to launch directly during a period of massive enemy nuclear impact on a positional area and blocking a positional area with high-altitude nuclear explosions. The missile has the highest resistance to damaging factors I'M IN.

The rocket is covered with a dark heat-protective coating, facilitating the passage of clouds nuclear explosion. It is equipped with a system of sensors that measure neutron and gamma radiation, register dangerous levels and, while the missile passes through the cloud of a nuclear explosion, turn off the control system, which remains stabilized until the missile exits danger zone, after which the control system turns on and corrects the trajectory.

A strike from 8-10 15A18M missiles (fully equipped) ensured the destruction of 80% of the industrial potential of the United States and most of the population.

2. US ICBM LGM-118A “Peacekeeper” - MX

Adopted into service, 1986
Fuel - solid
Number of accelerating stages - 3
Length, m - 21.61
Maximum diameter, m - 2.34
Launch weight, t - 88.443
Start - mortar (for silos)
Throwing weight, kg - 3,800
Flight range, km - 9,600
Number of BB, power, ct - 10X300
KVO, m - 90 - 120

The most powerful and advanced American ICBM - the three-stage solid-propellant MX missile - was equipped with ten with a yield of 300 kt each. It had increased resistance to the effects of nuclear weapons and had the ability to overcome the existing missile defense system, limited by an international treaty.

The MX had the greatest capabilities among ICBMs in terms of accuracy and ability to hit a heavily protected target. At the same time, the MXs themselves were based only in the improved silo launchers of the Minuteman ICBMs, which were inferior in security to the Russian silo launchers. Estimated American specialists, MX was 6-8 times superior in combat capabilities to Minuteman-3.

A total of 50 MX missiles were deployed, which were on alert in a state of 30-second readiness for launch. Removed from service in 2005, the missiles and all equipment of the position area are being preserved. Options for using MX to launch high-precision non-nuclear strikes are being considered.

3. Russian ICBM PC-24 "Yars" - Russian solid-fuel mobile-based intercontinental ballistic missile with a multiple warhead

Adopted for service, 2009
Fuel - solid
Number of accelerating stages - 3
Length, m - 22.0
Maximum diameter, m - 1.58
Launch weight, t - 47.1
Start - mortar
Throwing weight, kg - 1,200
Flight range, km - 11,000
Number of BB, power, ct - 4X300
KVO, m – 150

Structurally, the RS-24 is similar to the Topol-M and has three stages. Differs from RS-12M2 "Topol-M":
new platform for breeding blocks with warheads
re-equipment of some part of the missile control system
increased payload

The missile enters service in a factory transport and launch container (TPC), in which it spends its entire service. The body of the missile product is coated with special compounds to reduce the effects of a nuclear explosion. Probably, an additional composition was applied using stealth technology.

The guidance and control system (GCS) is an autonomous inertial control system with an on-board digital computer (OND), probably using astrocorrection. The proposed developer of the control system is the Moscow Research and Production Center for Instrument Engineering and Automation.

The use of the active trajectory section has been reduced. To improve the speed characteristics at the end of the third stage, it is possible to use a turn with the direction of zero increment of distance until the last stage's fuel reserve is fully exhausted.

The instrumentation compartment is completely sealed. The rocket is capable of overcoming the cloud of a nuclear explosion at launch and performing a program maneuver. For testing, the rocket will most likely be equipped with a telemetry system - the T-737 Triad receiver and indicator.

To counter missile defense systems, the missile is equipped with a countermeasures system. From November 2005 to December 2010, tests of anti-missile defense systems were carried out using Topol and K65M-R missiles.

4. Russian ICBM UR-100N UTTH (GRAU index - 15A35, START code - RS-18B, according to NATO classification - SS-19 Stiletto (English “Stiletto”))

Adopted into service, 1979
Fuel - liquid
Number of accelerating stages - 2
Length, m - 24.3
Maximum diameter, m - 2.5
Launch weight, t - 105.6
Start - gas-dynamic
Throwing weight, kg - 4,350
Flight range, km - 10,000
Number of BB, power, ct - 6Х550
KVO, m - 380

ICBM 15A35 is a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile, made according to the “tandem” design with a sequential separation of stages. The rocket is distinguished by a very dense layout and virtually no “dry” compartments. According to official data, as of July 2009, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces had 70 deployed 15A35 ICBMs.

