RT-2PM Topol

Infobox Weapon
is_missile=yes
name=RT-2PM Topol


caption=
origin= Soviet Union
type=Intercontinental ballistic missile
used_by=Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
manufacturer=Votkinsk Machine Building Plant
unit_cost=unknown
propellant=
production_date=
service=1988- present
engine=solid rocket motor, 3 stages
engine_power=
weight=45.1 t
length=21.5 m
height=
diameter=1.8 m
wingspan=
speed=
vehicle_range=10,500 km
ceiling=
altitude=
filling=Nuclear
guidance=Inertial, autonomous
detonation=
launch_platform=Mobile TEL

The RT-2PM Topol ( _ru. РТ-2ПМ) is a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile designed in the Soviet Union and in service with Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces. It was assigned the NATO reporting name SS-25 Sickle and carries the GRAU designation 15Ж58 ("15Zh58").

Description

The RT-2PM is a Russian single-warhead ICBM. It was designed to be road mobile and is mounted on a heavy truck (MAZ-7310 or MAZ-7917). Development began in 1977, flight tests of the missile were conducted between 1983 and 1987. After the first series of tests, the first missiles became operational in 1985. Full deployment of 360 missiles was achieved in 1996, and in 2005 300 remained on duty. As of January 2008 the figure had dropped to 201 active missiles [http://russianforces.org/missiles/] .

The RT-2 is a road mobile 3-stage, single warhead ICBM. Its 29.5 meter length and 1.7 meter diameter are approximately the same size and shape as the U.S. Minuteman ICBM. It has a throw-weight of 1000 kg and carries a single warhead with a yield of 550 Kt and accuracy (CEP) of 900m according to Russian sources [as opposed to 300m according to Western sources] . Its road mobile capability gave the SS-25 an extremely high probability of survival. It can fire from field deployment sites or through sliding roof garage bases. The SS-25 joined operational Soviet SRF regiments in 1985. A total area of approximately 190,000 square kilometers could be required to deploy a force consisting of 500 road-mobile SS-25 ICBMs. Mobile units require a much higher number of personnel for maintenance and operation than fixed systems. Consequently, the SS-25 was significantly more costly to maintain and operate than silo launched systems.

All three stages are made of composite materials. During first stage operation the flight control is implemented through four aerodynamic and four jet vanes. Four similar trellised aerodynamic surfaces serve for stabilization. During the second and third stage of flight gas is injected into the diverging part of the nozzle for flight control.

The missile is deployed in a Transporter Erector Launcher (TEL) canister mounted on cross-country 7-axle chassis on a mobile launch vehicle. The chassis incorporates jacks, gas and hydraulic drives and cylinders, with a power of several hundred tons, for jacking and leveling of the launcher, speeding up (combat) and slowing down (maintaining) elevation of the container with the missile in the vertical position. The TEL is accompanied by a Mobile command post, carrying support facilities mounted on cross-country 4-axle chassis with unified vans. The complex is equipped with an onboard inertial navigation system which gives the TEL group the capability to conduct the launch independently from its field deployment sites. This topo-geodesic support and navigation subsystem, created by the “Signal” Research Institute, provides a quick and highly precise tie-in of the launcher in a field position and enables its crew to carry out missile launches from any combat patrol route point. The launch can also be carried out at regimental bases from the aforementioned garrison garage.

Development

The three stage solid propellant RT-2PM Topol became the first Soviet mobile ICBM to be successfully deployed. It was deployed after two decades of unsuccessful attempts by different design bureaus to create a reliable mobile launch system. It emerged from the same line of development as mobile missiles such as the SS-X-16 "Sinner" and the SS-20 "Saber", and was deployed as a replacement for the widely deployed SS-11"Sego". The United States considered developing their own road-mobile ICBM called the Midgetman, but it eventually dropped the idea.

Development of the RT-2PM was approved on July 19, 1977 and carried out by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology headed by A. D. Nadiradze. Flight tests were conducted on the Plesetsk test site from February through December 1985. The main problem that had to be overcome during this period was the development of battle management system. After the first test series was successfully conducted in April 1985, with the first regiment with Topol missiles put on alert in July 1985. Throughout this time work continued on improving the battle management system. The first regiment of "Topol" missiles employing a modernized mobile command center (in the area of Irkutsk) were put on alert on May 27, 1988. The test missile firings were finally completed in December 1987.

At the time of the signing of the START I Treaty in 1991 the Soviet Union had deployed some 288 Topol missiles. Deployment continued, and at the end of 1996 a total of 360 Topol missiles were deployed.

The Topol missile was deployed at previously developed deployment sites. After the INF Treaty was signed in 1987 several SS-20 deployment sites were adapted to launch the SS-25 Topol missiles. The United States expressed specific concerns during the INF treaty negotiations. When the SS-25 missile system was deployed in the field, with its missile inside the canister and mounted on the launcher, the US contended that the canister might conceal an SS-20 missile. This was of concern because unlike the single warhead of the SS-25, the SS-20 carried up to 3 warheads. A resolution was reached after the Soviet Union agreed to allow inspection parties to use radiation detection systems to measure fast neutron intensity flux emanating from the launch canister. A launch canister with a missile inside containing a single warhead, such as the SS-25, emitted a different pattern of fast neutrons than did one with a missile having three warheads, such as the SS-20.

