Coastal anti-ship missile system "Rubezh-ME"

"Terrible Weapon"

The Bal complex is designed to protect naval infrastructure, territorial waters and straits.
The system is capable of hitting both sea and ground targets at a range of up to 120 km. For firing, subsonic low-altitude anti-ship missiles Kh-35 (3M24) developed by the Zvezda Design Bureau (now the Federal State Unitary Enterprise State Scientific and Production Center Zvezda-Strela. - RT ) are used. The creation of the X-35 started in the mid-1980s and ended in the early 2000s. At the final stage, the missile flies at extremely low altitudes (3-5 m), which greatly complicates its interception. In addition, the X-35 widely implements stealth principles. The missile's warhead is designed to destroy ships with a displacement of no more than 5,000 tons.

DBK "Bal" includes two self-propelled command posts for control and communications, up to four launchers (PU) and the same number of transport and reloading vehicles for carrying out a repeated salvo. All vehicles are made on the basis of the MZKT-7930 chassis of the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant.

Also on topic

Guarantee of security: what results has Russia achieved in the development of new generation weapons

An unmanned vehicle with a Poseidon nuclear warhead is successfully being tested, and the first submarine is the carrier of this complex...

The Bala's ammunition load includes 64 missiles. There are eight rounds of ammunition per launcher. 3K60 is an all-weather weapon capable of performing combat missions at any time of the day. It takes about ten minutes to deploy the DBK. After a salvo, the complex, as a rule, changes its position. The interval between starts does not exceed three seconds.

A modern automated target distribution system allows the Balu to simultaneously fire at up to six targets from several launchers. In addition, the complex’s equipment is capable of identifying the type of target by accurately processing incoming radar information.

Missiles can be launched from natural and artificial obstacles up to 1000 m high. This characteristic allows the complex to be deployed on terrain that hides the movement of combat vehicles from enemy surveillance equipment. The Bala's cruising range is 850 km.

• Coastal missile system "Bal"

From the point of view of Yuri Knutov, the main advantages of the 3K60 are mobility, high noise immunity, and improved ability to detect targets. Also, according to the expert, it has become almost impossible to track the movement of domestic DBKs from satellites.

"Ball" was put into service in 2008. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (ISS), the Navy currently has more than 40 such complexes at its disposal. The systems are deployed near the main infrastructure of the Navy. In recent years, Bal has been actively re-equipping coastal defense units in the Arctic, Crimea and the Far East.

In November 2020, the Russian Ministry of Defense transferred 3K60 to Kunashir Island. This step provoked some turbulence in Russian-Japanese relations. Nevertheless, strengthening the coastal defense of the Southern Kuril Islands did not lead to long-term negative consequences.

PBRK 4K51 "Rubezh"

Beginning in the 1950s, Soviet designers took a leading position in the development of a new type of weapon - anti-ship cruise missiles.

In March 1960, the P-15 anti-ship missile, developed at OKB-155 under the leadership of the famous designer A. Ya. Bereznyak, was adopted by the USSR Navy.

FROM DECK TO SHORE

The P-15 cruise missile served as the basis for a whole “family” of anti-ship missiles and several sea- and land-based missile systems. On October 21, 1967, an Egyptian missile boat sank the Israeli destroyer Eilat with P-15U missiles. The first successful missile attack on a ship in history significantly stimulated further work on anti-ship missiles and confirmed the capabilities of the P-15 missiles.

Back on February 4, 1966, the Commission on Military-Industrial Issues under the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the USSR decided to develop a modernized version of the missile. The main objectives of the deep modernization were to increase the firing range (by increasing the supply of fuel and oxidizer, which required a new launch engine), reducing the minimum flight altitude of the rocket, increasing combat effectiveness (including increasing the power of the warhead) and noise immunity of the control system while maintaining the dimensions of the product, similar to the P-15U missile. During the modernization, not only the composition of the rocket equipment changed, but also the manufacturing technology. In the same 1966, OKB-155 of A. Ya. Bereznyak was transformed into the Raduga Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau (Dubna). The Raduga ICB became the lead in the development of a new missile system. The upgraded missile was designated P-15M (Thermite theme). The development of the warhead for it was carried out by the Research Institute of Chemical Materials (formerly NII-6). The firing range, compared to the P-T 5U, was doubled.

For the coastal missile and artillery forces in 1970, a mobile coastal missile system "Rubezh" with a P-15M (Termit-R) missile was developed. Unlike the Redut complex that had just been put into service, the new complex had to be located entirely on one chassis - the launcher, target detection radar, and fire control system.

The dimensions of the rocket with a folded wing made it possible to place two launch containers on the launcher and thereby increase the efficiency of use. The development of the target detection radar and fire control system for the missile system was carried out by the Leningrad TsNIIPA (NII-49, later - the Granit Central Research Institute), and the self-propelled launcher was developed by the Moscow Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau (SKB-709). The defense of the preliminary design of the Rubezh missile system took place in 1971. Tests of the complex took place in 1975-1977 in the Black Sea Fleet. By a resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers of October 22, 1978, the Rubezh coastal missile system with P-15M anti-ship missiles was adopted by the USSR Navy. GRAU assigned the index 4K51 to the complex. In the USA and NATO, the P-15M missile was designated SS-N-2C and “Styx”, respectively (although the NATO designation Styx was applied to all missiles of the P-15 “family”). In the early 1980s, the Rubezh complex underwent modernization. Production of P-15M missiles continued until 1989.

Read: S-300PMU anti-aircraft missile system

COAST DEFENSE TACTICAL COMPLEX

Mobile coastal missile systems 4K51 "Rubezh" were supplied to all fleets of the USSR Navy. Autonomous mobile launchers, the ability to use missiles with two types of homing heads (active radar and passive infrared) and a multi-missile salvo have increased the effectiveness of hitting surface targets even in difficult jamming conditions. The Rubezh complex demonstrated its mobility and high combat readiness during a number of exercises in the 1980s. Thus, it was reported that during the Autumn-88 exercises, the installations of the 1267th coastal missile division made a 320-kilometer march from their deployment site at Cape Tarkhankut (western coast of Crimea) to the Yegorlytsky Kut peninsula in the Kherson region with an average speed of 50 km/h . Using the Harpoon radar, the complex detected a target at a distance of 120 km, and the division hit the target with two missiles.

The Rubezh complex was also supplied abroad - its “export” orientation was laid down from the very beginning. After the collapse of the USSR, part of the 4K51 Rubezh complexes went to independent Ukraine (some, apparently, were returned to the Russian Navy after the reunification of Crimea with Russia).

Operation of the Rubezh complex continues. Thus, in September 2015, the Northern Fleet conducted exercises in the Arctic with firing cruise missiles of the Rubezh complex at a target in the Laptev Sea. Although the complex is already obsolete - the low (transonic) flight speed of the rocket increases its vulnerability, the liquid-propellant rocket itself complicates operation.

COMPOSITION OF THE RUBEZH COMPLEX

The Rubezh complex includes: a combat vehicle (self-propelled launcher), a P-15M anti-ship missile, and a transport vehicle with missiles.

The coastal battery of the Redut complex includes four self-propelled launchers (SPU), the same number of transport-loading vehicles (in total - 16 P-15M cruise missiles with two homing head options) and truck cranes.

WINGED ANTI-SHIP

The P-15M cruise missile is built according to a normal aerodynamic design with a folding mid-mounted trapezoidal wing. The round-section fuselage is welded from AMG6 aluminum-magnesium alloy; two gargrots are made at the bottom of the fuselage. The automatic wing folding mechanism was borrowed from the P-15U missile and made it possible to use a container-type launcher. The tail of the rocket is not foldable. The wing is equipped with ailerons for roll control, the stabilizer is equipped with elevators, and the fin is equipped with a rudder. The sustainer liquid rocket engine (LPRE) has two operating modes - booster and sustainer. The S2.722 liquid rocket engine uses TG-02 fuel (also known as Tonka or Samin) and an AK-20K oxidizer based on nitric acid. To exit the launcher and gain altitude, a jettisonable solid propellant rocket engine SPRD-192 is used, suspended under the rear fuselage. The combined on-board control system includes an APR-25 autopilot, an RV-MB radio altimeter, an inertial navigation system and a homing head (GOS). The basic version of the missile was equipped with an active monopulse radar (AIRL) seeker of the DS-M type, the second version was equipped with a passive thermal (infrared) seeker "Snegir-M". The AIRL seeker ensured detection and acquisition of a destroyer-type target at a range of up to 35-40 km, while the IR seeker provided significantly less. Replacing the barometric altimeter installed on the P-15 and P-15U with a radio altimeter made it possible to reduce the minimum flight altitude of the P-15M missile to 25 m and more accurately visualize its altitude course.

