The RT-2PM2 «Topol-M» (,

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-27 "Sickle B", other designations: SS-27 Mod 1, RS-12M1, RS-12M2, formerly incorrectly RT-2UTTKh)RS-12M1/2 Topol-M (SS-27/RT-2PM2) (Russian Federation), Offensive weapons
/ref> is one of the most recent

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 ...

s to be deployed by Russia, and the first to be developed after the dissolution of 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 ...

. It was developed from 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 ...

mobile

. In its Russian designation РТ stands for "ракета твердотопливная", raketa tverdotoplivnaya ("solid fuel rocket"), while УТТХ – for "улучшенные тактико-технические характеристики", uluchshenniye taktiko-tekhnicheskie kharakteristiki ("improved tactical and technical characteristics"). "Topol" (тополь) in Russian means "

white poplar White poplar is a common name used to refer to several trees in the genus ''Populus ''Populus'' is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names vari ...

". It is designed and produced exclusively by the

Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology (MITT; ) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) engineering and scientific research institute founded on May 13, 1946. The institute is located in the Otradnoye District in the north of Moscow. Previously, it wa ...

, and built at the

Votkinsk Machine Building Plant JSC Votkinsk Machine Building Plant () is a machine and ballistic missile production enterprise based in Votkinsk, Republic of Udmurtia, Russia. Its production includes the RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, Russia's most recent IC ...

Characteristics

The Topol-M is a cold-launched, three-stage, solid-propellant, silo-based or road-mobile

. The missile's length is 22.7 meters and the first stage has a body diameter of 1.9 meters. The mass at launch is 47,200 kg, including the 1,200 kg

payload Payload is the object or the entity that is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of t ...

. Topol-M carries a single

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 ...

with an 800

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 ...

yield but the design is compatible with

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 ...

warheads. According to chief designer Yury Solomonov, the missile can carry four to six warheads along with decoys. It is claimed to have the highest accuracy of any Russian ICBM. The body of the rocket is made by winding carbon fiber. The Topol-M may be deployed either inside a reinforced

missile silo A missile launch facility, also known as an underground missile silo, launch facility (LF), or nuclear silo, is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground, for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM ...

or from an APU launcher mounted on the MZKT-79221 "Universal" 16-wheeled

transporter-erector-launcher A transporter erector launcher (TEL) is a missile vehicle with an integrated tractor unit that can transport, elevate to a firing position and launch one or more Rocket artillery, rockets or missiles. History Such vehicles exist for both surfac ...

. The designation for the silo-based Topol-M missile is believed to be RS-12M2, while the mobile version is RS-12M1. The first stage has rocket motors developed by the Soyuz Federal Center for Dual-Use Technologies. These give the missile a much higher acceleration than other ICBM types. They enable the missile to accelerate to the speed of 7,320 m/s and to travel a flatter trajectory to distances of up to 10,000 km. As a solid propellant design, the missile can be maintained on alert for prolonged periods of time and can launch within minutes of being given the order.

Development and deployment

The development of the missile began in the late 1980s as a response to the American

Strategic Defense Initiative The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic nuclear missiles. The program was announced in 1983, by President Ronald Reagan. Reagan called for a ...

. Initially an evolutionary upgrade of the

, the missile was redesigned in 1992. The missile's principal designer was Yuri Solomonov, who would later oversee the development of 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 ...

. The first flight test took place on December 20, 1994, during which the missile, launched from

Plesetsk Plesetsk () is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Plesetsky District, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, situated about northeast of Moscow and south of Arkhangelsk. Municipally, it is the administrative center ...

, hit its target away. Two missiles were put on experimental combat duty in December 1997 at Tatishchevo. The fifth test flight on 22 October 1998 was unsuccessful as the missile exploded after being launched; the sixth test flight two months later was successful. The 104th Regiment of the Taman Missile Division, based in

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

, introduced 10 missiles into service on 30 December 1998; another ten entered service with a second regiment in December 1999. Silo launcher Topol-M entered service by presidential decree on 13 July 2000, the third, fourth and fifth regiments entered service in 2000, 2003, and 2005. The last regiment was to arrive in 2012. On December 12, 2006, the first three mobile Topol-M missile systems entered duty with a missile unit stationed near the town of Teykovo. Current Strategic Rocket Forces Order of Battle lists the following sites with Topol-M missiles: * 27th Guards Rocket Army (HQ: Vladimir) ** 60th Missile Division at Tatishchevo with 60 silo-based Topol-M ** 54th Guards Missile Division at Teykovo with 18 mobile Topol-M The Topol-M missiles have a lifetime between 15 and 20 years.

Missile defense evasion capabilities

According to Russia this missile and its derivatives,

RS-24 Yars The RS-24 Yars (РС-24 Ярс – ракета стратегическая (strategic missile)-modification 24) also known as Topol-MR, NATO reporting name SS-29 or SS-27 Mod 2), is a Russian MIRV-equipped, thermonuclear armed intercontinen ...

RS-26 Rubezh The RS-26 Rubezh (, meaning ''frontier'' or ''boundary''), designated by NATO as SS-X-31, is a Russian solid-fueled intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with a nuclear warhead, of which the range bracket just barely classifies it as an in ...

and

are designed to counter and evade current or planned United States

missile defense Missile defense is a system, weapon, or technology involved in the detection, tracking, interception, and also the destruction of attacking missiles. Conceived as a defense against nuclear weapon, nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic mi ...

system. It is said to be capable of making evasive maneuvers to avoid a kill by interceptors, and carries targeting countermeasures and

decoy A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''eenden kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to ...

s. One of the Topol-M's most notable features is its short engine burn time following take-off, intended to minimize satellite detection of launches and thereby complicate both early warning and interception by missile defense systems during boost phase. The missile also has a relatively flat ballistic trajectory, complicating defense acquisition and interception. According to ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American Conservatism, conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on Politics of the United States, national politics. Its broadsheet daily edit ...

'', Russia has conducted a successful test of the evasive payload delivery system. The missile was launched on 1 November 2005 from the

Kapustin Yar Kapustin Yar () is a Russian military training area and a rocket launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, about 100 km east of Volgograd. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946. In the beginning, Kapustin Yar used technology, material ...

facility. The warhead changed course after separating from the launcher, making it difficult to predict a re-entry trajectory.

Equipment of Topol-M with MIRV

A new missile loosely based on Topol-M and equipped with multiple re-entry vehicles (MIRV) is called

. In January 2009 Russian sources hinted that the production of the mobile Topol-M missile would be shutting down in 2009 and that the new MIRVed RS-24 version would replace it.

Operators

;: The

Strategic Missile Troops 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 ...

are the only operator of the RT-2PM2 Topol-M. As of March 2020, 60 silo-based and 18 mobile RT-2PM2 Topol-M missiles are deployed with 2 rocket divisions: Silo-based: * 60th Rocket Division at

Tatishchevo Air Base Tatishchevo is a military airbase in the Tatishchevsky District of Saratov Oblast, Russia. It is operated by Strategic Rocket Forces of Russia (RVSN). The base is located north-west of the settlement of Tatishchevo. The airbase serves the spe ...

Road-mobile: * 54th Guards Rocket Division at Teykovo It is believed that since 2010 no more RT-2PM2 Topol-M missiles have been purchased in favor of the newest

References

External links

CSIS Missile Threat - SS-27 (Topol-M)

Representation video of a mobile Topol-M on Youtube

RS12-M2 "Topol-M/Тополь-М" Launch from Silo
{{Russian and Soviet missiles, SSM Intercontinental ballistic missiles of Russia Strategic Rocket Forces Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1997 Votkinsk Machine Building Plant products