| Country: |
Russian Federation |
| Alternate Name: |
Scarab B, OTR-21, Tochka-U |
| Class: |
BSRBM |
| Basing: |
Road mobile |
| Length: |
6.40 m |
| Diameter: |
0.65 m |
| Launch Weight: |
2010 kg |
| Payload: |
Single warhead, 482 kg |
| Warhead: |
Nuclear 10 or 100 kT, HE, chemical |
| Propulsion: |
Single-state solid |
| Range: |
120 km |
| Status: |
Operational |
| In Service: |
1989 |
Details
Russian Designation: OTR-21, Tochka-U
The SS-21 is a battlefield short-range, road-mobile, solid propellant, single-warhead ballistic missile designed for tactical deployment. It was designed as a replacement for the Free Rocket Over Ground (FROG) missile series. It is believed to be capable of being launched in either a ballistic or cruise missile mode. The ballistic mode provides an increased range and speed, but the cruise mode allows for stealth and higher accuracy. A total of two versions have been confirmed to exist, the ‘Scarab A’ and the ‘Scarab B’.
The SS-21 B is a tactical, theater system designed to be deployed alongside conventional forces. The combination of its multiple warhead options, its cruise flight profile and the mobility of its Transporter-Erector-Launcher (TEL) vehicle make the SS-21 B an extremely flexible battlefield system. The system is effective against military units and troop concentrations using fragmentation and submunition warheads, while it can just as effectively disable electrical equipment, airfields and military facilities using its other warhead options. In this way, it can both destroy enemy forces and degrade the ability of the enemy to engage in combat. The system is also designed to provide tactical nuclear support on the battlefield. The yield on the nuclear warhead is not insignificant and is fully capable of inflicting heavy damage to military units and facilities. If deployed with a low yield nuclear weapon, the missile would be capable of destroying hardened targets. The SS-21 B provides the Russian armed forces with an effective conventional and nuclear support system.
The SS-21 ‘Scarab B’ has a range of 120 km (75 miles) with an accuracy of 95 m CEP. It launches a 482 kg warhead which can be equipped with submunitions, 120 kg of high explosive (HE) fragmentation filling or a nuclear device. The submunition types are anti-tank, anti-personnel and anti-runway, while the nuclear device is believed to have a selectable yield of 10 or 100 kT. It uses an inertial guidance combined with a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system and a radar or optical (TV) terminal correlation system. The missile is 6.4 m long, 0.65 m in diameter and has a launch weight of 2,010 kg. It uses a single-stage solid propellant engine.
The SS-21 B TEL vehicle is amphibious with the ability of driving 60 km/h (37 mph) on road and 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. It has the capacity of driving over rough terrain and carries a crew of three. The TEL vehicle can be ready for launch in 16 minutes, can launch a missile in 2 minutes and it can be reloaded in 20 minutes. It has Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) filter systems which enable it to operate in areas where Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) have been deployed. This is important, due to the threat of non-conventional warfare on the modern battlefield.
Unconfirmed reports claim the existence of a second upgrade, the SS-21 ‘Scarab C’. This missile would have an increased range of 185 km (115 miles) and would fit two missiles to a TEL vehicle. These reports could possibly be referring to the reload vehicle for the SS-21 A/B or the next generation tactical ballistic missile, the SS-26.
The SS-21 A missile was in development from 1968 until 1974, and entered service in 1975. The SS-21 B was developed between 1984 and 1988, and entered service in 1989. It is believed that Russia currently possesses 300 TEL vehicles and 310 nuclear warheads for all versions of the SS-21, though all SS-21 A missiles have probably been taken out of service. When production ended in 1993, it was believed that 1,200 missiles had been produced. In 1996, a life extension program was started to add another ten years to the original 15 year service life of the SS-21 B, with the first refit flight test occurring in October 1999.
An unconfirmed report alleges that Syria exported a small number of SS-21 missiles and their TEL vehicles to North Korea in 1996 for the purposes of reverse engineering. It is believed that in 1999 the Russians used 60 to 100 BSRBM in Chechnya, the majority of these being SS-21 missiles. The Ukraine is reported as possessing 500 missiles, and around 80 have possibly been exported to Yemen and another 40 (along with 12 TEL vehicles) to Syria.
Other unconfirmed reports suggest that Syria exported several SS-21 missiles to North Korea for reverse engineering. These reports may be substantiated by North Korean testing of the KN-02 missile, a missile with similar characteristics to the SS-21 missiles.(1)
Footnotes
- Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems, Issue 50, ed. Duncan Lennox, (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2009), 140-142.