The last division was previously in the process of liquidation, but by decision of the President of the Russian Federation D.A. Medvedev in November 2008, the liquidation process was terminated. The division will continue to be on duty with the 15A35 ICBM until it is re-equipped with “new missile systems” (apparently either Topol-M or RS-24).

Apparently, in the near future, the number of 15A35 missiles on combat duty will be further reduced until it stabilizes at a level of about 20-30 units, taking into account purchased missiles. The UR-100N UTTH missile system is extremely reliable - 165 test and combat training launches were carried out, of which only three were unsuccessful.

The American magazine of the Air Force Rocketry Association called the UR-100N UTTH missile “one of the most outstanding technical developments of the Cold War.” The first complex, still with UR-100N missiles, was put on combat duty in 1975 with a warranty period of 10 years. During its creation, all the best design solutions worked out on previous generations of "hundreds" were implemented.

The high reliability indicators of the missile and the complex as a whole, then achieved during the operation of the improved complex with the UR-100N UTTH ICBM, allowed the military-political leadership of the country to set before the RF Ministry of Defense, the General Staff, the command of the Strategic Missile Forces and the lead developer represented by NPO Mashinostroeniya the task of gradually extending the service life of the complex with 10 to 15, then to 20, 25 and finally to 30 and beyond.

russlandia_007, This means that the Russian Federation has no plans to attack, and all this anti-Russian propaganda in the West is zilch!

"American ground-based ICBMs are stuck in the 1970s

The United States has only one type of ground-based ICBM in service - the LGM-30G Minuteman-3. Each missile carries one W87 warhead with a yield of up to 300 kilotons (but can carry up to three warheads).
The last rocket of this type was manufactured in 1978. This means that the “youngest” of them is 38 years old. These missiles have been upgraded several times, and their service life is scheduled to end in 2030.

A new ICBM system called GBSD (Ground Based Strategic Deterrent) appears to be stuck in the discussion stage. The US Air Force has requested $62.3 billion for the development and production of new missiles, and hopes to receive $113.9 million in 2017.
However The White house does not support this application. In fact, many there are against this idea. Development was delayed by a year, and now GBSD's prospects will depend on the outcome presidential elections in 2016.

It is worth noting that American government intends to spend a colossal amount on nuclear weapons: about 348 billion dollars by 2024, with 26 billion going to ICBMs. But for GBSD, 26 billion is not enough. Actual costs may be higher given the fact that the United States has not produced new ones for a long time. intercontinental missiles ground-based.
The last such missile, called the LGM-118A Peacekeeper, was deployed in 1986. But by 2005, the United States unilaterally removed all 50 missiles of this type from combat duty, although it would not be an exaggeration to say that the LGM-118A Peacekeeper was better in comparison with the LGM-30G Minuteman-3, since it could carry up to 10 warheads.
Despite the failure of the START II Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which prohibited the use of individually targetable MIRVs, the United States voluntarily abandoned its MIRVs.
Confidence in them was lost due to the high cost, as well as due to a scandal in which it turned out that these missiles did not have an AIRS (advanced inertial support sphere) GUIDANCE SYSTEM for almost four years (1984-88). In addition, the missile company tried to hide the delay in delivery - at a time when the Cold War was coming to an end.

Russia also has a mysterious RS-26 Rubezh missile.
There is little information about it, but most likely this complex is a further development of the Yars project, having the ability to strike on intercontinental and medium range.
The minimum launch range of this missile is 2,000 kilometers, and this is enough for a breakthrough American systems Missile defense in Europe. The United States objects to the deployment of this system on the grounds that it would violate INF Treaty. But such claims do not stand up to scrutiny: the maximum launch range of the RS-26 exceeds 6,000 kilometers, which means that it is an intercontinental ballistic missile, but not an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

With this in mind, it is clear that the United States is significantly behind Russia in developing land-based ICBMs.
The United States has one, rather old, intercontinental ballistic missile, the Minuteman III, capable of carrying only one warhead.

