| Country: |
Russian Federation |
| Alternate Name: |
Topol-M, RS-12M1/M2 |
| Class: |
ICBM |
| Basing: |
Silo based, road mobile |
| Length: |
21.90 m |
| Diameter: |
1.90 m |
| Launch Weight: |
47200 kg |
| Payload: |
Single warhead |
| Warhead: |
Nuclear 550 kT |
| Propulsion: |
3-stage solid |
| Range: |
10500 km |
| Status: |
Operational |
| In Service: |
1997 |
Details
Russian Designation: RS-12M1/-12M2 Topol-M
The Russian SS-27, or Topol-M, is an intercontinental-range, ground-based, solid propellant ballistic missile. It represents the pinnacle of ballistic missile technology, incorporating modern fuel and warhead designs, as well as being capable of being launched from both missile silos and Transporter-Erector-Launcher (TEL) vehicles. Current Russian accounts stress that the SS-27 is invulnerable to any modern anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defenses. Yuriy Solomonov, director of the Moscow Institute of Heat Technology and designer-general of the Topol family of missiles, has stated that the SS-27 will be the foundation of the Russian strategic nuclear arsenal by 2015.
The SS-27 is currently portrayed by Russian accounts as being immune to any ABM defense the United States can put into being. The missile is capable of making evasive maneuvers as it approaches its target, enabling it to evade any terminal phase interceptors. It almost certainly also carries countermeasures and decoys to decrease the chances of a successful targeting. The missile is shielded against radiation, electromagnetic interference and physical disturbance; previous missiles could be disabled by detonating a nuclear warhead within ten kilometers. This vulnerability is the basis behind the use of nuclear ground-based and orbital interceptors, to detonate or damage the missile before it reaches its target. However, the SS-27 is designed to be able to withstand nuclear blasts closer than 500 m, a difficult interception when combined with the terminal phase speed and maneuverability. While the boost phase is the most vulnerable time for the SS-27, it remains protected. Hidden safely within missile silos and mobile launchers, a successful boost-phase interceptor would have to be fired from near or within Russian borders or from space. And the SS-27 is also designed to survive a strike from any laser technology available, rendering any current space-based laser useless. The missile highlights the need for considerably more research into missile defenses, as the United States is currently defenseless while Russia is protected by a functional defense system.
The SS-27 can strike any target within the continental United States. The deployment from hardened silos and hidden TEL vehicles makes it nearly impossible to successfully prevent launch and current ABM technology is insufficient to prevent its successful impact. As a solid propellant design, it can be maintained on alert for prolonged periods of time and can launch within minutes of being given the order. Its confirmed single 550 kT warhead is sufficient for the depopulation of cities, which combined with its survivability, makes it an ideal retaliatory weapon. The SS-27 enables Russia to guarantee a successful nuclear response.
The SS-27 also has considerable utility as a first strike weapon. A successful first strike hinges upon the destruction of the enemy nuclear force, and the SS-27 should be capable of that task. Though its reported accuracy is insufficient for this, current guidance technology could easily be used to develop this capacity. The accuracy of 350 m CEP reported is strangely low given previous US and Russian missile designs with considerably higher accuracy. With a higher accuracy, the single warhead load would be easily sufficient to destroy a missile silo, but the placement of Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs) would allow for the destruction of entire missile groups. The SS-27 design is easily compatible for MIRV warheads, though it must sacrifice its ability to penetrate ABM defense systems. Solomonov has stated openly that the TEL launched SS-27 will carry four to six warheads along with decoys, which implies the same capability for the silo-launched version.
The SS-27 has a range of 10,500 km (6,524 miles) and is reported to typically be equipped with a 550 kT yield nuclear warhead. Unconfirmed reports suggest a yield of 1 MT has been achieved, as well as the placement of up to six MIRV warheads. These enhancements likely come at the cost of reducing the shielding around the warhead and removing the decoys, rendering the missile vulnerable to ABM defenses. It uses a Post-Boost Vehicle (PBV) system to deploy its warhead(s) using a digital inertial navigation system with a GLOSNASS (equivalent to Global Position Satellite) receiver. This achieves a reported accuracy of 350 m CEP, but this accuracy is lower than is reasonable to believe, given modern guidance systems and previous US and Russian missiles. It has a launch weight of 47,200 kg with a length of 21.9 m and a maximum width of 1.9 m. It uses a three-stage solid propellant engine.
