The Buran (, named for the Buran wind)

cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...

, designation M-40 (М-40) sometimes referred to as ''RSS-40'', was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

intercontinental cruise missile by

Myasishchev V. M. Myasishchev Experimental Design Bureau (Экспериментальный Машиностроительный Завод им. В. М. Мясищева) or OKB-23, founded in 1951 by MGB UdSSR Vladimir Mikhailovich Mya ...

capable of carrying a 3,500 kg

hydrogen bomb A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lo ...

payload. The project was canceled before flight tests began. It is unrelated to the later Buran reusable orbiter.

Development

The project was authorized on 20 May 1954, parallel to the development of the

Burya The ''Burya'' ("Storm" in Russian; ) was a supersonic, intercontinental cruise missile, developed by the Lavochkin design bureau (chief designer Naum Semyonovich Chernyakov) under designation La-350 () from 1954 until the program cancellation in ...

missile. The development however, began in April 1953 as a rocket-aircraft system by

OKB with internal designation M-40. The project was canceled in November 1957, when two prototypes were just ready for flight testing, in favor of the

R-7 Semyorka The R-7 Semyorka (, GRAU index: 8K71) was a Soviet Union, Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961. A derivative, the R-7A Semyorka, R ...

, since

ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

s were considered unstoppable. Like the Burya, the Buran consisted of two stages, the

booster rocket A booster is a rocket (or rocket engine) used either in the first stage of a multistage rocket, multistage launch vehicle or in parallel with longer-burning sustainer engine, sustainer rockets to augment the space vehicle's takeoff thrust and p ...

s designated M-41, and the cruise missile stage designated M-42.

Specifications

General characteristics

*Function: Nuclear cruise missile *Launch mass: 125000 kg *Total length: 24.0 m *Launch platform: Launch pad *Status: Canceled before first flight tests

Launch vehicle (M-41)

*Engine: 4× RD-213 *Thrust: 4× 55 t *Length: 19.1 m *Diameter: 1.20 m *Oxidizer:

Liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing. Physical ...

*Combustible:

Kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...

Cruise missile (M-42)

*Engine: 1× RD-020 ramjet *Speed : Mach 3.1–3.2 *Range: 8,500 km *Flight altitude: 18–20 km *Warhead:

thermonuclear Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei combine to form a larger nuclei, nuclei/neutron by-products. The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the release or absorption of ener ...

, 3500 kg *Length: 23.3 m *Diameter: 2.40 m *Wing span: 11.6 m *Wing area: 98 m²

Comparable missiles

SM-62 Snark The Northrop SM-62 Snark is an early-model intercontinental range ground-launched cruise missile that could carry a W39 thermonuclear warhead. Though the Snark was in training by the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command from 1958 th ...

SM-64 Navaho The North American SM-64 Navaho was a supersonic intercontinental cruise missile project built by North American Aviation (NAA). The final design was capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to the USSR from bases within the US, while cruising at ...

References

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