And the prospects for developing a new model to replace it are very uncertain. In Russia the situation is completely different. Land-based ICBMs are updated regularly - in fact, the process of developing new missiles continues non-stop.
Each new ICBM is developed taking into account the breakthrough of the enemy’s missile defense system, which is why the European missile defense project and ground-based system missile defense"on the mid-flight phase (the US missile defense system designed to intercept approaching combat units) will be ineffective against Russian missiles in the foreseeable future."
April 28, 2016, Military Review,

With the beginning " cold war“The US government, headed by Henry Truman, adopted a strategy of “massive influence”, based on a monopoly on the atomic bomb and superiority over the USSR in its delivery vehicles - strategic bombers. They began to hastily renovate their park.

However, in 1949 atomic bomb The USSR also acquired one. Only it did not yet have modern carriers - the Tu-4 long-range bomber was a copy of the obsolete American B-29 from World War II.

On July 13, 1944, in a personal and strictly secret message, Prime Minister W. Churchill informed Marshal I. Stalin that, apparently, Germany has new missile weapons that pose a serious threat to London, and asked to allow British specialists to the test site in Poland, which was in the offensive area Soviet troops. A group of Soviet missile specialists urgently left for Poland.

The creation of long-range missiles began in Germany in the 1930s. By 1938, a research center with an experimental station and a plant was built on the island of Peenemünde, near the Baltic Sea coast. Factories, including large underground ones, located in Nordhausen, produced 25-30 A-4 (“V-2”) missiles per day in 1944–1945! By the end of World War II, more than a thousand of these shells had been manufactured.

The accuracy of the German missiles left much to be desired, but in practice complex control, guidance and flight control systems were developed and tested. Soviet scientists took advantage of this when designing strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles.

First Soviet ground complex with the R-1 ballistic missile, OKB-1 was created under the leadership of S.P. Korolev and entered service on November 28, 1950. The R-1 rocket was equipped with a liquid-propellant jet engine (LPRE) of the RD-100 type. 75 percent of the fuel was alcohol, and the rest was liquid oxygen. Its thrust was 267 kN, its weight was 13 tons, and its range was 270 kilometers.

In the early 1950s, the State Union Plant No. 586, later Yuzhmash, was created in Dnepropetrovsk; it began producing R-1 and R-2 missiles.

N.S., who came to power in 1953 Khrushchev bet on rocket technology. By 1956, work on the medium-range ballistic R-5M equipped with a nuclear warhead was completed, and four years later the intercontinental R-7A was put on combat duty. Manufactured according to a batch design, it was intended to destroy targets located 9,500 kilometers from the firing position. It was this rocket that launched the first in history into near-Earth space in August 1957. artificial satellite, and in April 1961 - a ship with the world's first cosmonaut on board - Yu.A. Gagarin. A year earlier, the medium-range ballistic R-12 entered service. All of them were launched from ground-based installations, and the preparation time for launch was calculated in hours.

Following the Americans, the USSR began construction of an underwater missile carrier, on which three missiles (marine version of the R-11) were placed on a diesel-electric boat.

By the end of the 1950s, the Soviet Union possessed intercontinental ballistic missiles, and air defense forces were equipped with supersonic high-altitude interceptors and anti-aircraft missile systems.

In the mid-1950s, US President D. Eisenhower adopted a strategy of achieving superiority over the USSR in nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. “Having studied the missiles exported from Germany (including the V-2),” writes Sergei Kolesnikov in the magazine “Technology for Youth,” and having tested their experimental samples, the Americans in 1958-1959 received medium-range ballistic missiles “Thor” and “Jupiter” ", equipped with nuclear warheads (Jupiter-C launched the first American artificial satellite Explorer into orbit in February 1958). After this, the Air Force command decided to replenish the arsenal with more effective Atlas and Titan intercontinental ballistic missiles. Both are silo-based, but launched from the surface of the earth. Less than three years have passed since the Pentagon received improved “Atlases” of the “E” and “F” series. The latter, with a starting weight of 118 tons, was made according to a package design, like the King’s “seven”, but was equipped with only two side boosters. Besides them, in power plant included two steering engines, a sustainer liquid rocket engine with a turbopump fuel supply (kerosene and liquid oxygen).

