1.
Intercontinental ballistic missile
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An intercontinental ballistic missile is a guided ballistic missile with a minimum range of 5,500 kilometres primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery. Similarly, conventional, chemical, and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target. Early ICBMs had limited precision that allowed them to be used only against the largest targets such as cities and they were seen as a safe basing option, one that would keep the deterrent force close to home where it would be difficult to attack. Attacks against military targets, if desired, still demanded the use of a more precise manned bomber, the result is that the power of a nuclear explosion to rupture hardened structures is greatly decreased by the distance from the impact point of the nuclear weapon. So a near-direct hit is generally necessary, as only diminishing returns are gained by increasing bomb yield, second- and third-generation designs dramatically improved accuracy to the point where even the smallest point targets can be successfully attacked. Short and medium-range ballistic missiles are known collectively as theatre ballistic missiles, the ICBM A9/A10 rocket initially was intended to be guided by radio, but was changed to be a piloted craft after the failure of Operation Elster. The second stage of the A9/A10 rocket was tested a few times in January and February 1945, the progenitor of the A9/A10 was the German V-2 rocket, also designed by von Braun and widely used at the end of World War II to bomb British and Belgian cities. All of these rockets used liquid propellants, in the immediate post-war era, the US and USSR both started rocket research programs based on the German wartime designs, especially the V-2. In the US, each branch of the military started its own programs, in the USSR, rocket research was centrally organized, although several teams worked on different designs. Early designs from both countries were short-range missiles, like the V-2, but improvements quickly followed, in the USSR early development was focused on missiles able to attack European targets. This changed in 1953 when Sergei Korolyov was directed to development of a true ICBM able to deliver newly developed hydrogen bombs. Given steady funding throughout, the R-7 developed with some speed, the first launch took place on 15 May 1957 and led to an unintended crash 400 km from the site. The first successful test followed on 21 August 1957, the R-7 flew over 6,000 km, the first strategic-missile unit became operational on 9 February 1959 at Plesetsk in north-west Russia. It was the same R-7 launch vehicle that placed the first artificial satellite in space, Sputnik, the first human spaceflight in history was accomplished on a derivative of R-7, Vostok, on 12 April 1961, by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The U. S. initiated ICBM research in 1946 with the RTV-A-2 Hiroc project and this was a three-stage effort with the ICBM development not starting until the third stage. However, funding was cut after only three successful launches in 1948 of the second stage design, used to test variations on the V-2 design. With overwhelming air superiority and truly intercontinental bombers, the newly forming US Air Force did not take the problem of ICBM development seriously. Things changed in 1953 with the Soviet testing of their first thermonuclear weapon, the Atlas A first flew on 11 June 1957, the flight lasted only about 24 seconds before the rocket blew up
2.
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
3.
GLONASS
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GLONASS, or Global Navigation Satellite System, is a space-based satellite navigation system operating in the radionavigation-satellite service and used by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces. It provides an alternative to GPS and is the second alternative navigational system in operation with global coverage, smartphones generally tend to use the same chipsets and the versions used since 2015 receive GLONASS signals and positioning information along with GPS. Since 2012, GLONASS was the second most used positioning system in mobile phones after GPS, the system has the advantage that smartphone users receive a more accurate reception identifying location to within 2 meters. Development of GLONASS began in the Soviet Union in 1976, beginning on 12 October 1982, numerous rocket launches added satellites to the system until the constellation was completed in 1995. After a decline in capacity during the late 1990s, in 2001, under Vladimir Putins presidency, GLONASS is the most expensive program of the Russian Federal Space Agency, consuming a third of its budget in 2010. By 2010, GLONASS had achieved 100% coverage of Russias territory and in October 2011, the GLONASS satellites designs have undergone several upgrades, with the latest version being GLONASS-K. GLONASS is a satellite navigation system, providing real time position and velocity determination for military. The satellites are located in middle circular orbit at 19,100 kilometres altitude with a 64.8 degree inclination, GLONASS orbit makes it especially suited for usage in high latitudes, where getting a GPS signal can be problematic. The constellation operates in three planes, with eight evenly spaced satellites on each. A fully operational constellation with global coverage consists of 24 satellites, to get a position fix the receiver must be in the range of at least four satellites. GLONASS satellites transmit two types of signal, open standard-precision signal L1OF/L2OF, and obfuscated high-precision signal L1SF/L2SF, the signals use similar DSSS encoding and binary phase-shift keying modulation as in GPS signals.0 MHz, known as the L1 band. The center frequency is 1602 MHz + n ×0.5625 MHz, signals are transmitted in a 38° cone, using right-hand circular polarization, at an EIRP between 25 and 27 dBW. The L2 band signals use the same FDMA as the L1 band signals, but transmit straddling 1246 MHz with the center frequency 1246 MHz + n×0.4375 MHz, the pseudo-random code is generated with a 9-stage shift register operating with a period of 1 ms. The navigational message is modulated at 50 bits per second, the superframe of the open signal is 7500 bits long and consists of 5 frames of 30 seconds, taking 150 seconds to transmit the continuous message. Each frame is 1500 bits long and consists of 15 strings of 100 bits, with 85 bits for data and check-sum bits, and 15 bits for time mark. Strings 1-4 provide immediate data for the satellite, and are repeated every frame, the data include ephemeris, clock and frequency offsets. Strings 5-15 provide non-immediate data for each satellite in the constellation, with frames I-IV each describing five satellites, the almanac uses modified Keplerian parameters and is updated daily. The details of the signal have not been disclosed
4.