Read: Combat parachutes of the Red Army

The middle part of the fuselage is occupied by the warhead. For the P-15M, a high-explosive cumulative warhead with an explosive charge weighing 375 kg was created. A special (nuclear) charge with a power of up to 15 kt was also developed.

MACHINES OF THE COMPLEX

The combat vehicle (SPU) ZP51 of the complex is built on a four-axle all-wheel drive all-terrain MAZ-543 chassis with a 525 hp diesel engine. With. An operator cabin in the form of a KUNG is installed on the chassis. It contains fire control system devices, target detection radar units, data processing systems, friend-or-foe identification, and control of internal and external closed communications. A lifting mast with a 3Ts51 “Harpoon” radar antenna is mounted on the cabin. In the combat position, the antenna rises to a height of 7.3 m. A significant part of the SPU equipment was borrowed with appropriate changes from the fire control system of Project 205U missile boats. The source of electricity is a gas turbine power supply unit installed on the chassis.

Two anti-ship missiles are placed in launcher containers mounted on a turntable at the rear of the chassis. Containers KT-161 are equipped with sliding lids. The rocket launch is inclined. In the stowed position, the launcher containers are deployed backwards, against the direction of movement of the SPU; in the combat position, the launcher is rotated at an angle of up to 110° to the right or left relative to the chassis, its possible elevation angle is up to 20°. The combat weight of the loaded SPU is about 40 tons.

Read: Sniper rifle KSVK (SVN-98)

When modernizing the Rubezh complex in the early 1980s, the improved MAZ-543M chassis was used for the SPU. A transport vehicle on a wheeled chassis is used to transport missiles and service the systems of the complex. The missiles are transferred from the transport vehicle to the launcher using a crane and removable additional guides attached to the container - the missile is placed on them by the crane and pushed inside the container.

PREPARATION, LAUNCH, FLIGHT, DEFEAT

The preparation and loading of the 4K51 SPU complex is carried out at a technical position. From here the SPU advance to the firing line on the coast. At the firing position, the SPU raises the mast with the radar antenna and turns containers with missiles in the direction of fire. The deployment time of the SPU complex reaches five minutes. Using the standard Harpoon radar, the SPU crew can independently detect a surface target within the covered water area at a range of up to 100 km. Target designation from other radars is also possible. The choice of a missile with one or another variant of the seeker is made depending on the type of target, range, and tactical situation. Ground equipment makes it possible to calculate the flight program for the autopilot and enter it into the memory of the on-board rocket control system. The launch is carried out one rocket at a time or in one gulp.

The launch is provided by the rocket's starting engine. After the missile leaves the container, the folded wing consoles automatically unfold into the flight position. After the rocket is launched to a given altitude and a speed of 190-200 m/s is reached, the starting engine is separated, and the booster mode of the propulsion rocket engine is turned on. Upon reaching cruising speed, the propulsion engine enters a more economical mode of maintaining flight speed, the rocket descends to a height of 50 or 25 m. In the initial and middle sections of the trajectory, the flight is controlled by an autonomous inertial navigation system that maintains a given altitude (using a radio altimeter), speed, and direction of flight. At the final section, the homing head is turned on, searching for and capturing the target and pointing the missile at it. To increase the effectiveness of the attack, the missile's autopilot, at some distance from the target, ensures a vertical maneuver (“slide”), and the missile hits the ship from above.

You might be interested:

• P-15 anti-ship missile
• Cruise missile KSR-2
• Coastal defense complexes
• Operational-tactical missiles R-11, R-11M and R-17 - the same Scuds
• US ground-launched cruise missiles
• Supersonic and hard-to-vulner missiles Kh-22 and KSR-5

Subscribe to
our channel in Yandex.Zen

Fuel

If anything constitutes a state secret, it is the composition of the fuel with which the RS 26 Rubezh is filled. The characteristics of the missile are such that it would be very difficult to intercept it, even if the warheads did not have the ability to maneuver so difficult. The main quality of any fuel is determined by the energy that is released when burning a unit of its mass. In addition, the stability of the combustion process is important, regardless of temperature, barometric or humidity parameters of the environment. Inside the stages of the RS 26 Rubezh there are solid fuel energy-releasing elements based on octogen. They ensure stable projectile flight at very high speeds. Nothing else is known to the general public. As it should be.

Reasons for Western concern

The RS 24 Yars missile also attracted active objections from representatives of Western countries, for approximately the same reasons as the RS 26 Rubezh. Why is this type of ballistic nuclear charge carrier dangerous for NATO defense systems? Over the past three decades, according to US congressmen, their country has not experienced such a threat to national security. And the point is not only in the shortened guidance period, during which it is practically impossible to take measures to neutralize the warhead. The accuracy of all four blocks is very high, it is ensured by the cosmic astro-correction system. Combined with the unlimited ability to overcome the missile defense lines of potential adversaries, we can conclude that the expensive missile defense systems that our Western “friends” are trying to place as close to Russia’s borders as possible are completely useless. The Rubezh RS 26 missile system became an asymmetric response to attempts to neutralize the nuclear potential of the Russian Federation by means of intercepting ICBMs.

Links

• ICBM	R-7 • R-7A • R-16 • R-9A • UR-100 • R-36 • RT-2 • RT-20 • Temp-2S • UR-100K • R-36M • UR-100N • MR UR-100 • R-36M UTTH • RT-2PM "Topol" • R-36M2 "Voevoda" • RT-23 • RT-23 UTTH " Well done" • Spear-R • Courier • RT-2PM2 "Topol-M" • RS-24 "Yars" • RS-26 "Rubezh" • RS-28 "Sarmat"
  IRBM	R-3 • R-5 • R-12 • R-14 • RT-1 • RT-15 • RSD-10 • Speed
  and OTRK	R-1 • R-2 • R-11 • R-17 • R-18 • 9K71 "Temp" • 9K76 "Temp-S" • 9K79 "Tochka" • 9K714 "Oka" • 9K720 "Iskander"
  Uncontrolled TR	2K1 "Mars" • 2K4 "Filin" • 2K5 "Korshun" • 2K6 "Luna" • 9K52 "Luna-M"
  SLBM	R-11FM • R-13 • R-15 • R-21 • R-27 • R-29 • R-29R • R-31 • R-39 • R-39UTTKh “Bark” • R-29RM • R-29RMU2 “Sineva” • R-29RMU2.1 “Liner” » • R-30 “Bulava”
  The sort order is by development time. Italic experimental or not accepted for service samples are highlighted.

A new missile for the Russian Strategic Missile Forces. Its meaning and purpose

In modern conditions, when the restrictions of the START II treaty continue to apply, the Russian leadership has taken steps to strengthen the Strategic Missile Forces. The main task was to create a new missile system, the technical characteristics and parameters of which do not go beyond the scope of the current agreement. The subsequent appearance of the RS26 ballistic intercontinental missile caused confusion in the offices of the Pentagon. The created missile, in terms of its parameters, did not go beyond the current protocols, however, according to other characteristics, the new missile system is capable of creating a real threat to the promising missile defense system of the United States and its allies. The calculated characteristics of the new product suggest that a fundamentally new approach was used in the design of rocket engines and in the control system.

The design bureau of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering began to develop new weapons in 2006. Other scientific and technical organizations also joined the work of MIT. The research topic received the code “Frontier”. The missile that appeared on the drawings received the domestic designation RS-26 “Rubezh”. In the Western classification, the new Russian strategic weapon received the index SS-X-29. The predecessor of the new missile, the Yars missile system, had a similar designation in the Western classification as SS-27 mod 2.

The new product differs significantly from the previous generation strategic missiles. The main differences lie in the missile combat control system during the active phase of the flight. In addition, the new technology can be focused on the use of a completely new type of rocket fuel, which will significantly reduce the active part of the rocket’s flight path. Despite the fact that in order to increase the accuracy of a hit, the active phase of a missile’s flight must be at least 25 minutes, in the new product it was decided to use a different principle of operation of the propulsion engines. The third stage of the rocket will be switched on periodically, only to give the warhead some momentum. This scheme of operation of the main engines will allow the warhead to change course and evade anti-missile missiles of a potential enemy.

