The RT-2 was an

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 ...

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 ...

, which was in service from December 1968 until 1976. It was assigned 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-13 Savage and carried the

GRAU index 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 ...

8K98. Designed by

OKB-1 S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation "Energia" () is a Russian manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components. Its name is derived from the Russian word for energy and is also named for Sergei Korolev, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, th ...

, about 60 were built by 1972.

History

The RT-2 was the first solid-propellant ICBM in Soviet service, and was a development of the earlier RT-1 series. It was a three-stage inertially-guided missile comparable to the American

Minuteman missile The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. , the LGM-30G (Version 3) is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States and represents th ...

. It was armed with a single 600

kiloton TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. A ton of TNT equivalent is a unit of energy defined by convention to be (). It is the approximate energy released in the det ...

warhead A warhead is the section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket (weapon), rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: *E ...

and was silo-launched, although a rail-based version was contemplated by Soviet planners. It was deployed in the

Yoshkar-Ola Yoshkar-Ola (Mari language, Mari and ) is the capital city of Mari El, Russia. Yoshkar-Ola means “red city” in Meadow Mari language, Mari and was formerly known as Tsarevokokshaysk () before 1919, as Krasnokokshaysk () between 1919 and 1927 ...

missile field. The Soviets used the two upper stages of the RT-2 to develop the RT-15 mobile

IRBM An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range between (), categorized between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ballistic missiles by ran ...

system. The

RT-2PM Topol The RT-2PM Topol (; NATO reporting name SS-25 Sickle; GRAU designation: 15Ж58 ("15Zh58"); START I designation: RS-12M Topol) was a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile designed in the Soviet Union and in service with Russia's Strategic Miss ...

is supposedly a modernized version of the RT-2

Operations

The RT-2 was capable of delivering a class payload to a maximum operational range of approximately 10,000 km (5,500 nautical miles)Defense Intelligence Agency: "SS-13 Ballistic Missile System", 8 November 1973, DIA Task No. T74-10-03

Command and Control

A single

launch control center The Rocco A. Petrone Launch Control Center (commonly known as just the Launch Control Center or LCC) is a four-story building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, used to manage rocket launch, launches of launch vehicles from ...

(LCC) monitored numbers of launchers. The hardened and dispersed silo concept increased system survivability and provided steady environmental controls from the solid-propellant motors. Headquarters

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

exercised normal control of the RT-2 missile force, through an intermediate RVSN Army and launch complex headquarters (HCC). A launch complex consisted of an HCC and several LCCs, monitoring numerous underground launchers.

Flight test history

Test Launches

General Characteristics

* Length: 20,000 mm (65.6 ft) * Diameter: 1,700 mm (5.57 ft) * Launch Weight: 34,000 kg (33.46 tons) * Guidance:

inertial guidance An inertial navigation system (INS; also inertial guidance system, inertial instrument) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning ...

* Propulsion: solid, three-stage * Warhead: 600kt nuclear * Range:

Operators

; : 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 operator of the RT-2.

Photo gallery

File:RT-2 maximum range coverage of United States.PNG, RT-2 coverage of United States File:RT-2 possible launch facility configuration.PNG, RT-2 launch facility configuration File:RT-2 typical deployment complex.PNG, RT-2 missile complex configuration

References

* Hogg, Ian (2000). ''Twentieth-Century Artillery''. Friedman/Fairfax Publishers.
S.P.Korolev RSC Energia Rocket RT-2P

External links

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Cold War intercontinental ballistic missiles of the Soviet Union RT-002 Arsenal Plant (Saint Petersburg) products Military equipment introduced in the 1960s