The R-39 (;

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-N-20 ''

Sturgeon Sturgeon (from Old English ultimately from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''str̥(Hx)yón''-) is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the ...

''; bilateral arms control designation: RSM-52) was a

submarine-launched ballistic missile A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is a ballistic missile capable of being launched from Ballistic missile submarine, submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), each of which ...

(SLBM) that served with the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

from its introduction in 1983 until 1991, after which it served with the

Russian Navy The Russian Navy is the Navy, naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It has existed in various forms since 1696. Its present iteration was formed in January 1992 when it succeeded the Navy of the Commonwealth of Independent States (which had i ...

until 2004. The missile had

GRAU The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the Chief of ...

indices of 3M65, 3M20, and 3R65. It was carried on board

Typhoon-class submarine The Project 941 ''Akula'' (, meaning 'shark', NATO reporting name Typhoon), was a class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines designed and built by the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. With a submerged displacement of , the Typhoons ...

s. An intercontinental missile, the R-39 had a three-stage solid-fuel boost design with a liquid-fuel post-boost unit carrying up to ten

multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle 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 ...

warheads. Like other SLBMs the initial launch was powered by a gas generator in the bottom of the firing tube. During the missile's passage through the water additional motors produce a gaseous wall around the missile, reducing hydrodynamic resistance. The launch system was designated "D-19".

Development

Development work began at

NII Mashinostroyeniya FSUE Research and Development Institute of Mechanical Engineering (Russian: ), also known as NIIMash, is a Russian rocket engine design and manufacturing company specialized in small thrusters. It is located in the city of Nizhnyaya Salda, Sverd ...

in 1971 and the design gained official approval in 1973. Initial test flights from 1979 found problems in the solid-fuel boost engines, over half of the early flights failed. Later tests aboard a modified

were more successful and deployment began in May 1983, with 20 missiles in each submarine. At full deployment, 120 missiles were deployed with 1,200 total warheads. Under the terms of the

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 ...

and

START II START II (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the United States and Russia on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. It was signed by US President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yel ...

treaties, from 1996 a number of R-39 missiles were destroyed. Throughout the 1990s, Typhoon class submarines and the R-39 missiles they carried were gradually withdrawn from service. All the missiles were decommissioned by 2004 and all the Typhoon class submarines have been retired, except for one which is used as a test platform for the

RSM-56 Bulava The RSM-56 Bulava (, " mace", NATO reporting names SS-N-30 / SS-NX-32, GRAU index 3M30, 3K30) is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) developed for the Russian Navy and deployed in 2019 on the new of ballistic missile nuclear submari ...

. A successor design,

R-39M R-39UTTH BarkUTTH means "Improved tactical and technical characteristics", NATO reporting name SS-NX-28, was a Russian submarine-launched ballistic missile. The missile was an upgraded version of the R-39 missile that was designed for the Typhoo ...

Grom (, Thunder)/RSM-52V/SS-N-28 for D-19UTTKh launch system, suffered a succession of testing failures and was cancelled.

Operators

Former operators

; *

References

External links

Russian nuclear forces 2005The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
March/April 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:R-039 Submarine-launched ballistic missiles of the Soviet Union Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau Military equipment introduced in the 1980s

Development

Operators

Former operators

See also

References

External links