Russia: SS-21 Scarab Missiles Test Fired
November 28, 2007 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
The November 28 edition of RIA Novosti reports that a Russian missile brigade from Siberia test fired two SS-21 Scarab short range ballistic missiles in the Kapustin Yar testing range. The SS-21 or Scarab, also referred to as the "Tochka-U" in Russia, is a single-warhead, road-mobile ballistic missile. Russia is phasing out the SS-21 missiles, which it has used since 1976, and replacing them with the new Iskander-M missiles (SS-26/Stone) which carry multiple warheads. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-21 A, SS-21 B
Russia Tests SS-19 ICBM from Baikonur
October 20, 2005 :: Itar-Tass :: News
On October 20, Russia launched another ICBM in its recent string of missile tests, this time an SS-19 (RS-18) “Stiletto” missile. The silo-based SS-19 was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and its warhead traveled eastward to hit its designated target at the Kura testing range on the Kamchatka peninsula some 25 minutes and 6,000km later, according to a statement by Russian Space Forces Col. Alexei Kuznetsov, who added, notes Itar Tass, that “the launch tested the missile’s tactical and technical characteristics, as well as its performance after being on standby for 25 years.” He also added that the missile “was launched from a silo at site No 175 of the southern spaceport.” This was the first test of an SS-19 in 2005, and it would have been the SS-19 Mod 2; the SS-19 mod 1 was replaced in 1983.
Itar Tass continues:
According to mass media reports, the Strategic Missile Troops are now equipped with 160 Stilet [sic] missiles, each carrying six warheads. The RS-18 missile is one of Russia’s most sophisticated intercontinental missiles. The launches performed in the past few years proved its reliability and made it possible to extend its service life by 20 years.
The RS-18 missiles that have been withdrawn from the combat component of the Strategic Missile Troops are currently being converted into Rokot launch vehicles at the Khrunichev state scientific and production space centre. There have been seven launches of Rokot launch vehicles since 2000, of which six were successful. The launch of this type of rocket with the European Cryosat research satellite on board on 8 October proved to be a failure.
(Article, Link)
» Longer Itar-Tass report on test, available through BBC Monitoring
» Interfax on test
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-21 B
» Missile system details for: Baikonur Cosmodrome
Overall Status and Numbers of Russian Forces
October 11, 2005 :: News
Russianforces.org reports on the recent START exchange data supplied by Russia on its ballistic missiles still in service:
In October 2005 the Russian strategic forces included 815 strategic delivery platforms, which can carry up to 3479 nuclear warheads.
[The] Strategic Rocket Forces have 545 operational missile systems that include missiles that can carry 1955 warheads. These include 85 R-36MUTTH and R-36M2 (SS-18) missiles, 129 UR-100NUTTH (SS-19) missiles, 291 road-mobile Topol (SS-25) systems, and 40 silo-based Topol-M (SS-27) systems.
There are, besides these, a number of sea-based missiles. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Nuclear Weapons, Russia
» Missile details: SS-19 Mod 2, SS-20, SS-21 B, SS-N-5, SS-N-6
Solovtsov Gives Overview of Russia’s Strategic Nuclear Forces
August 4, 2005 :: Interfax :: News
Colonel General Nikolai Solovtsov, head of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), has laid out the military’s view of the overall role of the Missile Forces.
According to the Russian Interfax news agency, Solovtsov emphasized the Missile Forces’ purpose as a strategic deterrent, and the military’s confidence that they serve this role. The Missile Forces rely upon “an adaptive principle” of modernization, upgrading combat equipment, and building new and cutting-edge missile systems, which will continue to consist of both “stationary missile systems, or silos, boasting a high combat preparedness for immediate action, and highly-survivable mobile systems.” (More »»»)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-19 Mod 2, SS-20, SS-21 B, SS-N-6
Russian SS-19 Stiletto Missile Profiled
July 6, 2005 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
RTR Russia TV (Moscow) recently profiled Russia’s SS-19 Stiletto intercontinental ballistic missile, otherwise known as the RS-18 UR-100. In particular, the report highlighted the SS-19’s ability to penetrate missile defense systems through the use of decoys and countermeasures. Nikolay Solovtsev, commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Troops, had an important comment to make about its relation to missile defense: “It is not for nothing that this type of weapon was called Stiletto … This is a very threatening weapon … [It] can penetrate any anti-missile systems, including the ones yet to be designed.” Of course, the SS-19, as with any ballistic missile, can have no virtually no ability to evade a boost-phase missile defense interceptor.
