A couple of Russian ICBM questions?

By: SOC - 5th December 2007 at 03:25 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RS-24 is essentially a MIRV'ed Topol-M.

Topol-M and Topol are both silo and TEL based.

Podvig's book is a pretty definitive work on the overall subject. For up-to-date info I'd recommend a Jane's online account, giving access to Jane's Strategic Weapons Systems.

Pesho also posted a copy of Russia's Arms Catalog Volume IV: Strategic Missile Forces, which has a lot of information as well, but it is a 1997 edition.

Lastly, try NASIC's Ballistic And Cruise Missile Threat 2006, an unclassified publication available on the web.

By: Distiller - 5th December 2007 at 03:27 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

You happen to be aware of this website?

http://russianforces.org/missiles/

By: SOC - 5th December 2007 at 03:35 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

That's Podvig's blog, an excellent site, but it doesn't always have a lot of the hard numbers. He does do a most excellent job covering current events regarding Russias strategic forces, however.

By: Mercurius - 5th December 2007 at 11:49 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Topol- How many have been produced and how many are in service, if possible I would also be intrigued to know in what manner they are deployed, Silo, road mobile?

Topol-M same again really?

RS-24- the one that was tested earlier this year, has any clear information been established about what exactly it was/is?

The peak strength of the RS-12M Topol (SS-25 'Sickle') force was 288 missiles, but that included two sites in Belarus. Jane’s estimates the current force at 255 – 265. All are mobile.

For the RS-12M1/2 Topol-M (SS-27), Jane’s estimates between 45 and 50. The first mobile systems entered service in December 2006; given the current production rate, the number must be small. Colonel General Nikolaiy Solovstov, commander of the Strategic Rocket Troops, has announced that that two ICBM battalions armed with three mobile and four silo-based SS-27 Topol-M respectively will be declared operational at the end of 2007.

By 2015, 54 mobile and 76 silo-based Topol-M are expected to be in service

The RS-24 will enter service in 2010 and will start to replace RS-18 (SS-19 ‘Stilletto’) and RS-20 (SS-18 ‘Satan’) ICBMs.

The exact configuration of the RS-24 is still unclear.

In an interview with the Russian newspaper ‘VPK’ several months ago, Yuriy Solomonov, director and general designer of the Moscow Institute for Thermal Engineering (MIT), stated that the RS-24 is an upgraded version of the Topol-M. It uses “some elements” of the earlier missile, plus the new hardware needed to carry a multiple independently-targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) payload. He declined to state the number of re-entry vehicles that the missile can carry, but said that it was “greater than the number quoted by the media”.

Jane’s Strategic Weapon Systems predicts that the RS-24 will have a throw weight in the region of 3,000 to 4,000 kg, and will probably have first and second stage motors with a greater diameter than those used on the RS-12M1/2 Topol-M.

Jane’s Missiles & Rockets takes a more conservative view, and has estimated that a payload of 10 Bulava MIRVs could be accommodated by a 1,900–2,000 kg throw weight. The second and third stages of the Topol-M were originally reported to be of decreasing diameter, but those of the RS-24 have the same diameter, suggesting that the third stage and payload are new. Topol-M has apparently been flown with these new stages prior to the RS-24 launch, making it difficult – for the moment – to define the exact configuration of both missiles

Topol-M has a throw weight of around 1,200 kg for a range of 10,500 km. To be legal under START I, an upgraded Topol-M with a throw weight of more than 1,450 kg (20 per cent of its initial value) would need to be classified as a new design. This could explain the use on the RS-24 designation for an upgraded Topol-M.

Mercurius Cantabrigiensis