| 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’s have probably been taken out of service. This is down from a 1993 peak of 1,200 missiles. 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.(1)
Footnotes
- Duncan Lennox, Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 46 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2007), 134-136.
Russian Gearing Up for 10 ICBM tests in 2004
February 12, 2004 :: CNS News :: News
Russian Strategic Missile Forces head Nikolai Solovtsov is said to have told the official Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily newspaper that a total of ten “test-combat” missile launches were planned for 2004. It is as yet unclear how many of these were part of the February war games. However, so far the exercises have included two SLBM abortive launches, a Topol SS-25, an SS-19, and the launch of a military communications satellite. (Article, Link)
» Dec. 26, 2003: Russia tests SLBM, its third missile this month
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-21 B, SS-N-5
Russia Continues Missile Testing
December 5, 2003 :: Newsday :: News
Russia today test-launched its third long-range ballistic missile since September. An SS-19 (Russian desgnation RS-18) was launched from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. An important component of Russia’s strategic arsenal, the SS-19 “Stiletto” has two main modifications, with a payload of up to 4,350 kg and a range of 10,000 km.
News commentators on the launch have been emphasizing the missile’s possible use as a satellite launch vehicle, or SLV. This particular missile was apparently a Strela (“Arrow”) modification, Russian spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Igor Zatula said, used to “launch a dummy satellite” into low orbit. But one should hesitiate to assign merely “commerical” motives to such tests: to say, as Reuters does for example, that the purpose is for “providing satellites for phone networks and television broadcasters in countries it once targeted.”
The military aspect of this launch, to maintain Russia’s ability to target countries with its nuclear weapons, is perhaps the more important point to understand. As Zatula also noted, Russia’s defense ministry used this particular launch to verify the missiles were fit for combat duty. According to the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass, the test is part of a project to extend the SS-19’s service life to 25 years. The service life of the SS-19 was previously estimated at 21 years, the limit of which many are now approaching. Russia continues an active testing program for a variety of its ballistic missiles; most recently with an SLBM test launch.
What is not mentioned in the brief reports by Reuters and others is the relation of this test to the roughly 150 SS-19s recently acquired from the Ukraine in July. The purpose of these missiles was not merely to be used for launching satellites—a reference to SLV capacity is a common means to distract attention from missiles’ military value. In October, Putin ordered the transfer of the 150 SS-19s to combat duty to replace aging SS-18s: at the time, he commented: “I am speaking here about the most menacing missiles, of which we have dozens, with hundreds of warheads.” (Article, Link)
» July 28, 2003: Ukraine sells 150 more ICBMs to Russia
» October 3, 2003: Putin Orders SS-19 Buildup
» October 15, 2003: Russia Tests Another SLBM
» More stories on: Russia, Technology, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-21 A, SS-21 B
Putin Orders SS-19 Buildup
October 3, 2003 :: Washington Times :: News
Amidst phasing out the older SS-18 ICBMs, Russian President Putin has now ordered the transfer of dozens of the more advanced SS-19s to combat ready deployment. “I am speaking here about the most menacing missiles, of which we have dozens, with hundreds of warheads,” noted Putin. The SS-19, suited to carry 6 nuclear warheads in MIRV configuration, has a range between 9,000 and 10,000km. (Article, Link)
» Moscow Times: Russia Deploying dozens of ‘banned’ SS-19s
» More stories on: Proliferation, Russia
» Missile details: SS-21 A, SS-21 B
Russia Purchases SS-19 Boosters from Ukraine
September 1, 2003 :: Jane's Information Group :: News
In July, reports came forward that Russia had been purchasing 130 or 150 SS-19 ICBMs from Ukraine, the balance of the much larger number of those missiles which had been retained in that province after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The September 1 edition of Jane’s Missiles and Rockets reports that Russia is also purchasing 30 first- and second-stage booster stages for the SS-19 missiles, for a price equivalent to 50 million dollars. According to the report, these are the boosters for the RS-18 15A35, known by the Western designations SS-19 and ‘Stiletto’.
According to Janes, the Russian press reports that the programme for this transfer began in October 2002. These missiles, which had apparently been in “dry storage,” will now be transferred and stored in the Strategic Rocket Force facilities at Pibanshur in Udmurtia and Krizolotiovy, and will serve to extend the lives of the SS-19 stockpile. Janes says that the refitting will give the SS-19s an additional 15-20 years of service. (Link)
» More stories on: Proliferation, Russia
» Missile details: SS-21 A, SS-21 B
Ukraine Sells 150 More ICBMs to Russia
July 28, 2003 :: The Moscow Times :: News
When the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, Ukraine inherited the third largest arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Shortly after 1991, some 1,300 of these were transported to Russia, but 150 SS-19s were retained by the Ukrainian “space agency.”
Ukraine has now sold these ICBMs to Russia, a move which further bolsters the Russian strategic arsenal. The missiles will likely be soon put into service.
The acquisition of the SS-19s serve to replace aging and less advanced SS-18 ICBMs, which Russia recently destroyed with much press attention. The recent SORT Treaty with the United States further reduces the number of nuclear arms to between 1700 and 2200, thereby accomodating a level of nuclear parity which the the flagging Russian economy can support. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Proliferation, Russia
» Missile details: SS-21 A, SS-21 B
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