On the new missile, the warhead will be able to independently perform certain evolutions during flight, reducing the likelihood of interception by anti-missile missiles during flight. The new Rubezh RS26 ICBM is manufactured using the technology that is the basis of SLBMs. The design of the product does not contain elements of resistance to external influences that are present in silo-launched strategic missiles. The latest modification of the Russian Topol missiles had a dual-launch version, while the new missile system is fully designed for a mobile version.

RS-26 Rubezh missiles shown to military experts around the world

RS-26 Rubezh / Avangard - KY-26 / SS-X-31

Strategic missile system with an intercontinental ballistic missile with increased firing accuracy. The complex is being developed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT).

Development of the complex began no later than 2006. In the period from 2006 to 2009, research was conducted on the topic “Frontier” by national research universities. In 2008, the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant supplied MIT with a set of documentation (technical design) for the MZKT-79291 chassis in a modern design for the automatic control system of a promising PGRK, and MIT carried out related research and development work with MZKT.

Chassis MZKT-79291 before the parade in Minsk / Photo: www.vpk.gov.by

According to MIT experts, the development of the complex should be completed by 2013. The first ballistic launch took place from the Plesetsk test site from a mobile launcher on May 23, 2012. The training combat unit arrived at the designated area of ​​the Kura training ground in Kamchatka.

The third launch was successfully carried out from the Kapustin Yar test site on October 24, 2012 at the Sary-Shagan test site and, probably, during this launch the anti-missile capabilities of the new missile’s combat equipment were assessed. another launch was carried out on 06/06/2013.

The deployment of the first missile regiment is planned for 2014. Also, starting from 2014, the rocket of the new complex will be mass-produced by the Votkinsk Machine-Building Plant. On December 14, 2012, the commander-in-chief of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel General Sergei Karakaev, told the media that in the future the new missile will replace the Topol-M and Yars ICBMs.

The complex differs from previous generations of complexes in the significantly increased capabilities of combat control and communications equipment, as well as, probably, in the use of a new type of fuel in the rocket stages, which accelerates the passage of the active part of the trajectory

On July 3, 2013, at a parade in Minsk, the MZKT-79291 chassis with a 12 x 12 wheel arrangement was publicly shown for the first time. It is believed that this chassis is used as a base for the APU complex. It is also believed that at the first stage of development it was planned to use even a chassis with a 10 x 8 wheel arrangement (MZKT-79292), but the load capacity of this chassis turned out to be insufficient.

Flight testing of the rocket is scheduled to be completed in December 2014. Launcher: mobile highly maneuverable launcher, similar to the launcher of the Yars complex, but with design differences. The weight of the launcher with the missile is less than 80 tons.

With a high degree of probability, the MZKT-79291 chassis is used as the APU chassis of the Rubezh complex.

In 2008, the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant supplied MIT with a set of documentation (technical design) for the MZKT-79291 chassis in a modern design for the automatic control system of a promising PGRK, and MIT carried out related research and development work with MZKT.

Wheel formula - 12 x 12 Engine - diesel 854.10 with a power of 650 hp. Developer: Tutaevsky Motor Plant.

In the first half of 2013, there was an opinion that the APU of the complex could be made on the KamAZ-7850 chassis created according to the Platform-O design and development work (chassis source). The development of the Platform research work has been carried out by KamAZ OJSC since at least the fall of 2008. In 2010, work began on the Platform-O design and development work. As of 2011, development was expected to be completed in 2013.

The first prototype of the MZKT-792911 chassis / Photo: mzkt.by, Sergey Filippov

According to available information, within the framework of the research and development work, the development of a family of chassis with a carrying capacity of 50 tons for the Strategic Missile Forces is underway. If the development is successful, serial production of the new chassis is planned on a new, purpose-built chassis.

Missile RS-26 "Rubezh" / "Avangard":

Design - presumably the design of the rocket maintains a certain continuity with the designs of the rockets of the Topol, Topol-M and Yars complexes. There is also a possibility of continuity with the Courier ICBM. The missile probably has 2-3 stages and a warhead breeding module.

The design of the Avangard complex rocket is based on the solutions incorporated in the Yars complex rockets, but “the layout is different, the materials and elements are different.”

Variant of the alleged appearance of the APU of the RS-26 "Rubezh" missile system with the alleged appearance of the missile - based on the missile of the RS-24 "Yars" complex / Photo: MilitaryRussia.Ru

According to a report in Izvestia, the rocket body has been lengthened and its configuration has been changed. The goal is to deploy a new type of combat payload - with MIRV IN, equipped with its own engines, ensuring maneuvering of the MIRV IN in direction and speed after separation from the carrier (according to Izvestia).

Control and guidance system - probably the basic one is the classic inertial control system with an updated element base. It is also likely that the missile control system allows you to quickly change the flight mission and distribution of targets before launch.

Tactical and technical indicators

Starting weight, t	about 80
Range:
minimum, km	2000 (estimate)
maximum, km	not less than 6000(estimate)
Engines:
marching steps	Solid propellant rocket engine
warhead breeding stage	Solid propellant rocket engine
Combat equipment:
monoblock MS
individually targeted multiple warhead
a set of means to overcome missile defense

Production of the RS26 rocket. Entering the troops

As expected, the main enterprise where the assembly of the new rocket will be carried out is the Votkinsk Machine Plant. The company has extensive experience in the design and assembly of intercontinental missiles of various types, starting with the most powerful domestic missile, the Bulava PRLB, and the tactical missiles of the Iskander complex. The production base of the enterprise today is geared towards the production of domestic R24 missiles, which are used to equip the Topol-M and Yars strategic complexes.

The construction of the RS26 missile of the Rubezh missile system in accordance with the terms of the State Defense Order was planned to begin in 2020. The supply of the new strategic missile to equip combat units is planned to begin with two missile divisions, in Vypolzovo and Irkutsk, where outdated Topol-M missile systems require replacement. Starting in 2020, other combat units of the Strategic Missile Forces will be re-equipped with new missiles. In total, it is planned to transfer up to 50 Rubezh mobile missile systems with R26 ICBMs to combat units.

It should be noted that the new missile fits into the deployment strategy of the new railway-based Barguzin mobile complex. New railway complexes should fill the gap that appeared in the strategic nuclear forces with the decommissioning of the Molodets BZHRK. In parallel with the development of the Rubezh project, MIT designers prepared draft technical documentation for the production of the RS26 railway-based missile.

The appearance of new Rubezh mobile missile systems in service with the Russian Strategic Missile Forces made it possible to significantly increase the combat effectiveness of domestic missile units. In addition, the new Russian missile has completely confused all the cards for Western countries. The existing missile defense system, in the creation of which enormous amounts of money were invested, turned out to be practically powerless in confrontation with the new Russian development.

Author of the article:

Metalnikov Alexander

Military historian. I like to write on military topics, describe historical events, famous battles.

Notes

1. ↑ 1 2 3 4 Ivan Safronov
   .
   [kommersant.ru/doc/2694449 “Frontier” of foreign application], Kommersant
   (03.26.2015).
2. ↑ 123
   [svpressa.ru/war21/article/132431/ “American missile defense killer” will be sent to Irkutsk How many types of ICBMs will be in service with the Strategic Missile Forces]. svpressa.ru. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
3. ↑ 123
   [www.arms-expo.ru/news/armed_forces/noveyshaya_ballisticheskaya_raketa_rs_26_postupit_na_vooruzhenie_irkutskoy_divizii_rvsn/ The newest RS-26 ballistic missile will go into service with the Irkutsk division of the Strategic Missile Forces]. www.arms-expo.ru. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
4. ↑ 12
   [lenta.ru/news/2015/12/02/sanction/ The United States has prepared to introduce new sanctions against Russia]. lenta.ru. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
5. [tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/1701232 The control launch of the newest ballistic missile based on the Yars has been postponed], TASS
   (January 16, 2015).
6. [vpk.name/news/155026_novuyu_mobilnuyu_strategicheskuyu_raketu_primut_na_vooruzhenie_v_2017_godu.html The new mobile strategic missile will be put into service in 2017]
7. Sergei Tikhonov
   .
   [expert.ru/2014/12/30/bespretsedentnaya-ugroza-bezopasnosti-ssha/ Tests with political overtones], Expert
   (12/30/2014).
8. [rusplt.ru/society/rossiya-ustanovit-rubej-dlya-evropro-16433.html Russia will install “Frontier” for EuroBMD], Article on the Russian Planet website: 04/16/2015, Vasily Sychev
9. [in.rbth.com/economics/2013/10/23/russias_hypersonic_trump_card_edges_closer_to_reality_30325 Russia's hypersonic trump card edges closer to reality]. in.rbth.com. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
10. [rusjev.net/2015/06/08/rossiya-narushaet-dogovor-o-rsmd-ssha/ Russia violates the INF Treaty - USA]. Russian Jew. Retrieved December 2, 2020.