Transporter erector launcher
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A transporter erector launcher is a missile vehicle with an integrated prime mover that can carry, elevate to firing position and launch one or more missiles. Such vehicles exist for both missiles and surface-to-surface missiles. A transporter erector launcher and radar is the same as a TEL, such vehicles have the capability of being autonomous, greatly enhancing their effectiveness. With this type of each vehicle can fight regardless of the state or presence of support vehicles. The TEL or TELAR may have a turntable that it can use to aim the missiles. The vehicle may have to turn to aim the missiles or they may fire straight up, conversely, a transporter launcher and radar is the same as a TELAR without the erector capability, because the missile in question is transported in the launch-ready position. An example is the 9K330 Tor, which mounts a Vertical Launching System-style block of SAMs, usually a number of TELs and TELARs are linked to one command post vehicle. They may utilise target information from Target acquisition, designation and guidance radar or, simply, the Patriot missile system uses the abbreviation MEL as a towed launch vehicle
5.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
6.
RT-2PM Topol
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The RT-2PM Topol is a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile designed in the Soviet Union and in service with Russias Strategic Missile Troops. The three stage solid propellant RT-2PM Topol is an improved mobile ICBM which replaced earlier outdated missile complexes. It emerged from the line of development as mobile missiles such as the RT-21 Temp 2S and the RSD-10 Pioneer. The United States considered developing their own road-mobile ICBM called the Midgetman, development of the RT-2PM was approved on July 19,1977 and carried out by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology headed by A. D. Nadiradze. Flight tests were conducted on the Plesetsk test site from February through December 1985, the main problem that had to be overcome during this period was the development of battle management system. After the first test series was conducted in April 1985. Throughout this time work continued on improving the management system. The test missile firings were completed in December 1987. The first regiment of Topol missiles employing a modernized mobile command center were put on alert on May 27,1988, after Nadiradzes death in 1988 Boris N. Lapygin continued his work on the Topol missile. The RT-2PM ICBM was designed to be mobile and is mounted on a heavy truck. The RT-2 is a road mobile 3-stage, single warhead ICBM and its 29.5 meter length and 1.7 meter diameter are approximately the same size and shape as the U. S. Minuteman ICBM. It has a throw-weight of 1000 kg and carries a warhead with a yield of 800 kt. Its road mobile capability gave the RT-2PM Topol an extremely high probability of survival and it can fire from field deployment sites or through sliding roof garage bases. The RT-2PM Topol joined operational Soviet SRF regiments in 1985, a total area of approximately 190,000 square kilometers could be required to deploy a force consisting of 500 road-mobile Topol ICBMs. Mobile units require a higher number of personnel for maintenance. Consequently, the RT-2PM Topol was significantly more costly to maintain, all three stages are made of composite materials. During first stage operation the flight control is implemented through four aerodynamic, four similar trellised aerodynamic surfaces serve for stabilization. During the second and third stage of flight gas is injected into the part of the nozzle for flight control
7.
Vertical launching system
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A vertical launching system is an advanced system for holding and firing missiles on mobile naval platforms, such as surface ships and submarines. Each vertical launch system consists of a number of cells, which can hold one or more ready for firing. Typically, each cell can hold a number of different types of missiles, when the command is given, the missile flies straight up long enough to clear the cell and the ship, and then turns on course. In addition to greater firepower, VLS is much more tolerant and reliable than the previous systems. The U. S. Navy now relies exclusively on VLS for its guided missile destroyers and cruisers, the most widespread vertical launch system in the world is the Mark 41, developed by the United States Navy. More than 11,000 Mark 41 VLS missile cells have been delivered, or are on order, for use on 186 ships across 19 ship classes, the advanced Mark 57 vertical launch system is used on the new Zumwalt-class destroyer. The older Mark 13 and Mark 26 systems remain in service on ships that were sold to countries such as Taiwan. When installed on an SSN, a VLS allows a greater number, cold means relatively cold compared with rocket engine exhaust. A hot launch system does not require a mechanism, but does require some way of disposing of the missiles exhaust. If the missile ignites in a cell without an ejection mechanism and this potentially makes a hot-launch system relatively light, small, and economical to develop and produce, particularly when designed around smaller missiles. A potential disadvantage is that a missile could destroy the launch tube. The advantage of the system is in its safety, should a missile engine malfunction during launch. For this reason, Russian VLSs are often designed with a slant so that a missile will land in the water instead of on the ships deck. As missile size grows, the benefits of ejection launching increase, above a certain size, a missile booster cannot be safely ignited within the confines of a ships hull. Most modern ICBMs and SLBMs are cold-launched, france, Italy and Britain use a similar hot-launching Sylver system in PAAMS. Russia produces both grid systems and a design with more than one missile per lid. Russia also uses a launch system for some of its vertical launch missile systems. BAe has filed patents relating to the use of Vertical Launch missiles from modified passenger aircraft,22 ballistic missile tubes were converted to allow for seven conventional VLS tubes in place of a SLBM tube
8.
