| Country: |
Russian Federation |
| Alternate Name: |
Serb, R-27 |
| Class: |
SLBM |
| Basing: |
Submarine launched |
| Length: |
9.00 m |
| Diameter: |
1.50 m |
| Launch Weight: |
14200 kg |
| Payload: |
Single warhead (Mod 1 and 2); 3 MRV (Mod 3) |
| Warhead: |
Nuclear 1 MT (Mod 1 and 2); 3 at 200 kT (Mod 3). |
| Propulsion: |
2-stage liquid |
| Range: |
Mod 1 - 2500 km, Mod 2/3 - 3000 km |
| Status: |
Obsolete |
| In Service: |
1968-1996 |
Details
Russian Designation: R-27
The SS-N-6 was an intermediate-range, submarine-launched, liquid propellant ballistic missile. It represented a considerable leap forward in the Soviet Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM), incorporating a second-stage engine, vastly superior range and accuracy, and Multiple Re-entry Vehicles (MRV). It used storable liquid propellants with a pre-launch time of roughly 10 minutes and a missile that could be launched from a submarine with an interval of 8 seconds between launches. It used an inertial guidance system.
There were three major versions of the SS-N-6, with a fourth version designed for attacking ship surveillance radars was cancelled during the design phase. Like all SLBMs, the purpose of the SS-N-6 was to place hidden nuclear missiles within close range of their targets while maintaining secrecy. The SS-N-6 was designed to destroy strategic land targets, but with its relatively limited (but still greatly improved) accuracy it could only really engage cities and other soft targets. The longer range enabled the submarine to strike US targets from well outside the range of anti-submarine defenses, even as far as some Russian territorial waters. It provided an effective pre-emptive and reprisal nuclear force.
The SS-N-6 had a launch weight of 14,200 and carried a payload of 650 kg. It was 9.0 m long and 1.5 m wide. The Mod 1 and 2 were equipped with single nuclear warheads with 1 MT yields. The Mod 3 could deploy three 200 kT MRV warheads against a target area. The Mod 1 had a range of 2,500 km and an accuracy limitation of 1,900 m CEP. The Mod 2 and 3 used a superior design that increases the range to 3,000 km (1,864 miles) and the accuracy to 1,300 m CEP. The SS-N-6 used a two-stage liquid propellant engine according to some accounts, a single stage by others.
The SS-N-6 began development in 1962 with flight tests beginning in 1966. The SS-N-6 Mod 1 entered service in the Soviet Union in 1968, with the Mod 2 and 3 entering in 1974. A total of 600 missiles were built and at the peak SS-N-6 missiles were carried on 34 boats. The SS-N-6 missiles were deployed on ‘Yankee 1’ submarines. This had been reduced to 12 boats and 192 missiles by 1991, and two boats and 32 missiles by December 1994. The last SS-N-6 compatible submarine was decommissioned in 1996.(1)
Footnotes
- Duncan Lennox, Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 46 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2007), 583.
