1.
Intermediate-range ballistic missile
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An intermediate-range ballistic missile is a ballistic missile with a range of 3, 000–5,500 km, between a medium-range ballistic missile and an intercontinental ballistic missile. Classifying ballistic missiles by range is mostly for convenience, in principle there is very little difference between a low-performance ICBM and a high-performance IRBM. The range definition used here is used within the U. S, some other sources include an additional category, the long-range ballistic missile, to describe missiles with a range between IRBMs and true ICBMs. The more modern term theater ballistic missile encompasses MRBMs and SRBMs, IRBMs are currently operated by the Peoples Republic of China, India, Israel, and possibly North Korea. The United States, USSR, United Kingdom, and France were former operators, the A4b was the prototype for the upper stage of the A9/A10 rocket. The goal of the program was to build a capable of bombarding New York when launched in France or Spain. A4b rockets were tested a few times in December 1944 and January and February 1945, all of these rockets used liquid propellant. The A4b used an inertial system, while the A9 would have been controlled by a pilot. They started from a launch pad
2.
Strategic Missile Troops
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The Strategic Rocket Forces were created on December 17,1959 as the main Soviet force used for attacking an enemys offensive nuclear weapons, military facilities, and industrial infrastructure. They operated all Soviet nuclear ground-based intercontinental, intermediate-range ballistic missile, complementary strategic forces within Russia are the Long Range Aviation and the Russian Navys ballistic missile submarines. On October 18,1947 the brigade conducted the first launch of the remanufactured former German A-4 ballistic missile, or R-1, in the early 1950s the 77th and 90th Brigades were also formed to operate the R-1. The 54th and 56th Brigades were formed to conduct test launches of the R-2 at Kapustin Yar on June 1,1952, by 1990 all these early types of missiles had been retired from service. This was the year that the Strategic Missile Troops were officially established as a service branch of the Armed Forces under the direct control of the Defense Ministry. The date of its foundation, December 17, is celebrated as Strategic Missile Troops Day. Two rocket armies were formed in 1960, the 43rd Rocket Army and the 50th Rocket Army were formed from the previous 43rd and 50th Air Armies of the Long Range Aviation. During a test of the R-16 ICBM on October 24,1960 and this disaster, the details of which were concealed for decades, became known as the Nedelin catastrophe. He was succeeded by Marshal of the Soviet Union Kirill Moskalenko, under Marshal Вiryuzov the SRF deployed missiles to Cuba in 1962 as part of Operation Anadyr. 36 R-12 intermediate range missiles were sent to Cuba, initiating the Cuban Missile Crisis. The 43rd Guards Missile Division of 43rd Rocket Army manned the missiles while in Cuba, Marshal Nikolai Krylov then took over in March 1963 and served until February 1972. During this time French President Charles de Gaulle visited the Strategic Rocket Forces in 1966, Chief Marshal of Artillery Vladimir Fedorovich Tolubko commanded the SRF from April 12,1972 to July 10,1985. Tolubko emphasised raising the physical fitness standards within the SRF and he was succeeded by General of the Army Yury Pavlovich Maksimov, who commanded from July 10,1985 to August 19,1992. In 1989 the Strategic Rocket Forces had over 1,400 ICBMs,300 launch control centers, the SMT also operated RSD-10 intermediate-range ballistic missiles and R-12 medium-range ballistic missiles. Two-thirds of the road-mobile Soviet RSD-10 force was based in the western Soviet Union and was aimed at Western Europe, one-third of the force was located east of the Ural Mountains and was targeted primarily against China. Older R-12 missiles were deployed at fixed sites in the western Soviet Union, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed in December 1987, called for the elimination of all 553 Soviet RSD-10 and R-12 missiles within three years. As of mid-1989, over 50% of RSD-10 and R-12 missiles had been eliminated, by 1990 the Soviet Union had seven types of operational ICBMs, about 50% were heavy R-36M and UR-100N ICBMs, which carried 80% of the countrys land-based ICBM warheads. By this time it was producing new mobile, and hence survivable ICBMs
3.