"Inexpensive method of deterrence"

In a conversation with RT, Alexey Leonkov, commercial director of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, noted that the regular delivery of Bala and Bastion to the Navy (four sets per year) indicates the formation of layered coastal defense in the Russian Federation. The complexes must reliably cover naval bases and protect the maritime economic zone and territorial waters.

Yuri Knutov is confident that the coastal defense of the Russian Federation is of great importance for the development of the Northern Sea Route, given the US claims to this route. According to him, by deploying complexes in the Arctic, Russia will deprive foreign warships of the opportunity to freely enter the waters adjacent to the Arctic.

"Ball" and "Bastion" are a relatively inexpensive way to deter the navies of large states. In addition to self-propelled systems, Russia has stationary launchers (Bastion-S), which remain from Soviet times. Currently, the Russian Ministry of Defense has almost completed the re-equipment of naval units with “Ball” and “Bastion”. At the moment, these are perhaps the best coastal defense systems in the world,” concluded Knutov.

"Hit a land target"

Often the "Bal" enters service with naval units along with the 3K55 "Bastion" DBK. For example, last year the Russian Navy was replenished with four sets of such coastal systems. Both complexes are located on the MZKT-7930 chassis (with the exception of the Bastion combat control vehicle) and have a vague resemblance to each other.

Also on topic

Let's run the show: how the deployment of missiles in the Kuril Islands will affect Russian-Japanese relations

The appearance of Russian missile systems "Bal" and "Bastion" in the South Kuril Islands caused a negative reaction from the Japanese authorities: on Friday...

The main developer of Bastion is NPO Mashinostroeniya (Reutov). Since 2010, the 3K55 system has replaced the Rubezh ballistic missile system in the troops. "Bastion" is designed to destroy large naval groups, including destroyers and aircraft carriers at a range of up to 300 km.

Firing is carried out by the P-800 Onyx (3M55) anti-ship missile, which is capable of overcoming strong enemy fire and electronic countermeasures. The main advantage of the ammunition is the complete autonomy of combat use - after a salvo, the complex does not need to accompany the missile.

The time to deploy Bastion does not exceed five minutes. In this case, the launch position of the 3K55 rocket can be 200 km away from the coastline (for “Bal” it is 10 km). The DBK's cruising range is 1,000 km, the interval between two launches is 2.5 seconds, and the ammunition load is 24 missiles. One Bastion battery includes four launchers.

In November 2020, Bastion received its baptism of fire in Syria. The complex was successfully used to destroy ground targets. According to Yuri Knutov, such a launch was of great importance for testing the combat characteristics of the complex.

As Knutov suggests, in connection with the destruction of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), the Bastion arsenal may be replenished with land-based versions of the Caliber and hypersonic Zircon. The range of these missiles exceeds 1000 km.

• Anti-ship missile system "Bastion"
• RIA News

“Apparently, our Armed Forces are switching to using a universal launcher for cruise missiles. Unification will save a huge amount of money. The launcher on ships of various classes and ground-based complexes will be adapted to strike with various types of missiles, including Zircons, which will become invulnerable due to their hypersonic flight speed,” the expert noted.

By the end of the 60s of the 20th century, the operational-tactical coastal mobile missile system "Redut" was in service with the coastal missile and artillery forces of the Navy. It had a long firing range, a heavy missile with a powerful warhead, and the launcher carried only one missile. The fleet needed a tactical coastal missile system with a shorter firing range.

The development of the new coastal missile system "Rubezh" began at the Raduga design bureau in 1970. The P-15M Termit tactical anti-ship missile, which is a development of the P-15 family of missiles, was chosen for the new missile system. Instead of a bulky launcher like the first coastal systems, a relatively compact KT-161 launch container with zero-length guides was created. Two such containers, as well as a cabin with control equipment and the Harpoon radar, were placed on the MAZ-543 chassis.

The leading designers of the complex were A.M. Krylov, Yu.A. Afanasyev, V.N. Barannikov. V.I. participated in the creation of the complex and its development. Utrobin, V.M. Egorov, B.I. Komissarov, P.A. Los, M.V. Gryaznov and others. Twin launchers were developed under the leadership of N.K. Tsikunova.

The Rubezh complex with the modernized Termit-R missile was adopted by the USSR Navy on October 22, 1978. In the first half of the 80s, the complex was modernized - the SPU 3P51M was installed on the MAZ-543M chassis.

The complex includes: a 3P51 self-propelled launcher, P-15M (P-21 / P-22) missiles, a transport vehicle with missiles, the complex can additionally be equipped with a long-range surveillance radar installed on a 40V6 tower (from the S-300P).

The P-15M (P-21 / P-22) “Termite” missile is an improved modification of the P-15U missile with an increased flight range. The rocket has a folding (opening after launch) wing of small extension, a Y-shaped tail with rudders. The plumage does not fold. The propulsion engine is a dual-mode liquid-propellant jet engine. The launch accelerator is installed at the rear of the rocket from the bottom. The missile has an inertial control system operating during the cruising phase of flight and two versions of the active homing head (GOS): active radar (ARL homing head) and infrared (IR homing head) type "Snegir-M". The seeker operates in the final phase of the missile’s flight—the homing phase. The missile can be equipped with both a conventional warhead weighing 513 kg and a nuclear power of 15 kt. The missile's cruising flight altitude (25-50-250 m) is set before launch.

The launcher is installed on a wheeled all-terrain chassis of the MAZ-543 (MAZ-543M) type with an 8x8 wheel arrangement. The vehicle is equipped with a control cabin with a Harpoon radar station, a gas turbine power supply unit, and a rotating platform with two KT-161 missile launch containers. The containers contain ready-to-fire P-15M (P-21/P-22) missiles - one with an ARL seeker and one with an IR seeker. The vehicle is completely autonomous and can independently carry out combat missions to search for and engage surface targets. The equipment includes fire control devices, a friend-or-foe identification system, and means of internal and external closed-circuit radiotelephone communication. The Harpoon radar is used to detect targets and is a variant of the radar installed on missile boats. Using a hydraulic lift, the radar antenna is raised to a combat position to a height of 7.3 m; in the stowed position, it is retracted into the front part of the equipment cabin. The transition time of the launcher from traveling to combat position is 5 minutes.

KT-161 containers in the stowed position are deployed backwards (against the movement of the vehicle), in the combat position they are rotated at an angle of up to 110° in any direction (from the rearward direction) and at an elevation angle of 20°. The container has zero-length guides with a groove for the launch accelerator. The hardware cabin is used to accommodate electronic equipment, radar equipment and combat crew workstations. The gas turbine power supply unit serves to provide the elements of the complex with electricity.

At the technical position, preparation and loading are carried out. The launchers are moving to the firing line on the defended coast. Installation at the position extends the mast with the radar antenna, turns the containers in the direction of fire. The combat crew uses radar to detect the target, the coordinates of the target are transmitted to the missile, after which the missile is launched.

The rocket is launched with the help of a launch accelerator towards the target, after exiting the container, the rocket's propulsion engine is started, and the wing opens. With the help of the launch accelerator, the rocket gains speed and altitude. After exhaustion, it is reset, and the rocket with the main engine running decreases to the altitude of the main flight. The inertial control system maintains a given altitude, speed, and flight direction.

After reaching the target area, the seeker is turned on. The seeker locks onto the target and guides the missile to the target. Before approaching the target, the missile makes a maneuver - a “slide” to hit the target from above. A high explosive warhead is initiated by a fuse after the missile hits the target.

The battery of the Rubezh complex has four launchers and four transport-loading vehicles. There are a total of 16 missiles in the battery.

The complex was widely exported and is in service with the navies of Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Germany, Cuba, Algeria, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Romania.
"Rubezh": main characteristics

Flight speed, M	0,9
Maximum launch range, km	80
Warhead explosive mass, kg	513
Rocket length, mm	6565
Wingspan, mm	2500
Rocket mass at launch, kg	2523

Criticism

The UR-100N UTTH intercontinental ballistic missile is capable of delivering up to 6 nuclear warheads. Using one glide warhead instead of a multiple warhead reduces the number of targets hit by up to six times.

The high speed of approach of the UBB to the target practically eliminates human participation in making decisions about possible counteraction. Since the attacked side does not know what kind of charge the warhead carries: conventional or nuclear, the likelihood of a massive launch of retaliatory missiles with all the ensuing consequences increases.