Russia Places First Three Topol-M Mobile Launchers in Service
November 29, 2006 :: Interfax :: News
Interfax reports that the Teykovskaya Division of the Russian Strategic Missile Troops has placed the first three mobile launchers of the Topol-M (SS-27) intercontinental ballistic missile system on “experimental combat duty.” According to an unidentified source, “Vehicles ensuring combat duty and other hardware intended to ensure the functioning of the system were also brought into service with the missile division together with the launchers of the Topol-M system.” The Topol-M incorporates modern fuel and warhead designs and is allegedly invulnerable to modern anti-ballistic missile defenses. Russia plans to make the Topol-M its primary strategic weapon after the older SS-18 Satan (RS-20), SS-19 Stiletto (RS-18), and SS-25 Sickle (RS-12M Topol) ICBMS are eventually phased out and removed from service. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-N-6
Russia Details Future Ballistic Missile Deployments
August 18, 2006 :: Jane's Information Group :: News
Russia has revealed more details of its State Armament Program outlining ballistic missile deployments through 2015, reports the October 1 issue of Jane’s Missiles and Rockets. Speaking at a meeting of defense enterprise heads in the Volgograd region, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov stated that by 2015 the Strategic Missile Forces will receive 69 Topol-M (SS-27) intercontinental ballistic missiles and the Russian Army will receive 60 Iskander-M (SS-X-26) short-range ballistic missiles. The number of Topol-M missiles to be produced under the plan differs from the 50 cited in previous press reports, although Jane’s notes that it is uncertain whether this refers to increased production or includes missiles produced before the 2007 start of the State Armament Program. (Link)
» More stories on: Deployment, Russia
» Missile details: SS-N-6, Taep'o-dong 2
Baluyevsky Criticizes U.S. Defensive Posture
August 1, 2006 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
General Yuri Baluyevsky, Russia’s Chief of Staff and First Deputy Defense Minister, published a lengthy and important article in the Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kurier on July 26 criticizing steps by the U.S. to move toward a more defensive posture. Balueyvsky criticizes in particular recent discussions about deploying missile defense assets in Eastern Europe. The Chief of Staff accuses Washington of attempting to achieve “absolute supremacy in the military sphere” and condemns its “brute force in dealing with complicated international issues.” Baluyevsky notes that while the U.S. might appear to be deploying missile defenses to protect against strikes from Iran and North Korea, its real enemies are Russia and China, against whom the systems are allegedly designed to defend.
Baluyevsky writes that “the world is essentially back to square one—that latter being the situation of America’s nuclear monopoly of the 1940’s.” The U.S. plan to deploy interceptor missiles and early warning radars in Central and Eastern Europe would “disrupt the existing Russian-American parity in strategic delivery means.” He lists three reasons for Russia’s concern:
First, silos of the ballistic missile defense system may be easily converted for ICBMs that will reach targets in European Russia wherever they are. Effective control over the use of silos is a sheer impossibility. As a matter of fact, any such control is going to be impossible even for central governments of the countries where the silos will be built.
Second, deployment of active components of the American national ballistic missile defense system in European countries may be interpreted as an attempt on the part of the U.S. to leave Europe facing the music i.e. consequences of a conflict where ballistic missiles were used. Europe will essentially become an advanced line of defense of US territory. From the military standpoint, the logic is impeccable—bring the troops (and therefore the hostilities) as close as possible to the positions of the potential enemy and set up several more lines of defense. The world nowadays is so complicated and interdependent, however, it is so exposed to terrorism as to make these advanced outposts or whatever you might want to call them the prime targets for terrorist attacks. Russia cannot be blasé about it because it itself is a part of Europe.
Third, intercept of ballistic missiles carrying weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, germ, chemical) will cause ecological catastrophes in the European countries above whose territories the ICBMs will be killed. Fragments of the missiles and killer missiles may even fall on the territories of neutral countries (or at least the regions that are not involved in the conflict under way). Russia is particularly concerned by vulnerability of the Kaliningrad region to this threat.
Baluyevsky adds, menacingly, that such defensive deployments would “compel Moscow to revise its approach to reduction of these weapons.” He warns that Russia will be ready with “the necessary academic and technological solutions that will at least minimize negative consequences of these actions on Washington’s part.” He reminds his readers that Russia has tested new strategic arms capable of piercing the existing U.S. missile defense systems as well as those other countries may come up with in the near future, a reference to the Topol-M (SS-27) intercontinental ballistic missile.
The audience of this carefully crafted piece would seem to be less Baluyevsky’s fellow Russians, and more Americans and Europeans. Baluyevsky seemingly believes that Americans can be intimidated with cheap threats, and even more that Europeans, in particular the Poles and Czechs with whom missile defense talks continue, can be manipulated to remain themselves defenseless against not only threats from rogue states such as Iran, but also Russia itself.