Aleksandr Nadiradze
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Aleksandr Davidovich Nadiradze was a Soviet inventor, designer and engineer in the fields of aircraft and missile technology. He developed various missiles, bombs, shells and is considered father of the mobile ICBMs, having created the RT-21 Temp 2S, RSD-10 Pioneer, more modern weapons such as the RT-2PM2 Topol-M and RS-24 are mostly based on Nadiradzes work as well. Born on 20 August in 1914 in the town of Gori, Georgia, initially working as an assistant in a small Georgian aerospace faculty, he made his first invention in Mai 1934. After finishing at the Transcaucasian Industrial Institute in 1936 he moved to Moscow and he was also involved in the development of the Tupolev Tu-2 and early Soviet turbo jet fighters. In 1941 he was appointed as a designer in the Moscow OKB plant 22. At the end of 1941 Nadiradze began to research rocketry, during the Great Patriotic War he developed five versions of anti-tank shells, one of which had satisfactory results. In 1953 Nadiradze then took charge over project Raven, the missile was designed to deliver instruments into the upper atmosphere. His involvement was of importance since the first Soviet meteorological rocket MR-1 Meteo which was successfully launched into orbit in 1951 was developed by Alexander Nadiradze himself. On 15 October the same year he would be tasked with the development of the so-called Tshaika radio-controlled bombs, tests were successfully completed in 1955 and the new weapon was accepted for service later that year. In late 1957 Moscow GSNII MSKHM-642 was combined with Reutov OKB-52 Chelomey, Nadiradze got appointed head of Chelomeys secret development section and in 1961 took charge over the entire OKB while remaining chief designer. By decision of the Soviet government and defence ministry a competition on designing a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile was organized and he became founder of the Soviet mobile missile forces. On 6 March 1966 the defence ministry gave order for the development of solid fuel ICBMs. The project was named Temp-20 which would become the RT-21 Temp 2S. On 14 March 1972 Air-20 was launched for tests at the state landfill RVSN in the Arkhangelsk region which were completed in December 1974, on 21 February 1976 two missile regiments consisting of Temp-20s started their combat duty in Plesetsk. Prior to that Nadiradze had already created the RSD-10 Pioneer in 1971 which was based on his works on the Temp-2S. Its flight tests went exceptionally well and ended on 9 January 1976, the mobile missile complex Pioneer then got accepted for service on 11 March the same year. His Pioneer would become the base for the later Topol missile, Nadiradzes third great achievement in Soviet missile technology was complete for which he got awarded with the title Hero of Socialist Labour and Order of Lenin. He then developed the heavily improved Pioneer-UTTH which would deliver warheads with three 5–50 kt MIRVs, the new system was adopted by the Strategic Missile Forces on 28 April 1981
4.
Votkinsk Machine Building Plant
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Votkinsk Machine Building Plant is a machine and ballistic missile production enterprise based in Votkinsk, Russia. Its production includes the RT-2UTTH Topol M intercontinental ballistic missile, Russias most recent ICBM development, construction of the plant was caused by the depletion of forests near then existing mining enterprises in the Urals. Fetching of firewood from afar increased the cost of iron industry and this situation could be resolved by the displacement of ore processing to those areas, where forests remained untouched. For the same reason, another plant was built in this region between 1760 and 1763, the area was chosen for construction of Votkinsk ironworks owing to its vicinity to the major waterway. Between 1754 and 1763, totally 42 private factories were built, in 1763, after Shuvalovs death, Votkinsk and Izhevsk ironworks passed over to the State for repayment of Shuvalovs debts, and have been state enterprises ever since. Subsequently, in XVIII-XX centuries, the plant produced anchors, railway equipment, ships, excavators, gold mining drags, for example, starting from 1773, the plant began to produce steel anchors for the domestic fleet, according to the decree of Empress Catherine II. In the first half of the XIX century, the plant made