The development of the SS-27 began in the late 1980s, though it was redesigned in 1992 as the first totally Russian designed and built missile. The first test launch occurred in December 1994 with the first testing of the TEL vehicle version nearly six years later. The first two SS-27 missiles entered service in 1997 in modified SS-19 silos. The first silo-based missile regiment was declared operational in 1998, with a second in 1999, a third in 2000 and a fourth in 2003. The first TEL versions entered service in 2001. It was originally planned to build 350 missiles, but this has been amended to the construction of 50 missiles by 2005. In 2006 there were 44 missiles in operation. By 2010 it is believed that there will be 65 silo missiles and 35 mobile missiles. Missile production has occured at a rate of 6 per year since 2001. A sea-based version is under development under the name Bulava.(1)
Footnotes
- Duncan Lennox, Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 46 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2007), 141-143.
Russia Successfully Tests New RS-24 ICBM
December 25, 2007 :: AP :: News
Russia's Strategic Missile Forces announced the successful test of the new RS-24 ballistic missile on December 25. The missile was launched from the Plestsk facility in northern Russia and destroyed targets on the Kura testing range located on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Said to be based on the Topol-M, the RS-24 is designed to replace aging Soviet-era missiles such as the RS-18 and the RS-20 (known as the SS-19 and SS-18 in the West). Interfax reports that the RS-24 missile can carry up to three warheads. The Strategic Missile Forces's statement declared, "The RS-24's deployment will strengthen the Strategic Missile Forces' capability to penetrate missile defense systems and strengthen the nuclear deterrent potential of Russia's strategic nuclear forces...The RS-24 will form the backbone of the Strategic Missile Forces and safely ensure the security of Russia and its allies through the mid-century." (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: RS-24, SS-27
Russia Begins Mass Production of Topol-M, Iskander-M
June 26, 2007 :: Defense News :: News
Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov announced June 26 that Russia has begun the mass production of the Topol-M strategic missile. Ivanov spoke at a plant at Votkinsk in Udmurtia, some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) east of Moscow. "These are not prototypes but mass production," he said.
"We are now moving on to a new and very important rearmament stage for both our nuclear strategic forces and tactical complexes...I am talking of stationary Topol-M missile complexes...also of mobile ones which can be fitted with different types of warheads, as well as Iskander-M missiles." The Topol-M is a three-stage intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) which can be deployed on both stationary and mobile launch platforms. The Iskander-M is a shorter range missile. Russia plans to equip its armed forces with 69 Topol-M missiles and 60 Iskander-M missiles by 2015. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-26, SS-27
Russia Tests Topol-M
December 24, 2004 :: LA Times :: News
While the West prepares for Christmas, Russia today launched a Topol-M ballistic missile, its last ballistic missile test reportedly scheduled for 2004. It is also the last test of the Topol-M (SS-27) before it is put into full combat service. The land-based missile—the mobile version of which was tested today for the fourth time—was launched from the Plesetsk test site in the northern Arkhangelsk region. It traveled to and successfully hit its target at the Kura testing range on the Kamchatka peninsula.
This test brings the total number of Russian ICBM/SLBM launches in 2004 to fifteen. They were as follows:
(More »»»)
» RIA Novosti description of Topol-M
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-27
Deployment of Topol-M Regiment Now Complete
December 16, 2004 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
RIA Novosti reports that Russia has now completed the deployment of another regiment of Topol-M (SS-27) ballistic missiles. The deployment is apparently the same as that begun in December of 2003. The head of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, Nikolai Solovtsov, was quoted as saying that the new silo-based regiment consisting of missiles is now “on full alert,” bringing the total number to forty.
Pavel Podvig reports that as of today, four new Topol-Ms were deployed, in addition to the six deployed in December of 2003. These are also based at Tatishchevo in the Saratov region. Both RIA Novosti and Podvig call this the completion of the fourth regiment, although some reports last year termed it the fifth. (Article, Link)
» Dec. 21, 2003: Russia deploys fifth regiment of Topol-M missiles
» Podvig on Dec. 2004 deployment
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-27
Intelligence Officials Identify “New” Russian Missile
December 1, 2004 :: News
Citing “intelligence sources,” Geostrategy Direct confirms the analysis noted here at Missilethreat.com, amidst speculation about a “new” Russian ballistic missile, after a speech by President Putin on November 17.
Rather than a new missile altogether, the comment made by Putin most likely refers to a type of maneuverable warhead which can be used to evade U.S. missile defenses.
Also of interest is that today’s report includes a description of a previous test of the Topol-M, which suggests it may have some sort of scramjet capability:
In November 2001, Moscow test fired a new SS-27 that had a low-trajectory flight as it flew from Plesetsk to the Kura test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East.
