| 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.
Flight Testing of Topol-M Almost Complete
September 20, 2004 :: Itar-Tass :: News
The Russian state news agency Itar Tass reports that flight tests for the new and advanced Topol-M ICBM are nearing completion. The first deputy director and first deputy designer-general of the Moscow Institute for Thermotechnology, Aleksandr Dorofeyev, is cited as saying that, “A range of ground-based tests of the missile have been completed. All that remains to do this year is to carry out the final flight test.
Dorofeyev also commented on the testing progress for the sea-launched Bulava (SS-N-X-30), saying that all is going to plan. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-27, SS-NX-30
Russia Plans Test of Sea-Based Version of Topol-M
June 3, 2004 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
Moscow plans to conduct the first test launch of the Bulava solid fuel ICBM this year, reported the Interfax Russian news agency yesterday. The Bulava (SS-NX-30) is the submarine-launched version of Russia’s most advanced missile, the Topol-M (SS-27). (More »»»)
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-27, SS-NX-30
Topol-M will be Foundation of Russian Arsenal by 2015
May 17, 2004 :: Interfax :: News
Yuriy Solomonov, director of the Moscow Institute of Heat Technology and designer-general of the Topol family of missiles, told journalists today that the silo- and mobile- launched versions of the Topol-M will form the basis of the Strategic Missile Troops after 2015:
Missiles of the previous generation will in practical terms be incapable of alert status by that time, they are becoming obsolescent…Certainly, Topol-M is the most modern missile. It belongs to the next generation of missile weaponry and differs fundamentally from everything that has been done before in this field in our country and abroad. This concerns its tactical technical features and also the features of its combat use, which is designed for conditions of possible counteraction by antimissile defence systems.
(Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-27
Topol M Warhead Impact Captured on Film
May 15, 2004 :: Itar-Tass :: News
Yuriy Solomonov, director of the Moscow Institute of Heat Technology, announced to journalists today that the moment of impact for the warhead from the recent April 20 test launch of a Topol M ICBM was captured on video “for the first time in the world,” stressing that nothing like this had been done before in Russia or elsewhere.
The purposes for capturing the warhead on film may be many, possibly relating to Moscow’s attempts to make the Topol M warhead maneuverable and thus resistant to American missile defenses. Regardless, the fact that they were able to capture the warhead on firm would seem to illustrate the much-touted accuracy of Russia’s newest missile. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Maneuverable Warheads, Russia
» Missile details: SS-27
Russia Extending Life of ICBMs
May 6, 2004 :: Itar-Tass :: News
Speaking to journalists, Russian Strategic Missile Troops commander Col.-Gen. Nikolay Solovtsov said that the service life of Russian ICBMs would be extended an additional 10-15 years, for a total of 25-30 years, reports ITAR TASS.
Though Solovtsov did not specify which missiles were being extended, he was likely referring to SS-18 and SS-19s. He attributed the extension of the missile’s usability to “good maintenance.” Equally relevant, however, is the cash-strapped nature of the advanced Topol-M (SS-27) missile deployment, which continues to proceed but is currently behind schedule in producing replacing older ICBMs.
Solovtsov seemed to indicate that the Topol-M deployments would be largely complete in 10 years: “After 2015, the mainstay of the SMT group will be the Topol-M missile systems, both silo-based and mobiles ones, with various armaments.” (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-18 Mod 4, SS-19 Mod 2, SS-27
Mobile-Launched, BMD-Resistant Topol-M ICBM Ready by 2006
April 27, 2004 :: Itar-Tass :: News
One week after Russia test launched a mobile-launched Topol-M ICBM, Yuriy Solomonov, the director of the Moscow Institute of Heat Technology said in an interview with the ITAR-TASS news agency that the mobile launched version would be ready for deployment by 2006. The mobile launch capabiity serves the purpose of making it difficult for the United States to know where Russia’s missiles are at any given time, and thus make it more difficult to defend against them.
BBC also reports that on April 26 Radio Mayak in Moscow carried a description of the Topol-M’s resistance to American missile defenses, part of which was the following:
The Topol-M currently has a 60 percent chance of overcoming US air defence systems and this will rise to 87 percent, partly because it is very hard to find the mobile launchers. They can travel, camouflaged from satellites, along ordinary roads so that a missile can be launched from any location while interception becomes considerably more difficult. In addition, each mobile-launched Topol-M will have from four to six nuclear warheads as well as several dummy targets.
(Article, Link)
» Transcript of Russian radio discussion of Topol M (subscription)
» SpaceDaily: Mobile Topol-M Deployment by 2006
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-27
Russia Tests Topol-M ICBM
April 20, 2004 :: News
Russia has test-launched a mobile-launched Topol-M (RS-12M2) missile today, Russia’s most advanced ICBM. The Topol-M is already currently deployed, but not on a mobile launcher.
The missile was fired from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia and was directed into the center of the Pacific Ocean. Russian Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov said at a conference with President Putin that the launch was similar to the one carried out last winter at Plesetsk, and that one more launch remains before a decision is made about transferring the mobile launchers into service. Ivanov also noted that the test was of the missile’s maximum range, of 11,500km. Putin responded that the launch was an “important event for the armed forces of Russia.” (More »»»)
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-27
 |
| Total Records: 17 |
«
1
[2]
|