The controlled warhead heats up to thousands of degrees Celsius in flight, which makes it easier to detect by infrared sensors located in low-Earth orbit and subsequent destruction by missile defense systems also located in space.

Testing new weapons

It is expected that the missile will be capable of hitting strategic targets that pose a threat to the country’s defense capability and are located in adjacent territories. If desired, the missile can be reoriented to targets located overseas. It is the versatility of the new weapon that causes the greatest concern on the part of the military departments of Western countries. It is planned to install four warheads with a power of up to 300 CT on the product. The weight reduction of the rocket was achieved through the use of new polymer materials in the design. The accuracy of hitting the target has been significantly increased due to the use of new technologies in the operation of propulsion engines. The rocket has a fast and rapid launch, so already at the launch the rocket is difficult to detect. The further flight will be carried out along a constantly changing trajectory. Evolutions of the warhead in terms of speed and flight altitude are designed to reduce the threat of counteraction from the enemy missile defense system.

Individual warheads, flying independently after separation, have a speed that does not allow the flight to be tracked by currently available systems.

The second launch from the Plesetsk cosmodrome took place at a target at the Kura training ground, located in Kamchatka. The next full launch of the RS26 rocket took place on October 24, 2012. A new missile was launched from the Kapustin Yar missile test site. The training target was located at the Sary-Shagan training ground (territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan). During the successful flight, telemetry tests of the new warhead and maneuvering engines of the warhead were carried out. To date, five launches of the new RS26 rocket have been carried out. Completion of tests is scheduled for 2014. Test launches, which took place in 2020, were marked by success. The rocket passed all stages of the flight within acceptable parameters.

Russia has successfully completed testing of a new missile and is ready to begin deploying it

As Kommersant has learned, the Russian Ministry of Defense has completed an analysis of the test results of the newest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) RS-26 Rubezh and declared them successful. The fourth successful launch in a row took place on March 18. Now the military is ready to adopt it in the near future and begin deployment next year. Meanwhile, complaints have already been made against Rubezh in the United States: they believe that Moscow could thereby violate its obligations to Washington.

As sources in the military department told Kommersant, the launch of the RS-26 took place on March 18. The missile was launched from a mobile launcher at the Kapustin Yar test site in the Astrakhan region at the Sary-Shagan test site (Kazakhstan). “The launch took place completely in normal mode, the warhead of the missile hit the conditional target with the specified accuracy,” noted one of Kommersant’s interlocutors. “The reliability of the systems and components of the product was confirmed by the telemetry we received.” Representative of the press service and information department of the Ministry of Defense Igor Egorov told Kommersant that he was “not authorized” to comment on the fact of the launch. An official representative of the developer of the complex, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT), also declined to comment.

How rocket debris was found at the cosmodrome

The start of work on the new ICBM project first became known in March 2011, when MIT General Designer Yuri Solomonov (without naming a specific type of missile) promised to soon conduct its first test launch. It took place on September 28 of the same year from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, but was unsuccessful: the rocket touched it when exiting the transport and launch container, thereby provoking abnormal operation of the first stage. The result was a fall of the product just 8 km from the launch point (see “Kommersant” dated September 29, 2011). However, all subsequent launches (in May and October 2012, in October 2013 and the current one) were successful: twice the RS-26 hit targets at the Kamchatka Kura training ground and twice at Sary-Shagan.

Since then, a huge amount of work has been carried out to fine-tune the complex to the required parameters, says a Kommersant source in the missile industry: if four years ago the missile was tested with a mass-dimensional mock-up of the warhead, today the work on its combat equipment has been almost completely completed . Tests of real warheads are carried out precisely on the short Kapustin Yar-Sary-Shagan route, since it is believed that the training ground in Kazakhstan, where targets for firing are planned, is more protected from US reconnaissance assets, unlike the training ground in Kamchatka, which, having advance information about testing can be controlled, for example, with the help of reconnaissance ships.

“We don’t want to be left alone with the defense industry”

From a production point of view, there should be no problems for the new ICBM, Kommersant’s interlocutors claim: the capacity of the Votkinsk plant (Udmurtia) is quite sufficient for serial production of the RS-26, even taking into account its load on the production of a large number of other missiles (“Yars”, “ Bulava" and "Iskander"). In an interview with Kommersant on June 10, 2013, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Yuri Borisov stated that MIT “is contracted almost until the end of the state armament program (until 2020 - Kommersant”

) - he just has to do and do.”

It is worth noting that in the United States (both in the expert community and in the leading media) accusations have already been made against Moscow in connection with Russia’s development of the RS-26. In particular, American experts believed that Rubezh was designed to hit targets at a distance of less than 5,500 km, which is a violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty). However, the Russian side rejected all claims, stating that the missile launches from Plesetsk in Kamchatka confirmed its intercontinental range and it was declared as a new ICBM under the current Russian-US Strategic Arms Treaty. Last year, the US State Department presented official claims to Russia, and currently the parties are in a state of heated showdown on this issue (see material on page 6). Meanwhile, it is unknown whether the RS-26 was included in the list of these claims: it has never been officially published, and in words, American representatives are so far speaking only about Russian cruise missiles.

Today, the Strategic Missile Forces are on combat duty with seven types of missile systems: three mobile-based (Topol, Topol-M and Yars) and four silo-based (RS-18, RS-20, Topol-M) and "Yars"). Such a set of missile systems in operation (unlike the United States, which has only one type of ICBM - Minuteman III) leads, first of all, to an increase in the cost of maintaining the entire missile arsenal as a whole. Now an eighth complex will be added to them - “Rubezh”. According to Kommersant's information, in the near future the leadership of the Ministry of Defense will issue an official decision on the adoption of the RS-26 for service. The commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel General Sergei Karakaev, stated earlier that the deployment of the new ICBM will begin in 2016, and TASS reported that the 29th Guards Missile Division (Irkutsk) will be the first to rearm with it.

Ivan Safronov

International treaties on nuclear disarmament

International agreements to limit the number of carriers of nuclear weapons have been concluded many times. During the reign of L. I. Brezhnev, the first attempts were made to reduce the intensity of the confrontation between the two superpowers, each of which is capable of repeatedly destroying all life on the planet. Then, during a short period of rapid change of general secretaries, the Soviet foreign policy line fluctuated, which could not be said about the American one. Serious concessions were achieved from the USSR only when the young leader M. S. Gorbachev came to power. In 1987, an agreement was signed on the mutual destruction of medium- and short-range missile carriers. The situation in the country in the second year of the announced Perestroika was difficult. There were shortages of many common goods today, the arms race depleted the already meager budget, and a revision of the meaning of many historical facts led to a large-scale moral and ethical crisis in Soviet society. It cannot be said that the mentioned agreement was beneficial to the USSR in geopolitical or strategic aspects; it significantly undermined the country’s defense potential, but, in essence, the new head of state had no other choice. And he signed it, perhaps not fully understanding what kind of document was being offered to him. Today we can look into this issue objectively and calmly.

“Goes to the target like a meteorite”

Another new product that will enter service with the Strategic Missile Forces in the coming years is the Avangard hypersonic complex (glider) (“product 4202”), which is being tested in the 13th Missile Division (Dombarovsky, Orenburg Region). As Sergei Karakaev reported, NPO Mashinostroeniya (Reutov) has already launched mass production of this system.

“The new Avangard missile system with a hypersonic glide winged warhead has completely unique combat characteristics. With its adoption, the group’s combat capabilities will be significantly increased - first of all, in overcoming missile defense and hitting targeted important targets,” Karakaev explained in an interview with Red Star.

Earlier, the head of the Strategic Missile Forces said that the Avangard does not fly along a ballistic trajectory, but in the atmosphere, at an altitude of several tens of kilometers. The glider is able to maneuver “along the course and altitude and thus bypass the detection and destruction zones of not only modern, but also promising missile defense systems.” The power of Avangard is more than two megatons of TNT.

As Putin stated in his speech on March 1, Avangard is capable of flying in dense layers of the atmosphere at intercontinental range and at hypersonic speeds that reach Mach 20 (over 20 thousand km/h). The glider maneuvers using aerodynamic or gas rudders.

“The use of new composite materials made it possible to solve the problem of long-term controlled flight of a gliding winged unit practically under conditions of plasma formation. He goes to the goal like a meteorite, like a burning ball, like a fireball. The temperature on the surface of the product reaches 1600-2000 °C, while the winged unit is reliably controlled,” Putin said.