By this time, military experts considered the stationary positions vulnerable, and in 1959 the Americans commissioned the first production nuclear-powered missile submarine, the George Washington. Behind its wheelhouse was a compartment with 16 Polaris A1 ballistic missiles, each of which had a monoblock nuclear warhead and could travel up to 1,200 kilometers.”

In 1959, the team of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev - OKB-1 began developing the R-9A (SS-8) ICBM, which was a two-stage ballistic missile with a detachable warhead with nuclear charge. Here, supercooled liquid oxygen was used for the first time as an oxidizer, and kerosene was used as a fuel. The R-9A missile system launched from a ground launch pad was put into service in 1963, and from a silo launcher in 1965.

The R-16 and R-9A ICBMs did not yet have sufficient accuracy. Placing R-16 and R-9A missiles in silos, of course, increased the survivability of the missiles, but grouped with three ICBMs on one launcher, they represented a single target for destruction.

The nuclear missile confrontation between the USSR and the USA during the Cold War continued. By early 1962, the US Air Force received the Titan-1 intercontinental ballistic missile. With a range of 16,000 kilometers, it had an accuracy of up to 1.7 kilometers from the target. Later, a three-stage, solid-fuel “Minuteman” appeared, whose hit accuracy reached 1.6 kilometers. In June 1963, the United States acquired a powerful 150-ton intercontinental Titan-2.

The five George Washington-class missile carriers in 1961–1963 were followed by the same number of similar nuclear-powered ships of the Ethan Allen class, armed with 16 modernized Polaris A2s.

The second generation ICBMs had greater accuracy and were equipped with an electronic protection system. Placing missiles in fortified silo launchers (silos), located at a considerable distance from each other, greatly increased their survivability. The first of the second generation ICBMs in the USSR was the liquid-propellant R-36 (SS-9) with a monoblock nuclear warhead, developed at the M. Yangel Design Bureau. The R-36 is designed to destroy the enemy’s most important strategic targets protected by missile defense systems. The missile could be equipped with various types of warheads with nuclear charges of varying power. In 1967, the R-36 missile system in the silo was put into service. It was a complex with unique combat capabilities. A total of 288 R-36 ICBMs of all types were deployed between 1966 and 1977.

In the mid-1960s, the USA and USSR began developing third-generation ICBMs. On June 18, 1970, the first detachment of ten Minuteman-3 ICBMs, equipped with MIRVs with individually targetable warheads, was put on alert in the launch silos.

In 1975–1981, the RS-16 (SS-17), RS-18 (SS-19) and RS-20 (SS-18) strategic missile systems, also equipped with multiple independently targetable warheads, were put into service and delivered on combat duty in the USSR. A number of technical innovations were used on the new missile systems: an autonomous control system with an on-board computer, the ability to remotely retarget before launch, the presence of more advanced means of overcoming missile defense on missiles, etc. They could withstand higher pressure and also withstand the effects of electromagnetic interference , including electromagnetic pulse.

The adoption and deployment of third-generation missile systems, equipped with individual guidance heads and means of penetrating missile defense, made it possible to achieve approximately equal numbers of warheads on ICBMs of the USSR and the USA, which contributed to maintaining military-strategic parity.

In 1978–1979, the development of the MX system came to the forefront among strategic American programs. With its help, the US leadership hoped to jeopardize the launch silos of ICBMs of the Soviet Union and thus deprive the USSR of its advantage in ground-based ICBMs. When choosing a method for basing the MX missile, experts considered up to 30 different launcher options. However, the Pentagon failed to find MX acceptable in technical, strategic, economic and political relations invulnerable method of basing.