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
9.
Missile launch facility
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The structures typically have the missile some distance below ground, protected by a large blast door on top. They are usually connected, physically and/or electronically, to a launch control center. Until the 1960s ICBMs had been launched from surface bases, the Soviet Union used completely above-ground launchers similar to those found at a spaceport. In many cases they were the ones used for civilian launches, such as Site 1. They were vulnerable to attacks by the United States. The La Coupole facility is the earliest known precursor to modern underground missile silos still in existence and it was built by the forces of Nazi Germany in northern Occupied France, between 1943 and 1944, to serve as a launch base for V-2 rockets. The facility was designed with a concrete dome to store a large stockpile of V-2s, warheads and fuel. Following repeated heavy bombing by Allied forces during Operation Crossbow, the Germans were unable to complete construction of the works, the United Kingdom conducted Post war investigations, determining that it was an assembly site for long projectiles most conveniently handled and prepared in a vertical position. The first underground missile silo was built in the 1950s by the United Kingdom, only one test underground missile silo was built in the UK, at RAF Spadeadam. The UK cancelled the Blue Streak silo project, since the Soviets had developed missiles that could attack with little warning, the UKs ICBM nuclear missile launch mode was changed in 1960, to submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The German idea of a missile silo was adopted and developed by the United States for missile launch facilities for its intercontinental ballistic missiles. Most silos were based in Colorado, Arizona, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and they had many defense systems to keep out intruders and other defense systems to prevent destruction. The Atlas missiles used four different storage and launching methods, the first version were vertical and above ground launchers, at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the Central Coast of California. The second version were stored horizontally in a structure with a retractable roof, to then be raised to the vertical and launched. The third version were stored horizontally, but better protected in a building known as a coffin. These rather poorly protected designs were a consequence of the liquid fuels used. The fourth version were stored vertically in underground silos, for the Atlas F ICBM and they were fueled in the silo, and then since they could not be launched from within the silo, were raised to the surface to launch. The Titan I missile used a similar silo basing of the fourth version, launch facility configurations varied by U. S. missile systems
10.
Dmitry Medvedev
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Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is a Russian politician who is the current Prime Minister. From 2008 to 2012, Medvedev served as the third President of Russia, born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Leningrad State University Law Department in 1987. Medvedev defended his dissertation in 1990, and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed the Saint Petersburg State University, Medvedevs political career began as the Election Campaign Manager, and later as an adviser of the St. Petersburg Mayor, Anatoly Sobchak. During this time, Medvedev befriended Vladimir Putin, in November 1999, Medvedev was hired by the Russian Presidential Administration, where he worked as the Deputy Chief of Staff. In the 2000 Russian Presidential Elections, Medvedev was Putins Campaign Manager, on 14 November 2005, Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister, and was tasked with overseeing National Priority Projects. Medvedev worked as the Chairman of Gazproms Board of Directors, a post that he held until 2008, Medvedevs candidacy was backed by the popular outgoing President, Vladimir Putin, thus giving a significant boost to his popularity. The 2008 Presidential election, held on 2 March 2008, was won by Medvedev with 70. 28% of the popular vote, and he was inaugurated on 7 May 2008. Medvedev did not run for a term as President, and therefore was appointed Prime Minister by President Vladimir Putin. On 26 May 2012, Medvedev was appointed to be the Leader of United Russia Party, during Medvedevs tenure, Russia emerged victorious in the Russo-Georgian War, and recovered from the Great Recession. Medvedev launched a campaign, and initiated a substantial law enforcement reform. Dmitry Medvedev was born on 14 September 1965 in Leningrad, in the Soviet Union and his father, Anatoly Afanasyevich Medvedev, was a chemical engineer teaching at the Leningrad State Institute of Technology. Dmitrys mother, Yulia Veniaminovna Medvedeva, studied languages at Voronezh University, later, she would also work as a tour guide at Pavlovsk Palace. The Medvedevs lived in a 40 m² apartment at 6 Bela Kun Street in the Kupchino Municipal Okrug of Leningrad, Dmitry was his parents only child. The Medvedevs were regarded as Soviet intelligentsia family of the time and his maternal grandparents were Ukrainians, whose surname was Kovalev, originally Koval. Medvedev traces his roots to the Belgorod region. As a child, Medvedev was bookish and studious, described by his first grade teacher Vera Smirnova as a dreadful why-asker, after school, he would spend some time playing with his friends before hurrying home to work on his assignments. In the third grade, Medvedev studied the ten-volume Small Soviet Encyclopedia belonging to his father, in the second and third grades, he showed interest in dinosaurs and memorized primary Earths geologic development periods, from the Archean up to the Cenozoic. In the fourth and fifth grades, he demonstrated interest in chemistry, conducting elementary experiments, in grade seven, adolescent curiosity blossomed through Svetlana Linnik, his future wife, studying at the same school in a parallel class