In a conversation with RT, the founder of the Military Russia portal, Dmitry Kornev, suggested that Avangard will be launched from a three-stage liquid silo-based ICBM UR-100N UTTH "Stiletto" (RS-18A), and in a few years - from Sarmat.

Weapons for "Ratnik": how the AK-12 replaces its predecessor in the Russian army

“Of course, the Stiletto is obsolete, but we have a lot of such missiles. In addition, in the early 2000s, Ukraine transferred about 30 UR-100N to Moscow. Why not use them to operate the latest weapons? This is a relatively simple and inexpensive way to launch the Avangard, which allows for the necessary testing. One UR-100N UTTH will carry one Avangard, but at least three such units will be installed on the Sarmat,” Kornev said.

• Test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile
• RIA News
• Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

According to RT’s interlocutor, Avangard does not have a power plant and moves by inertia due to the acceleration energy from the ICBM. In fact, the warhead can move in space like an airplane, receive a radio signal, make “altitude jumps” and various “programmed maneuvers.”

“It’s almost impossible to shoot down a maneuvering ballistic target. Any missile defense system deploys an anti-missile missile to a given point where the warhead should be. However, when it maneuvers, the system is forced to recalculate and, as a result, does not have time to build the flight path of the block. There is every reason to assert that Avangard ensures guaranteed defeat of the target,” Kornev emphasized.

The Rubezh missile system no longer threatens the United States. Why?

Leonid Nersisyan, March 23, 2020, 13:59 — REGNUM According to a source in the Russian military-industrial complex, the RS-26 “Rubezh” mobile strategic missile system has been excluded from the State Armament Program for the period from 2020 to 2027 (GPV-2027), while it features the silo-based Avangard strategic hypersonic missile system Vladimir Putin According to the source, there was not enough funding to implement both programs. Is this true or could there be other reasons behind this?

Ballistic missile launch

Mil.ru

RS-26 “Rubezh” is one of the two main US claims under the INF Treaty

The RS-26 Rubezh mobile strategic missile system with a light intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) has been presented in recent years as one of the most interesting and promising projects being developed in the interests of the Strategic Missile Forces (Strategic Missile Forces) of Russia, along with the Sarmat heavy liquid-fuelled ICBM » mine-based. Unlike Sarmat, Rubezh is actually ready for production (5 launches were carried out before 2015, 4 of them successful), and in recent years there has been repeated talk about the missile’s imminent adoption into service.

RS-28 Sarmat missile

Michael - Nuclear silo

However, politics clearly intervened in the matter (and more likely, it was for political purposes that this project was created). The fact is that the main feature of the RS-26 is its versatility - the missile can actually perform both the functions of a medium-range missile (maximum flight range from 1000 km to 5500 km), having a minimum launch range of about 2000 km, and the functions of an ICBM. The maximum flight range of the Rubezh missile is estimated at 6000-6500 km, which meets the criteria for an intercontinental ballistic missile (more than 5500 km). In fact, the missile meets the criteria of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (the maximum launch range is specified there), however, accusations have been heard from the United States for several years about the missile’s non-compliance with the letter of the treaty. The point was that maximum-range flight is only possible with a light combat load, and in fact the missile is “tailored” specifically to hitting targets at medium range. It is likely that there is a grain of truth here, since the Russian Strategic Missile Forces did not rush to adopt the missile into service - and now the project has been completely frozen.

It is likely that the information about the freezing of the RS-26 Rubezh and Barguzin projects (to a lesser extent) until 2027 is a kind of curtsey from Moscow to Washington before negotiations regarding the extension of the START-3 treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive arms.

Read more: Does Russia need “nuclear trains” today?

It is likely that a cruise missile called 9M729 was also developed for this purpose and is indeed a medium-range missile (there is no official information about the characteristics of the product, nor is there information about the deployment of a significant number of this weapon). It is important that all these weapons are in a high degree of readiness and starting mass production is not a big problem if the need arises. In fact, negotiations around the INF Treaty are now also extremely relevant, in which a lot of questions have accumulated that have brought this important document to the brink of death.

Read more: The death of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and its meaning

And finally, the notorious issue of the US withdrawal from the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense Systems also does not create stability and requires at least some kind of settlement.

"Avangard" and other promising strategic weapons strengthened Russia's position in the negotiations

On the one hand, the refusal to produce the RS-26 Rubezh may seem like a concession that weakens Russia’s position in negotiations with the United States. In reality, this move changes little, given the number of more original and breakthrough projects that have recently been officially announced.

Read more: Putin’s biggest military secret came as a complete surprise to everyone

The inclusion of Avangard in GPV-2027 indicates a fairly high degree of readiness of the product. It is known that tests of the hypersonic glide combat unit (glider) of the complex were carried out using aging silo liquid-propellant ICBMs UR-100N UTTH. The real carrier for hypersonic gliders capable of long-term controlled flight at a speed of about Mach 20 (20 speeds of sound) in the atmosphere will be the new heavy Sarmat ICBM, the first throw tests of which took place at the end of 2020. This missile is also included in GPV-2027.

Hypersonic glider

nationalinterest.org

In combination with the concept of an unlimited-range cruise missile with a nuclear power plant (whether tests were carried out with a working reactor is still unclear), the already implemented aviation hypersonic aeroballistic missile "Dagger" based on the Iskander-M missile, torpedoes with a nuclear power plant (degree readiness is unclear) Russia’s position is becoming very strong, and Moscow can afford to make a friendly gesture in the form of freezing one of its projects. Whether such a step will lead to real results, only time will tell. Donald Trump , which the latter recently announced may bring some news

Read more: Trump does not rule out a personal meeting with Putin in the “near future”

"A very formidable weapon"

Public information about the development of Sarmat first appeared on June 10, 2009. In a conversation with reporters, the commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel General Nikolai Solovtsov, spoke about plans to develop an analogue of the Voevoda. At the same time, he noted that the R-36M will remain in service until 2020. During this period of time, as Solovtsov explained, “new missiles” should be created.

More details about “Sarmat” became known only from the message of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Federal Assembly on March 1, 2018. The head of state announced that the active phase of testing the latest ICBM had begun. He called the RS-28 “a very formidable weapon,” for which even promising missile defense systems are not a hindrance.

“Weighing over 200 tons, it has a short active flight segment, which makes it difficult to intercept by missile defense systems. The range of the new heavy missile, the number and power of warheads is greater than that of the Voevoda. “Sarmat” will be equipped with a wide range of high-power nuclear weapons, including hypersonic ones,” Putin noted.

• Loading the Sarmat ballistic missile before launch during testing
• RIA News

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Sarmat is a heavy silo-type liquid-fueled ICBM, which in the near future will have no analogues in the global combat missile industry.

As Deputy Minister of Defense (now Deputy Prime Minister) Yuri Borisov said in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda on March 11, the Sarmat’s booster section will be one and a half times smaller than that of the Voevoda, and comparable to the Topol-M solid-fuel ICBMs. and "Yars".

“In addition, the capabilities of the Sarmat missile allow the use of up to three tons of payload in the interests of technical means of countering missile defense. The complex of missile defense countermeasures used as part of the Sarmat missile ensures that the warheads will almost certainly overcome any missile defense lines,” says the Ministry of Defense materials.

The RS-28 can accommodate up to 20 warheads of various power classes (low, medium, high or high). In terms of its weight and size characteristics, the Sarmat is almost no different from the Voevoda. This will make it possible to place the RS-28 in the mines where the R-36M are currently located, after minor improvements to the infrastructure of the position areas.

ICBM RS-26 – the first sign

On the eve of the 55th anniversary of the creation of the Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), rearmament is in full swing.

The current pace, of course, is not comparable to the Soviet rate in the second half of the 70s and early 80s, when troops received more than 200 missiles per year - intercontinental SS-17, SS-18, SS-19, medium-range SS-20. But these are no longer the crumbs of the 90s, when four Topol-Ms came into operation per year.

As of January 2014, the Strategic Missile Forces were armed with 311 launchers of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The type includes three missile armies: the 27th Guards (headquarters in Vladimir), the 31st (in Orenburg), and the 33rd Guards (in Omsk). The 27th Guards is equipped with the most modern complexes - 96 of the latest silo-based and mobile-based Topol-M missile systems, as well as the RS-24 Yars. The army includes five divisions, the most powerful and numerous is the 60th Missile Division, which is armed with 100 ICBM launchers and 300 nuclear warheads.

The RS-26 ICBM is the first sign of the new, fifth generation.

