May 10, 2006 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
The Russian newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda recently profiled the Topol-M (SS-27) ICBM, outlining the production history and key features of Russia’s most advanced missile system, which began in 1991. In particular, the article discusses the rationale behind the missile’s structural design, which from the beginning seems to have been intended to defeat missile defense systems:
It was necessary to create a structural design which, for the first time in Russian and world practice, would make it possible to resolve a number of difficult tasks. It was required to develop a standardized missile, with respect to the various types of bases [for ICBMs], which would have the same high combat qualities as silo-based ICBMs and mobile ground-based ICBMs using self-propelled wheeled launchers, the highest precision in firing and the ability for long combat duty in various degrees of combat-readiness, a level of stability under the effect of destructive factors during flight that is higher than that of any of the previously developed ICBMs and adaptability to the situation should an enemy deploy various types of ABM systems against it.
The article also discusses the enormous challenges faced by the Russian military-industrial complex following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union and the subsequent economic collapse. Missile plants were faced with limited funding, low pay, loss of a number of qualified personnel who moved from state employment to the private sector, and wear and tear on existing equipment and machinery. To overcome these obstacles, the Russians were forced to use resource-saving technologies, such as making the new Topol-M missiles compatible with Cold War-era silo launchers. (Article)
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