The first of the new missiles was fired in July 2001 and its last stage dropped from its flight in space to an altitude of about 100,000 feet. U.S. intelligence officials suspect the new missile is equipped with a scramjet-powered last stage that travels about five times the speed of sound
(Article, Link)
» More stories on: Maneuverable Warheads, Russia
» Missile details: SS-27
Putin: Russia to Develop New Strategic Missile
November 17, 2004 :: AP :: News
President Vladimir Putin noted today, in a speech to the Russian military leadership, that Russia has been developing a new form of strategic weapon. Putin has affirmed Russia’s intention to do so on a number of occasions. Previous reports have suggested that the new weapon may consist of a hypersonic cruise missile or a hypersonic warhead for an existing missile, either of which could evade U.S. ballistic missile defenses. The United States yesterday tested the X-43 hypersonic system, reaching a new speed record of ten times the speed of sound.
Although Putin’s speech today added few details, it is nevertheless notable. Putin said that Russia “is not only conducting research and successfully testing new nuclear-missile systems. I am sure that … they will be put in service within the next few years and, what is more, they will be developments of the kind that other nuclear powers do not and will not have,” according to ITAR-Tass, Russia’s state news agency.
Of particular interest is Putin’s understanding that strategic forces and concern with terrorism go hand in hand, rather than being in competition with each other. “International terrorism is one of the major threats for Russia. We understand as soon as we ignore such components of our defense as a nuclear and missile shield, other threats may occur.” By contrast, some missile defense opponents in America depreciate missile defense as a distraction from the war on terror, when both are essential to American national security. (More »»»)
» CNN on Putin speech
» Update: Nov. 18: Experts say Putin remark refer to Bulava
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-27, SS-NX-30, SS-26
Two More Russian Missile Tests in 2004
November 9, 2004 :: Interfax :: News
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announced today, during a meeting with Russian President Putin, that Russia will conduct an additional two launches of ballistic missiles in 2004, of the silo-launched SS-18 (RS-20) heavy missile, and of the mobile Topol-M, the last test of the Topol-M before it is more fully adopted for service.
At the meeting, Ivanov apparently referred to the SS-18 by its Western name, “Satan,” prompting Putin to call the missiles by the Russian name, saying, “Please use our own names, there is no need to say Satan and the like,” and “Let those people over there who have objections use the NATO terminology,” according to press reports. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-18 Mod 4, SS-27
Solomonov Urges Funding for New Missiles, Pledges Completion of Topol-M Tests
November 1, 2004 :: Interfax :: News
Yury Solomonov, head of the Moscow-based Heat Technology Institute—an organization known for its specialization of designing missiles to overcome missile defenses—recently called on the Russian government to fully fund the up-and-coming advanced submarine-based ballistic missile, the SS-N-30 or Bulava, and its land-based equivalent, the Topol-M. The former has yet to be test launched; the latter has undergone a number of tests, and a number of the Topol-Ms are already deployed. It is believed that the two missiles will together form the mainstay of Russia’s military arsenal for the coming decades, replacing older missiles based on land and sea.
Solomonov also commented that production of the Topol-Ms had temporarily twice come to a halt in the past year due to insufficient funding.
On October 29 Solomonov pledged that the tests of the Topol-M would be completed this year, with perhaps another launch in December. Four Topol-Ms are also scheduled to be deployed in December 2004, and another ten in 2005-2006. (Link)
» Nov. 1: Interfax: Solomonov urges Bulava funding
» Nov. 1: Moscow Times: Topol M production twice came to stop
» Oct. 29: Interfax: Topol M testing to be completed in 2004
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-27, SS-NX-30
Status of Russian Strategic Forces
October 20, 2004 :: News
Pavel Podvig, editor of Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces, reports that exchange data under the START Treaty was released earlier this month, updating the number and type of Russia’s deployed ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads. Currently, Russia is said to have some 874 “delivery platforms,” fielding some 3885 large, strategic, nuclear warheads.
Some 315 SS-25 (Topol) road-mobile missiles are now deployed, though their numbers will be diminishing. Some 15 SS-24 rail-mobile missiles are said to have been decommissioned in the past year, as well as a few “heavy” SS-18s.
While the older missiles are phased out, newer ones replace them. Most importantly the new and advanced SS-27 (Topol-M) missiles continue to be deployed in silos. Four SS-27s are expected to be deployed in December 2004, and an additional ten in 2005-2006. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-18 Mod 4, SS-24, SS-25, SS-27
Russia to Purchase Four New ICBMs in 2005
October 1, 2004 :: Xinhua :: News
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov reported today that Russian plans to purchase an additional four ICBMs in the coming year to maintain “parity” and the Russian national interest. The Chinese Xinhau news agency quotes Ivanov as saying that with respect to the new missiles, “The number of nuclear warheads is not important.”
The identity of the missiles which will be added to Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces in 2005 was not given, but it is likely a reference to either the land-launched SS-27 (Topol-M) or its sea-launched counterpart, the SS-N-30 Bulava). (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-27, SS-NX-30
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| Total Records: 17 |
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