As a result, in 1986, the first batch of 50 MX missiles was placed in modified Minuteman missile silos to replace missiles of this type that were decommissioned. The program of US President R. Reagan “strategic defense initiative” - “SDI”, put forward by him in March 1983, became a powerful destabilizing factor. It provided for launching into space orbits nuclear weapons and weapons based on new physical principles, which created an exceptionally high danger and vulnerability of the space and territory of the Soviet Union.

Under these conditions, in the 1980s, the USSR, in order to maintain strategic parity, created new silo- and railway-based missile systems with RS-22 (SS-24) missiles, modernized the RS-20 ballistic missile system, and also created RS-12M (SS-25) complexes. ground-based. These complexes belong to the fourth generation of strategic missiles.

“By investing resources in such an expensive quality as mobility,” writes S. Krylov, “the Soviet Union was primarily concerned with increasing the survivability of its missile forces - the main quality for a retaliatory, rather than a preemptive, nuclear strike. Moreover, this is important in conditions when the USSR refused to be the first to use nuclear weapons, and the United States and NATO continued to openly focus on the first nuclear strike.

In 1984, the solid-fuel ICBM RS-22 (RT-23) (SS-24), created at NPO Yuzhnoye (chief designer V. Utkin), entered service with the Strategic Missile Forces. Two versions of the launcher were created: mine and mobile railway. The three-stage RT‑23, an analogue of the "MX", weighing 100 tons with 10 individually targeted warheads (warhead weight - 4 tons) was produced in Pavlograd. The missile's warhead propagation system uses a liquid-propellant rocket engine using high-boiling fuel components. The rocket launch from the TPK is “cold”. The missile's hit accuracy is less than 200 meters.

The combat railway missile system (BZHRK) cannot be distinguished externally from a train with refrigerated and passenger cars. Each BZHRK is designed for long-term autonomous combat duty on patrol routes. Missiles can be launched from any point along the route. A 21.25 meter long launch container with an RS-22 missile is placed in a railway car 26 meters long and 3 meters wide. In 1990, 18 such missiles were deployed on six trains. In 1991, the decision was made to cease production of rail-based ICBMs.”

One of the most successful is the RS-12M Topol (SS-25) mobile ground-based missile system. A three-stage RT-2PM solid-fuel ICBM weighing 45 tons with a monoblock one-ton nuclear warhead was created at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering. The chief designer was Lagutin. The first flight test of the missile was carried out on February 8, 1983, and already in 1985 the missile entered service. RT-2PM missiles were produced in Votkinsk. The vehicle on which the missile is based, a seven-axle MAZ-7310 type, is manufactured at the Barrikady plant in Volgograd.

The RT-2PM missile spends its entire “life” in a special launch container 22 meters long and 2 meters in diameter. The 100-ton launcher, with its very respectable dimensions, has amazing mobility.

"Topol" can be launched from any point on the combat patrol route. In addition, this complex has great survivability and combat effectiveness, with an accuracy of two hundred meters.

On July 31, 1991, when signing the START treaty, the USSR and the USA exchanged official data (the USSR had 1398 ICBMs in service, of which 321 were mobile).

The collapse of the USSR and the acute economic crisis made it unrealistic to produce more than one type of land-based ICBMs with a monoblock head in Russia.

On January 3, 1993, the START II treaty was signed between Russia and the United States, according to which by 2003, ground-based ICBMs with multiple independently targetable warheads will be destroyed or converted. Only ICBMs with monoblock warheads are retained. Silos for launching heavy missiles are being eliminated or converted to monoblock ones.

Therefore, heavy ICBMs are being replaced by the universal Topol-M complex for silo and mobile deployment. The Topol-M2 silo version will replace the RS-2 (SS-18) missiles and some RS-18 (SS-19) missiles.

Topol-M (RS-12M2, according to the NATO classification SS-27) is a three-stage silo-based solid-propellant missile with a monoblock warhead. This is the first ICBM created exclusively by Russian design bureaus and factories. Her design features are such that they can overcome the most modern missile defense system. It is planned to equip one regiment with new missiles every year, that is, to purchase ten Topol-Ms every year.