The SS-19 entered service in 1975 as the last of the fourth generation Soviet land-based missiles. It is capable of carrying six independently targetable nuclear warheads, and has a range of over 10,000 km. The SS-19 was most recently test-launched on August 11, 2004. (Article, Link)
» August 11, 2004: Russia test launches the SS-19
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-21 A, SS-21 B
Russia’s New Iskander Missile; Response to America’s Patriot?
August 27, 2004 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
Testing for a new Iskander missile has been completed, reports the Russian news agency, RIA Novosti.
President Putin is said to have asked Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Ivanov if the missile can be deployed quickly. Ivanov replied that it could be. Similar news reports suggest that the military may adopt the missile in 2005.
The relation of the “new” missile is unclear, however, to the much older SS-X-26 known as “Stone,” “Tender,” and “Iskander-E” (the export version, already marketed to a number of countries, including Syria and Iran). As noted in the 2001 National Intelligence Estimate on the foreign ballistic missile threat, the SS-21 (Tochka) and the SS-26 (Iskander) have both already been serving Russia well for its short range nuclear arsenal: “The SS-21 and SS-26 SRBMs provide Russian general-purpose ground forces with a rapid, precision-guided, theater deep-strike capability.” There was a report in October 2003, however, that the SS-26 Iskander missile was undergoing improvements.
The new Iskander is said to be capable of carrying either a nuclear or a conventional warhead. It was also described as a successor to the SS-21B “Tochka-U.” Unlike Tochka, however, the new Iskander system is said to have two missiles rather than one.
Channel One TV in Moscow gave a few more details of Iskander missile, which is describes as a “new generation weapon,” a “closely guarded secret,” and employing “stealth technology.”
Also of interest are the potential targets listed for the missile. These are said to include “missile systems, long-range artillery, aircraft at airfields, air defence and anti-missile defence systems and communications control centres” (emphasis added). The broadcast continued to say that “the system’s specifications show that the promising American air defence missile system, Patriot, will be unable to match Iskander.”
Could the Iskander be designed to destroy deployments of Patriot batteries? If so, marketing it to Syria and Iran would seem to indicate a clear purpose of negating America’s own attempts to counter the menace of those countries’ ballistic missile arsenals.
Moscow television news report also included a list of the missile’s characteristics:
Flight range: 280 km; Launch weight of missile: 3,800 kg; Warhead mass: 480 kg; Warhead type: cluster (54 submunitions), fragmentation-high explosive, penetrating; Number of missiles on launcher: two
The payload weight of 480kg would correspond to the previously known weights of the SS-X-26, but the reported range could indicate slight differences. Minister Ivanov is quoted as saying that the new Iskander has an effective range of up to 300 km, while also noting that it is a “high-precision missile.” Moreover, versions of the older Iskander had a range of between 280 (export version) and 400 km (Russian version). (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-21 B, SS-26
Russia Launches Tochka-U SS-21
August 3, 2004 :: Interfax :: News
Russian troops today conducted a combat exercise which included the successful launch of the nuclear capable Tochka-U, SS-21, ballistic missile. The missile was launched from the Kapustin Yar firing range. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-21 B
Belarus Displays S-300 Defenses, SS-21 Missiles
July 3, 2004 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
To commemorate its own day of independence, Belarus held a military parade in the city of Minsk. The parade included, among other things, the Tochka (SS-21, or “Scarab”) missile system, and the S-300 air and missile defense systems, reports BBC Monitoring, citing a Belarusian television broadcast. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Former Soviet Republics
» Missile details: SS-21 A, SS-21 B
» Missile system details for: S-300P (SA-10 Grumble), S-300V (SA-12A Gladiator, SA-12B Giant)
Russia Tests Tochka (SS-21) Missile
June 3, 2004 :: News
Russia has again test fired its Tochka (SS-21) short range ballistic missile. According to a transcript taken from Russian television on May 31, the missile traveled a mere 20 km. The Tochka has a range of 70km, and the Tochka-U, or SS-21B, has a range up to 120km, however. (More »»»)
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-21 A, SS-21 B
Russia Tests Tochka-U SRBM in Siberia
April 2, 2004 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
Russia has today conducted a test launch in the Trans-Baykal region of the short range Tochka-U ballistic missile. The test was part of Command Post Exercises in the Siberian Military District, and the missile successfully destroyed the hypothetical enemy’s command post. The Tochka-U, which is offered for export, is a version of the SS-21 (“Scarab B”) with a composite fuel, and an extended range of of 120 km. The Russian RIA news agency reports that the unit which tested the SS-21 today has alone had over 60 successful combat launches. (Article, Link)
» FT: Russian preparing six launches of target missiles
» BBC report of launch
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-21 B
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| Total Records: 15 |
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