Provisions of the SALT II agreement prohibited the deployment of more than one new missile (which became RT-23UTTh), it was officially declared by the Soviet Union that the SS-25 Topol was developed to upgrade the silo based SS-13 "Savage". The US government disputed this view, contending that the missile was clearly more than 5% larger and had twice the throw-weight as the SS-13 and therefore constituted a new missile system.

An SS-25 with two MIRVs may have been tested in 1991, and the missile was tested at least once with four MIRV warheads, but there has apparently been no further development of a multiple warhead version. This became a point of contention during the conclusion of the 1991 START negotiations, at which time the US pressed for a definition of "downloading" (removing warheads from missiles) that would complicate any Soviet attempt suddenly to deploy multiple warheads on the SS-25.

Russia plans to reequip approximately 400 silos where obsolete SS-11, SS-13 and SS-17 missiles are located. Under the START II Treaty, Russia is permitted to place 90 single- warhead solid fuel missiles in reequipped SS-18 silos. In order to guard against a break-out scenario involving the rapid reconversion of SS-18 silos on-site inspection became a very important aspect of START II verification. In accordance with the Protocol on Procedures Governing Elimination of Heavy ICBMs and on Procedures Governing Conversion of Silo Launchers of Heavy ICBMs, US inspectors could either physically witness the pouring of the five meters of concrete in the bottom of the silo or measure silo depth before and after concrete was poured. The treaty did prohibit placing a launch canister greater than 2.5 meters in diameter. The Russians have undertaken a concerted political commitment to deploy only single-warhead ICBMs of the SS-25 type in these converted launchers. The possibility exists, however that Russia could further modify the converted SS-18 silos to enable them to launch a different missile than the one declared.

The breakup of the Soviet Union had a significant impact on the Topol program. The dispersed manufacturing of ICBM components seriously complicated researching and building new missile systems. For example, the Minsk Wheeled Truck-Tractor Manufacturing Plant in Belarus manufactured the missiles' transporter launchers, and some 90% of the components of the guidance system were manufactured in Ukraine.

In Belarus, as of December 1995, 63 SS-25 ICBMs originally deployed there had been returned to Russia. As of December 1995, Belarus had two operational mobile SS-25 regiments remaining on its territory, with a total of 18 nuclear warheads. In July 1992, Belarus signed an agreement with Russia placing the regiments under exclusive Russian control. In September 1993, Moscow and Minsk signed an agreement requiring the return of these nuclear missiles and all related missile support equipment to Russia by the end of 1996. A total of 81 SS-25 ICBMs and associated warheads were returned to Russia from Belarus.

By the late 1990s the lack of resources and qualified personnel forced the Strategic Rocket Forces to cut back operations considerably, with no more than one or two regiments of the mobile SS-25 missiles dispersed in the field. The remaining 40 or so regiments, each with nine single-warhead missiles, remain in garrison.

In February 2001, in a special test of operational readiness, the Strategic Rocket Forces successfully launched a silo-based Topol ICBM at a target in the Kura Test Range in Kamchatka. The Topol missile, the oldest of its type still in the Russian arsenal, was said to have performed flawlessly despite having outlived by 150 percent its operational period of service.

On October 18, 2007, another successful test launch was conducted. One Topol from a mobile launcher at Plesetsk test site reached its target on Kamchatka. As the Strategic Rocket Forces representative reported, it allowed for the extension of Topol's service life to 21 years. [ [http://russianforces.org/blog/2007/10/launch_of_topol_extends_its_se.shtml Russian strategic nuclear forces blog - Launch of Topol extends its service life] ]

Another test of the SS-25 was carried out on Thursday, August 28, 2008. The launch was said to be specially tasked to test the missile's capability to avoid ground-based detection systems. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/28/AR2008082800948.html Russia long-range missile test a success] ] The test included the use of a new warhead, designed to penetrate missile defense systems. [ [http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080828/116349686.html Russia's Topol ICBM hits target with new warhead in test launch] ]

Deployment

Current Strategic Rocket Forces Order of Battle lists the following sites with Topol missiles: [http://russianforces.org/missiles/]
* 27th Guards Missile Army (HQ: Vladimir)
** 7th Guards Missile Division at Vypolzovo with 18 Topol
** 14th Missile Division at Yoshkar-Ola with 27 Topol
** 54th Guards Missile Division at Teykovo with 12 Topol
* 31st Missile Army (HQ: Rostoshi)
** 42nd Missile Division at Nizhniy Tagil with 36 Topol
* 33rd Guards Missile Army (HQ: Omsk)
** 35th Missile Division at Barnaul with 36 Topol
** 39th Guards Missile Division at Novosibirsk with 45 Topol
** 51st Guards Missile Division at Irkutsk with 27 Topol

Elimination

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union 81 launchers were deployed in Belarus. They were all returned to Russia by November 27, 1996. As the lifetime of the SS-25 was designed to be about 10 to 15 years, the missile will be progressively retired over the next decade. It will be replaced by the road mobile version of the Topol-M (SS-27) missile.

Derivatives

A commercial space launch vehicle derived from the missile called Start-1 was developed.

Operator

; USSR and RUS: The Strategic Rocket Forces are the only operator of the Topol.

See also

* List of missiles
* Start-1
* Strategic Rocket Forces

References

* Podvig, Pavel. (2001) Russian Strategic Nuclear Force. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

External links

* [http://kapyar.km.ru/ kapyar] (in Russian)
* [http://www.thebulletin.org/article_nn.php?art_ofn=ma05norris Russian nuclear forces 2005]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/rt-2pm.htm Globalsecurity.org SS-25 info]

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