| Country: |
Russian Federation |
| Alternate Name: |
Sinner, RS-14/Temp-2S |
| Class: |
ICBM |
| Basing: |
Road mobile |
| Length: |
18.50 m |
| Diameter: |
1.79 m |
| Launch Weight: |
44000 kg |
| Payload: |
Single warhead, 1000 kg |
| Warhead: |
Nuclear 1 MT |
| Propulsion: |
3-stage solid |
| Range: |
9000 km |
| Status: |
Obsolete |
| In Service: |
1978-1985 |
Details
Russian Designation: RS-14/Temp-2S
The SS-16 was an intercontinental-range, road mobile, solid propellant ballistic missile. It was the first Soviet operationally effective road mobile ICBM, although it never officially entered service. It was the first Russian missile to carry a Post Boost Vehicle (PBV), a key component in any Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) system, though MIRVs did not become operational in Russian missiles until the SS-17. The PBV system, which allows for the section of the missile that carries the payload to make final course adjustments and launch independent warheads, became a part of standard Russian missile design.
The SS-16 was one of the first major attempts by the Soviet Union to create a mobile ICBM, one that could not be targeted by the United States until after a Russian strike. It is reported to have never left experimental deployment. The SS-16 used an inertial guidance system and was roughly equivalent to a road mobile US Minuteman I. It could also be launched from silos.
The SS-16 is estimated to have been able to deliver an approximately 1,000 kg payload up to a range of 9,000 km (5,592 miles). This payload is estimated to have been equipped with a single 1 MT yield warhead, though Russian sources state the yield could be chosen from between 0.65-1.5 MT. It had a launch weight of 44,000 kg. It used a three-stage solid propellant engine and had a length of 18.5 m with a width of 1.79 m. The accuracy limitations are not known, but with the development of the PBV system it is presumed the accuracy was in the hundreds of meters CEP.
The development of the SS-16 began in 1964. It was never officially deployed in the Soviet Union. Russia claims that it remained in experimental deployment, though two missile regiments are admitted to have been on combat duty with the missiles. The United States maintains that approximately 50 were deployed in silos at the Plesetsk test facility from 1978 to 1985. It is unknown when it was taken out of service, though the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II) required the removal of all SS-16 related equipment. The design is now obsolete and defined as non-deployed by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.(1)
Footnotes
- Duncan Lennox, Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 46 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2007), 573-574.