Let me note right away: all estimates regarding the design and tactical and technical characteristics of the new missile are speculative and based on rather meager information leaked to the press from representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the government or the president. The calculations are simple, the theoretical directions for the development of missile weapons, which we are now seeing, have long been known both in the USA and in the USSR; they have been created since the 60s.

"Bus" and "Blue Angels"

In November 1962, the US Navy's Special Project Office (SPO) and the Air Force began conceptual development of new combat equipment for ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). The plans of the two departments were to create a single warhead (warhead) of a new type for the Mini V-3 ICBM. Two options were considered, differing in the method of breeding warheads. The first received the code name Mailman and involved the creation of the so-called Bus (Bus) - a platform with a guidance system and a propulsion system, from which warheads were sequentially separated at calculated trajectory points and then made an uncontrolled flight to the target.

The second method was called Blue Angels, which involved equipping each warhead with its own propulsion system and guidance system. The first option subsequently became the classic design of the MIRV multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MRV), the second was happily forgotten. Of course, the Blue Angels variant has its own disadvantages, one of them is the impossibility of dividing the warhead, like the Bus variant, up to 10-14, and theoretically up to 30 warheads.

In the mid-80s, the Americans quite seriously assumed that there was a version of the Soviet SS-18 missile with thirty low-yield warheads (150 kt). Technically, the Blue Angels variant can be designed with no more than four individually targetable warheads. The main advantage of such a missile and the method of distributing warheads was the ability to actively maneuver throughout the entire flight, including the extra-atmospheric and atmospheric sections. In addition, opportunities have emerged for attacking targets along low-altitude flat trajectories (LT).

Back in 1988, at the request of the Navy, she carried out theoretical calculations of flat trajectories for launching Trident-2 SLBMs over short distances - two to three thousand kilometers against “soft” targets. Calculations were made according to the types of trajectories from NT-60 to NT-180 at a distance of 2000 kilometers and from NT-95 to NT-370 at 3000 (the index means the altitude of the apogee of the trajectory). The research results were partially published and the corresponding conclusion was drawn: firing a D-5 missile at NT at short distances is possible even with a 40% reduction in flight time. But such an opportunity will have to be paid dearly.

Since most of the rocket's flight along the NT will take place in dense layers of the atmosphere, it is necessary to increase the platform acceleration speed from 6.5 to 8.7, and in some cases even to 9.2 km/s. And this can only be done with a reduced number of warheads, that is, from one to three. At the same time, the shooting accuracy deteriorates significantly, the COE increases by orders of magnitude - up to 6400 meters when shooting at 2000 kilometers and 7700 meters when shooting at 3000 kilometers.

From the point of view of rational or optimal use of throw weight, the Bus scheme looks better than the Blue Angels. The latter requires each warhead to be equipped with an individual guidance system, its own remote control, fuel and oxidizer tanks. Given that the enemy did not have active means of defense in the superatmospheric space, the Blue Angels scheme was not only technically complex or impossible to implement, but unnecessary for that time. Actually, that’s the only reason designers put it on the table half a century ago. Thanks to the physical principles on which the upper stage of the new missile is built, it is devoid of the disadvantages inherent in modern ICBMs and SLBMs with classic MIRVs.

ICBMs based on SLBM technology

The domestic missile received its own name, formal for international agreements, RS-26 “Rubezh”. In the West, according to a decades-old tradition, it was assigned the index SS-X-29. This name was inherited from Rubezh from the RS-24, after Yars was called SS-27 Mod 2 by NATO.

The preliminary design for the new rocket was prepared by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT). Full-scale development was carried out between 2006 and 2009. In 2008, MIT and the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant (MZKT) signed a contract for the preparation of the MZKT 79291 transporter for the mobile launcher of the new complex. This wheeled transporter is significantly smaller in size than the previous MZKT 79221, created specifically for Topol-M and Yars, and has a slightly lower payload capacity - 50 tons versus 80. It is not difficult to calculate the starting weight of the new rocket: it should not exceed 32 tons.

As for the dimensions of the transport and launch container: if there are no special restrictions on the diameter, then its length should not exceed 13 meters. Apparently, it was the dimensions of the new missile, and not the range of the test launches, that caused the American side to be concerned about Russia’s compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Some experts have suggested that the Russian Federation is developing a new small-sized ICBM based on the Speed ​​project, which was closed in 1991. It was the range of the test launches that drew the attention of foreign media.

In total, the rocket has undergone four flight tests since the start of testing. The first two are from the launch at the Plesetsk cosmodrome to a target at the Kura training ground. The second pair - October 24, 2012 and June 6, 2013 - from the start at the Kapustin Yar training ground to a target at the Sary-Shagan training ground. In the first case, the launch range is 5800 km, in the second – just over 2000 km. Perhaps these were just test launches along a flat trajectory in order to check the characteristics of the rocket. There is no need to specially create an IRBM and thereby unilaterally withdraw from the INF Treaty if any task set by an IRBM can also be accomplished by an ICBM. Let us remind you: the minimum launch range of the RSD-10 (SS-20) is 600 km, the Topol (SS-25) is 1000 km.

Ballistic missiles use solid fuels of two classes - 1.1 and 1.3. The energy content of type 1.1 fuel is higher than 1.3, so that for a given launch and throw weight, the missile launch range in the first case will be greater. Class 1.1 fuel also has better technological properties, increased mechanical strength, resistance to cracking and grain formation. Thus, it is less susceptible to accidental combustion. At the same time, 1.1 fuel is more susceptible to detonation and is close in sensitivity to conventional explosives. Since the safety requirements in the technical specifications for ICBMs are much stricter than for SLBMs, the former use fuel of class 1.3 (“Mini”). The SLBMs are 1.1 (“Trident-2” and “Bulava”).

Most likely, MIT developed a new ICBM using SLBM technologies. The missile is not intended for installation in a silo; only a mobile version was developed. As a result, the technical specifications did not impose requirements on it for increased impact resistance, since there is no need to withstand the shock load on the silo with the missile during close nuclear explosions, like the MX, Minuteman or SS-24 missiles, which were developed in two versions - mobile ( BZHRK) and mine. The excessive weight of the Topol is also a consequence of the two-variant basing.

This is the same unified ICBM and SLBM missile based on the Bulava that was promised several years ago. From it there are the first two steps, the third consists of three separate steps of a smaller diameter (up to 0.8 m), connected into a package that fits into the common midsection of the “Bulava”, two meters long. It should not be more than 3.6 meters for an improved ICBM to fit into a standard transport and launch container. Perhaps they are packaged in one carbon fiber fairing, although this is not at all necessary. Suffice it to recall the SS-20 missile. Even for SLBMs this is an optional condition (let's look at the R-27U). Probably, each stage is equipped with a 3D39 liquid-propellant rocket engine using high-boiling fuel components. Fuel – dimethylhydrazine (heptyl, UDMH), oxidizer – nitrogen tetroxide.

Previously, this engine was used as a control unit for the breeding unit of the R-29 RM SLBM, having proven itself well. It is he who has all the necessary characteristics and will fit into the midsection of 0.8 meters. In general, it should be noted that liquid propellant rocket engines have a number of undeniable advantages compared to solid propellant engines (solid propellant rocket engines). This is, first of all, the possibility of repeated activation, changing the amount of thrust in a wide range, and roll control.

The most famous SLBMs, Trident-1 and Trident-2, are not roll controlled at all in the operation area of ​​the first and second stages. Control occurs only in two planes: pitch and yaw. Correction of errors accumulated in roll during the first 120 seconds of flight is carried out by the third stage, which then turns to the required angle.

The active section of the rocket should be extended until it enters the dense layers of the atmosphere to 25–27 minutes. But this does not mean that the third stage propulsion engine is running all the time. Only for a short time will the attitude control engines be turned on to provide the impulse necessary for the maneuver to evade GBI and SM-3 class anti-missile missiles at altitudes from 300 to 100 km. Evolutions of the warhead in a plane perpendicular to the velocity vector, in any case, even at very small values, will lead to disruption of the anti-missile guidance.

When entering the dense layers of the atmosphere from approximately 80 km and below, the combat stage is no longer controlled by maneuvering rocket engines, but by aerodynamic surfaces - stabilizers. It is from this height that the active braking of the ballistic missile launcher occurs with large values ​​of negative accelerations. In a short time - less than a minute - the speed of the warhead drops from seven to less than three kilometers per second. Therefore, it would be a good idea to briefly turn on the remote control for additional acceleration in order to go beyond the maximum operating modes of the second-tier THAAD air defense system.

