The MR-UR-100 Sotka () was a

MIRV A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is an exoatmospheric ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit a different target. The concept is almost invariably associated with i ...

-warhead

intercontinental ballistic missile 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 ...

(ICBM) developed and deployed by the

Soviet Union 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 ...

from 1978 to 1993. The missile was given the

NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...

SS-17 Spanker and was built under the Soviet industry designation 15A15. An alternative designation for the missile is the UR-100MR. It was nicknamed ''Sotka'' (), from the Russian for "hundred."

Development

OKB-586 The ''Pivdenne'' Design Office (), located in Dnipro, Ukraine, is a designer of satellites and rockets, and formerly of Soviet Union, Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), established by Mikhail Yangel. During the Soviet era, the bu ...

developed the MR-UR-100 project. The purpose was to develop a

capable replacement for the existing

UR-100 The UR-100 () was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed and deployed by the Soviet Union from 1966 to 1996. UR () in its designation stood for Universal Rocket (). It was known during the Cold War by the NATO reporting name SS- ...

missiles in service. While designed to fit into existing

silos, it still required some modification of existing silos to accommodate the new missile, due to its requirement for a cold launch system. The development of "modernized

" was authorized on 19 August 1970 (document No.682-218) and assigned to both

and TsKBM (builder of

). The design bureau conducted flight tests from 1971 through 1974. Deployment commenced in December 1978. The more advanced MR-UR-100UTTh version began development in 1979, with flight tests from 1977 through 1979. The new missiles had completely replaced the original version by 1983, at which time the Soviets fielded 270 launchers. From there the number of launchers declined, and by the 1991

START I START I (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the reduction and the limitation of strategic offensive arms. The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 De ...

Treaty they were down to 76. All were scheduled for dismantling and removed from the inventory.

In fiction

In the historical fiction novel ''The Third World War'', written by General Sir John Hackett, a warhead from a MR-UR-100 detonates 3500m above Birmingham, England at 10:30 hours GMT on 20 August 1985. The explosion kills 300,000 people within minutes, with a further 250,000 likely to die in the aftermath.''The Third World War'', General Sir John Hackett, Sphere Books, 1978, p371

Operator

; : The

Strategic Rocket Forces The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or the Strategic Missile Forces of the Russian Federation (RVSN RF; ) is a military branch, separate combat arm of the Russian Armed Forces that controls Russia's land-based intercontinenta ...

were the only operators of the Sotka.

References

External links

15A15
MR-UR-100 Cold War intercontinental ballistic missiles of the Soviet Union Military equipment introduced in the 1970s {{Russia-mil-stub

Development

In fiction

Operator

See also

References

External links