The complete text from Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kurier: (More »»»)
» More stories on: Allies, Analysis, Nuclear Weapons, Russia
» Missile details: SS-N-6
Solovtsov to Inspect Topol-M Deployment
July 22, 2006 :: Interfax :: News
Colonel-General Nikolay Solovtsov, commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Troops, will inspect the deployment of the first mobile Topol-M (SS-27) intercontinental ballistic missiles at the Teykovo missile formation in Ivanovo Region on Thursday, according to Interfax. The Topol-M, both mobile and silo-based versions, will constitute the future backbone of the Strategic Missile Troops after the decommissioning of the RS-12M Topol (SS-25), RS-18 Stiletto (SS-19), and RS-20 Satan (SS-18). The Topol-M is 22.7 m in length, 1.95 m in diameter, and weighs 47,200 kg. Its three engines ensure a higher speed than in previous models, and its range is in excess of 10,000 km (10,500 km by some estimates). In recent months, Russia’s political and military leaders have said that the Topol-M is capable of overcoming all current missile defense systems. According to the Interfax report, “Several dozen additional engines and control equipment ensure a route that cannot be traced by the enemy.” It adds: “Topol-M developers claim that the system is fully immune to electromagnetic pulses.” (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-N-6
Ivanov: Russia to Purchase 69 Topol-M and 60 Iskander-M Missiles by 2015
July 13, 2006 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
Russia plans to purchase 69 silo-based and mobile Topol-M (SS-27) intercontinental ballistic missiles and 60 Iskander-M (SS-X-26) tactical ballistic missiles by 2015, according to its Defense Minister. Sergei Ivanov, speaking before Russian defense industry officials on Thursday, said that the new missiles will be used to equip five missiles brigades. Ivanov has said earlier that Russia’s total 2006 defense order would total approximately $9 billion and would increase by 20% to 11.2 billion in 2007. (Article, Link)
» Missile details: SS-N-6, Taep'o-dong 2
Study by Strategic Missile Troops on Topol-M Uses
July 5, 2006 :: Itar-Tass :: News
Russia’s Strategic Missile Troops are studying and developing new combat uses for the Topol-M (SS-27) intercontinental ballistic missile, reports Itar-Tass. According to Aleksandr Vovk, head of the information and public relations service of the SMT, the study and development of these new combat uses will be among the “main efforts” of Russia’s missile scientists in 2007. The Topol-M is said to be the core of Russia’s modernized missile arsenal, capable of hitting targets at a range of more than 10,000 km (6,000 miles). In recent months, Moscow has boasted of new defense-penetrating warheads, intended to zigzag on their approach to targets, which will be fitted on the Topol-M as well as its sea-based counterpart, the Bulava (SS-NX-30) SLBM. Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that the new warheads will allow Russia to main a strategic balance of power with the U.S. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-N-6
Baluyevsky: Russia Tested Defense-Penetrating System in February, Criticizes U.S. Conventional-Armed ICBMs
May 18, 2006 :: News
General Yuri Baluyevsky, chief of staff of the Russian Armed Forces, announced on Thursday that Russia successfully tested a new defense-penetrating missile system in February. Speaking at a news briefing in Moscow, he stated that the new system will be ready “in the nearest future.” The new warheads, designed to zigzag on their approach to targets, are to be fitted on the new mobile land-based Topol-M (SS-27) ICBM and the sea-based Bulava (SS-NX-30) SLBM currently under development. In his state-of-the-nation address last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the new high-precision weapons would allow Russia to maintain a strategic balance of forces with the U.S. even with a smaller arsenal.