for at least 62 percent of total production in Russia. Votkinsk ironworks was one of the most progressive at the time and this high-quality tool steel was used for the manufacturing of various tools. In 1871, the plant launched the output of open hearth furnaces, in this regard, the plant was the second in Russia and the first in the Urals. Moreover, the plant produced armor steel for the needs of the domestic fleet, in the 1840s, under the supervision of Ilya Petrovich Tchaikovsky, the enterprise was reprofiled from purely metallurgical to machine-building. So, in 1847, the production of ships was started and it is particularly remarkable that the plant was situated on the shores of a small shallow river and it wasnt connected to the countrys railway network. Therefore, steamships and other vessels had to be produced prior to spring floods, for this purpose, a special dam was built on the enterprise territory in order to set up a small-scale accumulative pond. In the spring, melt waters filled the pond and flooded the shipyard area and this enabled new vessels to float to the surface. Then they opened dam gates and steamships could be run downstream the river Votka to the river Siwa, in total, the enterprise built about 400 vessels of various types. In the same way, during spring floods, steam locomotives were sent from the enterprise and they were placed on special barges running downstream the rivers Votka, Siwa and Kama up to the nearest railway station. This situation lasted until 1916, when the plant was connected to the railway system. In total, the enterprise built 631 wide gage steam locomotives of different series, at the end of the 19th century, due to construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the plant started the output of steelwork elements for railway bridges. In terms of length of built railway bridges, the Votkinsk plant had taken the first place in Russia by 1915
5.
TNT equivalent
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TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The ton of TNT is a unit of energy defined by convention to be 4.184 gigajoules. The convention intends to compare the destructiveness of an event with that of conventional explosives, the kiloton is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 terajoules. The megaton is a unit of equal to 4.184 petajoules. The kiloton and megaton of TNT have traditionally used to describe the energy output. The TNT equivalent appears in various nuclear weapon control treaties, and has used to characterize the energy released in such other highly destructive events as an asteroid impact. A gram of TNT releases 2673–6702 J upon explosion, the energy liberated by one gram of TNT was arbitrarily defined as a matter of convention to be 4184 J, which is exactly one kilocalorie. The measured, pure heat output of a gram of TNT is only 2724 J, alternative TNT equivalency can be calculated as a function of when in the detonation the value is measured and which property is being compared. A kiloton of TNT can be visualized as a cube of TNT8.46 metres on a side, the RE factor is the relative mass of TNT to which an explosive is equivalent, the greater the RE, the more powerful the explosive. This enables engineers to determine the proper masses of different explosives when applying blasting formulas developed specifically for TNT. For example, if a timber-cutting formula calls for a charge of 1 kg of TNT, then based on octanitrocubanes RE factor of 2.38, using PETN, engineers would need 1. 0/1.66 kg to obtain the same effects as 1 kg of TNT. With ANFO or ammonium nitrate, they would require 1. 0/0.74 kg or 1. 0/0.42 kg, *, TBX or EBX, in a small, confined space, may have over twice the power of destruction. The total power of aluminized mixtures strictly depends on the condition of explosions, guide for the Use of the International System of Units. National Institute of Standards and Technology, nuclear Weapons FAQ Part 1.3 Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb, cooper, Paul W. Explosives Engineering, New York, Wiley-VCH, ISBN 0-471-18636-8 HQ Department of the Army, Field Manual 5-25, Explosives and Demolitions, Washington, D. C. Pentagon Publishing, pp. 83–84, ISBN 0-9759009-5-1 Explosives - Compositions, Alexandria, VA, thermobaric Explosives, Advanced Energetic Materials,2004. THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS, nap. edu, retrieved September 2004
6.
Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle
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A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle is a ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit one of a group of targets. By contrast a unitary warhead is a single warhead on a single missile, an intermediate case is the multiple reentry vehicle missile which carries several warheads which are dispersed but not individually aimed. Only the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, France, the military purpose of a MIRV is fourfold, Enhance first-strike proficiency for strategic forces. Providing greater target damage for a given thermonuclear weapon payload, several small warheads cause much more target damage area than a single warhead alone. This in turn reduces the number of missiles and launch facilities required for a destruction level - much the same as the purpose of a cluster munition. With single warhead missiles, one missile must be launched for each target, by contrast with a MIRV warhead, the post-boost stage can dispense the warheads against multiple targets across a broad area. Reduces the effectiveness of a missile system that relies on intercepting individual warheads. While a MIRV attacking missile can have multiple warheads, interceptors may have only one warhead per missile, decoy reentry vehicles can be used alongside actual warheads to minimize the chances of the actual warheads being intercepted before they reach their targets. A system that destroys the missile earlier in its trajectory is not affected by this but is more difficult, MIRV land-based ICBMs were considered destabilizing because they tended to put a premium on striking first. Later on the US feared the Soviets MIRVs because Soviet missiles had a greater throw-weight, for example, the US MIRVs might have increased their warhead per missile count by a factor of 6 while the Soviets increased theirs by a factor of 10. Furthermore, the US had a smaller proportion of its nuclear arsenal in ICBMs than the Soviets. Bombers could not be outfitted with MIRVs so their capacity would not be multiplied, thus the US did not seem to have as much potential for MIRV usage as the Soviets. However, the US had a number of Submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which could be outfitted with MIRVs. It is because of their first-strike capability that land-based MIRVs were banned under the START II agreement, START II was ratified by the Russian Duma on 14 April 2000, but Russia withdrew from the treaty in 2002 after the US withdrew from the ABM treaty. In a MIRV, the rocket motor pushes a bus into a free-flight suborbital ballistic flight path. After the boost phase the bus maneuvers using small on-board rocket motors and it takes up a ballistic trajectory that will deliver a reentry vehicle containing a warhead to a target, and then releases a warhead on that trajectory. It then maneuvers to a different trajectory, releasing another warhead, the precise technical details are closely guarded military secrets, to hinder any development of enemy counter-measures. The bus on-board propellant limits the distances between targets of individual warheads to perhaps a few hundred kilometers, some warheads may use small hypersonic airfoils during the descent to gain additional cross-range distance
7.
Solid-propellant rocket
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A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants. The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder, they were used in warfare by the Chinese, Indians, Mongols and Persians, all rockets used some form of solid or powdered propellant up until the 20th century, when liquid-propellant rockets offered more efficient and controllable alternatives. Solid rockets are used today in model rockets and on larger applications for their simplicity and reliability. Since solid-fuel rockets can remain in storage for periods, and then reliably launch on short notice. Solids are, however, frequently used as boosters to increase payload capacity or as spin-stabilized add-on upper stages when higher-than-normal velocities are required. Solid rockets are used as launch vehicles for low Earth orbit payloads under 2 tons or escape payloads up to 500 kilograms. A simple solid rocket motor consists of a casing, nozzle, grain, the grain behaves like a solid mass, burning in a predictable fashion and producing exhaust gases. The nozzle dimensions are calculated to maintain a design chamber pressure, once ignited, a simple solid rocket motor cannot be shut off, because it contains all the ingredients necessary for combustion within the chamber in which they are burned. More advanced solid rocket motors can not only be throttled but also be extinguished, also, pulsed rocket motors that burn in segments and that can be ignited upon command are available. Design begins with the total impulse required, which determines the fuel/oxidizer mass, grain geometry and chemistry are then chosen to satisfy the required motor characteristics. The following are chosen or solved simultaneously, the results are exact dimensions for grain, nozzle, and case geometries, The grain burns at a predictable rate, given its surface area and chamber pressure. The chamber pressure is determined by the orifice diameter and grain burn rate. Allowable chamber pressure is a function of casing design, the length of burn time is determined by the grain web thickness. The grain may or may not be bonded to the casing, case-bonded motors are more difficult to design, since the deformation of the case and the grain under flight must be compatible. Common modes of failure in rocket motors include fracture of the grain, failure of case bonding. All of these produce an increase in burn surface area and a corresponding increase in exhaust gas production rate and pressure. Another failure mode is casing seal failure, seals are required in casings that have to be opened to load the grain. Once a seal fails, hot gas will erode the escape path and this was the cause of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Soviet Union
Ukraine
