The Formidable SS-18s Being
Scrapped
Paris AIR & COSMOS/AVIATION INTERNATIONAL No 1483, 2 Sep 94
by Christian Lardier
The START agreements call for Russia
to liquidate all of its intercontinental ballistic missiles
equipped with multiple independently targeted nuclear warhead
reentry vehicles [MIRVed ICBMs] by the year 2003. The first
phase concerns the very old (NATO-coded) SS-11 Sego, SS-13
Savage, and SS-17 Spanker missiles. A second phase will include
the SS-18 Satan, SS-19 Stiletto, and SS-24 Scalpel. At the same
time, the single-warhead SS-25 Sickle missile will become the
Russian nuclear arsenal's principal vector.
The SS-18 Satan (NATO code) or R-36B/RS-20 (Russian
designation) is the successor of the SS-9 Scarp. It is a 2-stage
missile using dinitrogen tetroxide
(N2O4) and heptyl (a UDMH [unsymmetrical
dimethyl hydrazine] compound). The first stage is powered by a
460-ton-thrust motor with four combustion chambers, and the
second by a single-chamber 77-ton-thrust motor. It was built by
the M. K. Yangel OKB Yuzhnoye at Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine).
Designed during 1966-1972, this third-generation ICBM was tested
beginning in November 1972, deployed in January 1975, then
integrated with the weapons arsenal in December 1975. There are
five variants: the single-warhead, 24Mt Mod-1; the 550Kt,
8-warhead MIRVed Mod-2; the single-warhead, 20Mt Mod-3; the
500Kt, 10-warhead MIRVed Mod-4; and the 500Kt or 750Kt,
10-warhead MIRVed Mod-5. Each of the 308 missiles deployed in
silos carried 10 warheads. These ICBMs were distributed among
Dombarovsky-3 near Orenbourg (64), Kartaly-6 near Chelyabinsk
(46), Uzhur-4 near Krasnoyarsk (64), Aleysk in Altai (30),
Zhangiz-Tobe near Seminpalatinsk (52), and Derzhavinsk near
Akmolinsk (52). Thus, 204 of these missiles were deployed on
Russian territory and 104 in Kazakhstan.
The elimination base at Surovatikha, near Nijny-Novgorod,
destroyed 32 missiles last year, but thus far has destroyed only
22 of the 44 due to be destroyed this year. Only 30 of the
missiles deployed in Kazakhstan have arrived at the base. This
delay has been observed by the American inspectors.
The SS-18 can be converted into Space Launcher 18K. Equipped
with a third stage, it can place 4 tons in orbit at an altitude
of 500 km and an inclination of 65°. This stage would be
derived from the propulsion system of the Phobos probe. Built by
NPO Lavochkin, it has a thrust of 2 tons and serves to launch
the Tekos satellite. Another variant would use a stage of the
SS-24 missile to place a payload of 800 kg in orbit at an
altitude of 1,600 km, inclined at 90°. Built by Yuzhnoye,
this stage is equipped with an RD-866 motor that includes a
500-kg thrust nozzle, and with sixteen vernier nozzles, each
having a thrust of 11.8 kg. Still another variant is under study
with a view to using the C5M third stage of the Cyclone rocket
for orbits at altitudes of 500 and 1,500 km. Also built by
Yuzhnoye, it is equipped with an RD-861 (or 11D25) motor having
a thrust of 8 tons. The 18K Launcher could be launched from
Baykonur by 1996. The famous cosmodrome is equipped with 10
silos for the SS-18. Despite the efforts being made by Yuzhnoye
to market the idea, however, no contract has been signed as yet,
and Lavochkin's projects still lack financing (cf. AIR &
COSMOS
No. 1474).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Characteristics of the SS-18 and 18K |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Characteristics |R36N Missile |18K Launcher |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Number of stages |2 |3 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Height (m) |36.5 |34.3 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Diameter (m) |3.0 |3.0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Weight (t) |211.1 |210 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|1st Stage | | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Height (m) |22.3 |22.3 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Weight (t) |161.5 |161.5 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Thrust (t) |460 |460 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2nd Stage | | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Height (m) |6.8 |6.8 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Thrust (t) |77 |77 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|3rd Stage | | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Thrust (t) |/ |2.0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Payload | | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Height (m) |7.4 |5.2 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Weight (t) |8.8 |4.0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