The new complex will begin to be supplied to troops only in a mobile version from the end of this year. It will definitely be received by the 7th Guards from Vypolzov and the 29th Guards Irkutsk divisions to replace the old Topols. Starting in 2020, the re-equipment of the 13th Dombarovskaya and 62nd Uzhur divisions with the new RS-28 “Sarmat” missile system (SS-X-30) will begin. In total, it is planned to deploy at least 50 new ICBMs.

According to Western experts, the Russian group will consist of slightly less than 250 ICBM launchers, of which only 78 are launchers with monoblock missiles. The remaining launchers will receive three new types of ICBMs - RS-24, RS-26 and RS-28, equipped with MIRVs. The old Soviet intercontinental missiles will be history by then. In turn, the United States plans to keep 400 retirement age Minuteman ICBM launchers with monoblock warheads in service until 2040.

Design

Information about the design of the RS 26 Rubezh ICBM has been covered in the press extremely sparingly. It is known that the total power of the four warhead elements is 1.2 megatons (4 x 300 kt). The architecture of the three-stage projectile repeats the structure of the Topol and Yars, but its weight is less due to the use of high-strength polymer materials. A fundamentally new control and guidance system was also announced, operating according to a unique algorithm that allows you to evade dangerous objects (anti-missiles) and enter a combat course with a high degree of probability of hitting the target. Individual systems create aperiodic fluctuations in speed and direction that prevent the warhead from being hit in flight. This algorithm allows it to maintain combat effectiveness even if 35 anti-missiles are fired to intercept. The energy generated by the engine at launch guarantees reaching the combat course even through the cloud of a nuclear explosion. This is impressive.

RMSD

The problem existed for a long time, and was that the nuclear potentials of the USSR and the USA depend not only on the number of carriers, but on another important parameter, namely the flight time. If you look at an ordinary geographical map with missile bases of NATO countries and the USA marked on it, a completely logical question will arise about the advisability of their existence in such numbers, and even near our borders

If, as a result of some foreign policy crisis, a decision is made to strike the modern territory of Russia, there will be very little time left for retaliatory actions. Countermeasures could theoretically be counter-missile launches at bases with launchers. These targets are quite close. To successfully defeat them, you need short- or medium-range missiles, prohibited by the 1987 INF Treaty. But what does the ballistic strategic RS 26 have to do with it? The boundary they create on our borders is due to the wide range of their attack radius.

Technical characteristics of the Avangard hypersonic missile

The key feature of the Avangard hypersonic missile is its flight speed, reaching 33 thousand km/h, and, according to analysts, capable of reaching a speed of 37 thousand km/h. This gives the Russian missile system a unique advantage. Since today there are no missile defense systems capable of intercepting air targets moving at hypersonic speed.

The warhead of the Avangard hypersonic missile is capable of maneuvering, thereby ensuring complete invulnerability to missile defense systems. The warhead consists of three separate shock units, each of which is capable of hitting targets independently of the other.

The warhead of the Avangard hypersonic missile can be equipped with nuclear warheads with a capacity of about 250 kilotons of TNT.

What class does Rubezh belong to?

To a person who is far from questions of strategy, it may seem that the further a ballistic missile can fly, the better. This is not entirely true. This statement is as incorrect as declaring a sledgehammer good and an ordinary hammer bad. Launching an intercontinental ballistic missile at a target located two to three hundred or even one and a half thousand kilometers away is technically impossible. She simply will not be able to reach the desired combat course. ICBMs include ballistic carriers with a range of over 5,000 km. The entire range from 150 to 5.5 thousand km is considered an average radius. The question arises about what class should the RS 26 Rubezh missile be classified into? Its characteristics have limitations both at the maximum (6 thousand km) and at the minimum (2 thousand km). It is capable of hitting launchers located near Russian borders, and at the same time can reach targets in the United States or other countries that show a desire to attack the Russian Federation. Supporters of American nuclear dominance do not like this universality very much, and they appeal to the 1987 treaty.

“The frontier” will be taken: Russian rocket scientists “washed” the Americans

For unnamed reasons, the Ministry of Defense has decided not to demonstrate to the Americans the latest RS-26 Rubezh ICBM, although Russia is obliged to do this sooner or later under the terms of mutual agreements on nuclear weapons. It is too early to talk about the reasons for this decision, but the time has come to evaluate our successes in this field as a whole.

Do not touch

The RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) (also known as Avangard) has been developed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering for several years - the exact release date is unknown. Testing began in September 2011; to date, at least four test launches are known. The performance characteristics (TTX) of Rubezh are classified.

According to unconfirmed data from open sources, this is a three-stage missile with a range of about 11 thousand km and 4 warheads of 150-300 kilotons each. The emphasis is on the possibilities of overcoming the American missile defense, which, however, was never deployed to the proper extent.

In accordance with the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms of 2010 (START III) and previous similar agreements, the American inspection will have the right to partially familiarize itself with some performance characteristics (in order to understand the difference from previous models), visually inspect and measure the missile. As in a real museum, touching and photographing it will be prohibited, as well as inspecting the launch silo.

The inspection was supposed to be carried out in November - six months before that, a tender was even announced to receive dear guests from overseas. Now, as a source in the Russian Ministry of Defense told TASS, “the display of our new RS-26 intercontinental ballistic missile to a group of American inspectors has been postponed from November 2020 to 2020; new dates for the display have not yet been determined.” The reasons for this decision are not specified - it could equally well be a question of product refinement or political motives (remember that the US presidential elections will be held in November next year, and bilateral relations may change in an unpredictable way).

Patience and work

If the obstacle is still the unreadiness of the RS-26 for adoption, then, of course, not only the American visit is postponed, but also serial production, planned for early 2016. However, there is no serious cause for concern.

Firstly, it is planned to supplement the “Rubezhami” divisions with “Topol-M” and their further modification RS-24 “Yars”, which have been on combat duty, respectively, since the late 90s and the beginning of the 10s. For ICBMs, 15-20 years is still youth, and 5 years is generally infancy. Even the Topolis, which have been in service since the late 80s and will gradually be replaced by the RS-26, are still too early to be scrapped.

Secondly, in general, things are going quite well in the rocket industry. The other day, information appeared about the Sarmat ICBM being almost completely ready for throw tests (testing of weight-and-dimensional mock-ups at testing sites outside the factory territory). This heavy missile, capable, according to preliminary data, of carrying up to 10 warheads of 750 kilotons each, should by 2020 replace the legendary R-36M2 “Voevoda”, known to the average person under the Western designation “Satan”.

Based on the RS-24, the Barguzin combat railway missile system is being developed - such missiles, as was done in Soviet times, will be hidden in freight trains: their launchers will be disguised as ordinary cars. This project was started quite recently and is still at the development stage, but in five years they are expected to be delivered to the troops.

As for the naval component, despite all the spiteful critics, the R-30 Bulava ballistic missile continues to be successfully tested: out of 11 launches over the past five years, only one failure occurred. The first double (with an interval of only 5 seconds) launch, which took place four days ago, was also successful.

Everything is relative

For those who are not convinced by the above arguments regarding the positive state of the nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile industry, we suggest taking a quick look at the same industry in the United States. Do you know how many new ICBMs have been developed in the United States over the past 30 years? Zero.

There are only two types of such missiles in service. The land-based silo-based version, the LGM-30G Minuteman III, entered service in 1970. Once upon a time, missiles of this family could carry megaton-class nuclear warheads, but now their yield has been reduced to 300-475 kilotons. At sea, things are little better: US strategic submarines are armed with the UGM-133A Trident II, which entered service in 1990. The first ones will need to be put out of service no later than 2020; no one yet knows what to replace them with. The service life of the latter was extended by a strong-willed decision until 2042. In 2030, it is planned to begin work on a new modification - it will replace the “old ladies”, who will be about 50 years old by the time they are removed from service!

At the same time, the heavy ICBMs LGM-118 Peacekeeper (an approximate analogue of our “Satan”), developed in the 80s, were withdrawn from service in 2005 due to expensive maintenance. And the only American mobile-based ICBMs, the MGM-134 Midgetman, never went into production - the program was closed with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The only achievement of the Americans is the recent successful series of tests of the B61-12 nuclear bomb, which, as the name suggests, is already the 12th modification of the B61, put into operation back in the 60s.

So we recommend adopting this information, which will be an excellent counterargument to critics of Russian missile programs and which fully confirms the principle “He who does nothing makes no mistakes.”

Source