2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16
From the very moment when the main geopolitical players - the USSR and the USA - had unmanned vehicles for the delivery of nuclear weapons, a special phase of the arms race began. Each of the countries sought to possess such technical means that would allow them to strike with impunity.
This competition had a downside: if a nuclear conflict does start, the enemy, regardless of the success of his actions, must be punished. And this means that even in the event of the destruction of all command and control structures, the death of the General Staff and the government, deadly carriers will be able to take off from underground mines, pass through all the lines of anti-missile defense, and unleash a storm of retribution on the head of the aggressor.
This is exactly the task that the Satan rocket, created in the USSR and which has been on combat duty since 1975, is able to perform.
Actually, it is correctly called differently - R-36M, and its complex includes, in addition to the missile itself, many devices, including a protective container and a variety of protective equipment that allow you to maintain combat effectiveness even in the event ofrepeated nuclear strike on the area of deployment of the launch system. There is also a classification adopted by NATO, according to which all Soviet strategic delivery vehicles are designated by the letters SS and a two-digit number. According to her, the Satan missile is coded SS-18.
It's not easy to earn such a name. The personification of universal evil inspires boundless horror. To the question "why did the Americans call the R-36M complex that way?" you can find the answer if you familiarize yourself with the characteristics of the specified weapon. At the same time, it is not the lethal charges in the head of the rocket that deserve more attention (you will not surprise anyone with this), but those qualities that make it practically invulnerable, both on the ground (or rather, under it), and at all stages of flight.
If peace reigns on the planet, and no one threatens Russia with a nuclear strike, the intercontinental missile "Satan" (our name is "Voevoda") can be in a special storage or be on alert. In the latter case, it must be filled with fuel, which theoretically reduces its service life. In order for the duration of the action to be as long as possible, the fuel used in the steps is ampulized. Activation of the contents of the tanks occurs only after the command to start the engine.
The Satana strategic missile belongs to the heavy class, its mass exceeds two hundred tons. Accordingly, the weight that it can deliver to the target is also considerable - 7.3 tons. Modern nuclear weapons are relatively light, and even eight charges (and this possibility is provided for by the design) is easywill lift a less powerful carrier.
The "Satan" missile is made large because in addition to the main cargo, in its fighting compartment there are distracting targets designed to mislead the anti-missile defense forces of a potential enemy. The total impact of equipment elements can oversaturate the computing power of any missile defense system, not only modern, but also promising.
To maintain the combat effectiveness of a weapon, the resistance of its control system to electromagnetic impulses is very important. The Satan missile will maintain its combat course regardless of the intensity of the interference created, and will create its own.
At the START-2 talks, the US delegation insistently suggested that the R-36M be removed from the Russian arsenal, which suggests that this complex gives them concern. Nevertheless, at present, more than one and a half hundred silo-type launchers out of 308 Soviet ones remain on combat duty. As long as the Satan missile is not obsolete (and it probably won't be anytime soon), Russians can be confident that any aggressor will be wary of attacking. However, there is reason to hope that the next generation of strategic weapons will be able to provide reliable protection, so needed in today's complex world.
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