| Country: |
Russian Federation |
| Alternate Name: |
Skean, R-14 |
| Class: |
IRBM |
| Basing: |
Surface based |
| Length: |
20.60 m |
| Diameter: |
2.40 m |
| Launch Weight: |
87000 kg |
| Payload: |
Single warhead or 2 MRV, 1,300 to 2,155 kg |
| Warhead: |
Nuclear, single 1 MT or 2-2.4 MT, MRV 300 kT |
| Propulsion: |
Single-stage liquid |
| Range: |
4500 km |
| Status: |
Obsolete |
| In Service: |
1961-1984 |
Details
Russian Designation: R-14
The SS-5 was an intermediate-range, surface-based, liquid propellant ballistic missile. It was based largely on the SS-4, and at the time was considered the best of the Soviet Union’s single-stage missiles. Unconfirmed reports suggest that this design later carried two Multiple Reentry Vehicles (MRVs), which would have made the SS-5 the first Russian missile with MRV capability. Though the design is such that MRV warheads could be added with little difficulty, the Russians claim that the SS-5 was only equipped with single warheads.
The SS-5 was 20.6 m in length, 2.4 m in diameter, and had a launch weight of 87,000 kg. It used a single-stage liquid propellant engine and had a maximum range of 4,500 km (2796 miles). Its payload was between 1,300 and 2,155 kg, with the heavier payloads reducing the maximum range. However, this range was still sufficient to strike most strategic targets in Europe with a nuclear yield warhead large enough to destroy anything not designed to withstand a nuclear strike. The missile used an inertial guidance system with radio-control for trajectory correction.
The SS-5’s single separating nuclear warhead had either a 1 MT or a 2-2.3 MT yield with an accuracy of 1,900 m CEP. Reports state that later versions had two 300 kT MRV warheads with the same accuracy. The MRVs would have had the effect of spreading the missile’s damage over a wider area and significantly increasing the number of casualties resulting from such a strike. The effectiveness of the missile was also increased by its improved accuracy. However, the 1,900 m CEP accuracy was still not sufficient to be used against missile silos, even with the MRV warheads.
It is also important to note that the SS-5 was the first missile to be launched from a gyro-stabilized platform, which prevented launch stress from causing instrument errors and increased accuracy and allowed the SS-5 to have the same maximum error as the SS-4 at twice the range.
Development of the SS-5 began in 1958, with flight tests starting two years later. The SS-5 entered service in the Soviet Union in 1961 with a peak deployment of almost 100 missiles between 1965 and 1969. They were originally deployed from above ground soft launch sites, but by 1964 an underground silo version was deployed. Only about half were deployed in this fashion and all were retired by 1984, replaced by the SS-17, SS-19 and SS-20 missiles. The last six non-deployed SS-5 missiles were destroyed in 1987 in compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.(1)
Footnotes
- Duncan Lennox, Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 46 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2007), 565.