At the same briefing, Baluyevsky criticized U.S. plans to deploy non-nuclear warheads on ICBMs, warning that if launched they could provoke an accidental retaliatory nuclear strike. “This may cause an irreversible reaction on the part of nuclear powers which will be unable to identify the type of missile warhead and establish whom it has been launched against,” he said. Baluyevsky noted that, although early-warning systems register all ICBM launches, they do not provide information about warhead types and possible targets. (Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-N-6, SS-26
Putin: Arms Race Not Over
May 10, 2006 :: Washington Times :: News
In an hour-long speech today, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the U.S.-Russian arms race is not over and called for a strengthening of his nation’s nuclear and conventional forces. His remarks followed sharp criticism from the U.S., in particular Vice President Dick Cheney, who accused Moscow of stifling democracy and using its vast energy resources as a tool for “intimidation and blackmail” against its neighbors. In response, Putin accused Washington of exerting unwarranted pressure on Moscow, and stated that Russia needs to catch up with the U.S. in order to resist foreign demands: “We must always be ready to counter any attempts to pressure Russia in order to strengthen positions at our expense. The stronger our military is, the less temptation there will be to exert such pressure on us.” Putin noted that Russia would soon deploy mobile Topol-M (SS-27) intercontinental ballistic missiles and Bulava (SS-NX-30) submarine-launched ballistic missiles, thus strengthening its nuclear deterrent. He added that Moscow would not repeat “the mistakes of the Soviet Union and of the Cold War” by draining the country’s resources, a reference to the Kremlin’s inability to keep up with U.S. arms spending during the Reagan administration. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-N-6, SS-26
Newspaper Profiles Topol-M History
May 10, 2006 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
The Russian newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda recently profiled the Topol-M (SS-27) ICBM, outlining the production history and key features of Russia’s most advanced missile system, which began in 1991. In particular, the article discusses the rationale behind the missile’s structural design, which from the beginning seems to have been intended to defeat missile defense systems:
It was necessary to create a structural design which, for the first time in Russian and world practice, would make it possible to resolve a number of difficult tasks. It was required to develop a standardized missile, with respect to the various types of bases [for ICBMs], which would have the same high combat qualities as silo-based ICBMs and mobile ground-based ICBMs using self-propelled wheeled launchers, the highest precision in firing and the ability for long combat duty in various degrees of combat-readiness, a level of stability under the effect of destructive factors during flight that is higher than that of any of the previously developed ICBMs and adaptability to the situation should an enemy deploy various types of ABM systems against it.
The article also discusses the enormous challenges faced by the Russian military-industrial complex following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union and the subsequent economic collapse. Missile plants were faced with limited funding, low pay, loss of a number of qualified personnel who moved from state employment to the private sector, and wear and tear on existing equipment and machinery. To overcome these obstacles, the Russians were forced to use resource-saving technologies, such as making the new Topol-M missiles compatible with Cold War-era silo launchers. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-N-6
Solomonov: Mobile Topol-Ms Operational This Year; Bulava to be Tested This Year, Operational in 2008
April 17, 2006 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
Russia has announced the testing and deployment schedule for its mobile Topol-M (SS-27) ICBM and sea-based Bulava (SS-NX-30) SLBM. Yuriy Solomonov, chief designer of Russian ICBMs, was quoted as saying that the first missile regiment armed with truck-mounted Topol-M missiles will be put on combat duty in 2006. The Topol-M is capable of hitting targets at a range of more than 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles), and is said to be the core of Russia’s modernized missile arsenal. Solomonov added that the Bulava (the sea-based version of the Topol-M) will begin a three-year test schedule in June/July 2006, and will be deployed on the submarine Yuriy Dolgorukiy in 2008. Asked how many trials the Bulava will undergo during this period, Solomonov replied “no less than ten.”
Solomonov also recently said that the Topol-M (SS-27) ICBM and Bulava (SS-NX-30) SLBM will provide an offensive deterrent through at least 2050. In recent weeks, Russian defense analysts have expressed their concern that the number of Russian nuclear weapons could fall below the threshold of the Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty, which requires the U.S. and Russia to cut their nuclear arsenals to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads by 2012. At present, only five or six new single-warhead Topol-Ms are added to the Russian inventory each year, while an increasing number of Soviet-made missile carrying multiple warheads are decommissioned. Solomonov said that the Russian military will announce later this year a plan to adapt the sea-based Bulava, which can carry six warheads, for ground-based launches. The chief designer did not elaborate any further, but assured reporters that the number of active Russian warheads would be no less than 2,000 by 2020. (Article, Link)
» Interfax: Bulava-M to undergo testing this summer
» Defense News: Russian arsenal adequate, says designer
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-N-6, SS-26
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