Russia has created the most powerful non-nuclear weapons in the world
State tests of the newest RS-28 Sarmat ICBM began on April 20, 2022. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, a successful test launch was carried out from the mine installation of the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region at the test site in Kamchatka.
What kind of missile is this and what might be its tactical and technical characteristics?
DAD OF ALL BOMBS
It is known that the rocket launch took place at 15.12 Moscow time, the training units accurately hit the target. The launch was the first in the program of state tests, the dates of which are not called. The first regiment with the Sarmat ICBM should go on combat duty at the end of this year (mine option). Such information was announced at the end of 2021.
At first there will be several ICBMs, later their number will be brought to the regular one. Preparations for the placement have already begun. The first complexes will enter service with the Uzhur rocket compound.
The RS-28 Sarmat ICBM is being prepared to replace the world's most powerful mine-based ICBM, the P–36M2 Voevoda (in NATO terminology, SS-18 Satan). The new rocket will be the carrier of the Avangard hypersonic units. In total, four types of combat equipment are being prepared for it. Three types of warheads (warheads) will be equipped with nuclear warheads of different power classes, and one conventional option – heavy-duty non-nuclear ammunition. What does this mean?
On September 11, 2007, a short video was shown on central Russian TV channels showing a test detonation of a super-powered thermobaric aerial bomb dropped from a Tu-160 bomber.
Prior to this milestone event for our strategic aviation, the most powerful non-nuclear ammunition in the world was considered to be the American GBU–43B MOAB aerial bomb - a heavy high-explosive munition, sometimes referred to as the "mother of all bombs".
The aerial bomb with a total weight of 9550 kg, a length of 9170 mm and a diameter of 1029 mm contains 8,200 kg of high-performance H6 explosives. It is a mixture of GSX gel suspension, RDX, tritonal, TNT and aluminum powder. On March 11, 2003, the MOAB was tested at the Eglin Air Force Base proving ground in Florida. The second test took place there on November 22.
In our media, the new Russian bomb has received an unofficial name: an aviation vacuum bomb of increased power. This is the largest known ammunition belonging to the type of volumetric detonating (ODB). In the 1970s and 1980s, they were quite common in the arsenals of many countries. For example, the Soviet Air Force in Afghanistan used ODAB-500P volumetric detonating bombs weighing 500 kg.
In the Western media, it was emphasized that the Russian munition was created in contrast to the American MOAB and received the name "the pope of all bombs".
Alexander Rukshin, Acting Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said at the time: "The test results of the created aviation munition showed that it is comparable in its effectiveness and capabilities to nuclear ammunition. At the same time, I want to emphasize this, the action of this munition does not pollute the environment at all compared to nuclear ammunition... The new bomb is smaller than the American MOAB, but much more merciless, the temperature in the epicenter of the explosion is twice as high."
In the West, the reaction to the tests conducted by Russia was ambiguous and contradictory. NATO official representative James Appathurai on September 12, 2007, when asked by journalists about the testing of new Russian weapons, replied: "I have no comments on this. Each country has its own weapons development programs." And on September 18, at a briefing at the White House, the press secretary of the US President, Dana Perino, said that she was hearing about a new Russian bomb for the first time.
The British newspaper Daily Telegraph then called the tests "a gesture of militant defiance against the West" and "new proof of the fact that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have regained their positions technologically." She also found a connection between the tests, "bellicose Kremlin rhetoric" and the resumption of flights of Russian strategic aviation.
The British newspaper Guardian suggested that the tests are another response to the US plans to deploy elements of the American missile defense system in Central Europe. And she noted that they came at a time of growing tension in relations between Russia and the West.
Robert Hewson, editor of Jane's Information group, told the BBC: "It is likely that the FOAB (the name our bomb received in the NATO classification) really represents the largest non-nuclear munition in the world… The Russians have a long and proven history of developing thermobaric-class weapons." Hewson also said that the new device will greatly enhance Russia's conventional military capabilities.
COULDN 'T FIT IN THE BOMB BAY
To understand the processes taking place during the rearmament of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN) with new types of missiles and ammunition, it is necessary to recall a very important event at the dawn of the birth of this kind of troops.
On October 30, 1961, the Soviet thermonuclear superbomb AN602 was tested, dropped from a specially prepared Tu-95V over the Sukhoi Nos landfill in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. To do this, all connectors in the reset electrical automation system were replaced on the Tu-95V and the bomb bay doors were removed. The bomb was huge, by weight – 26.5 tons – exceeded the capabilities of a bomber, the Tu-95 had a load capacity limit of 20 tons. In terms of dimensions – length 8 m, diameter 2100 mm – it did not fit into the bomb bay.
The AN602 is the first three–stage design in the Soviet nuclear arsenal. The scheme worked on the principle of "division – synthesis – division". That is, the nuclear charge of the first stage initiated a thermonuclear fusion reaction in the second stage, and it, in turn, was supposed to initiate a nuclear fission reaction in the "sleeve" of uranium-238 under the action of fast neutrons formed as a result of the fusion reaction in the third stage. The total capacity of the AN602 was supposed to be 100 megatons.
The calculated version of the ammunition presented for testing was rejected because of the extremely high power, which did not give the chances for the crew of the aircraft to survive. It was decided not to use the third stage and replace the uranium components with their lead equivalent. This reduced the estimated total capacity by half to 50 megatons. The total weight of the charger ("physical package") has also decreased – from 24 estimated tons to 21.
According to Soviet data, the explosion power of the two–stage version exceeded the calculated one and amounted to 57.5-58 megatons. In November 1961, the US Atomic Energy Commission, after calculations, gave its estimate of the power: from 55 to 60 megatons.
At about the same time in the United States, the Los Alamos Laboratory was creating a super-powerful dual-purpose thermonuclear munition W-53. Serial production of W53-Y1 thermonuclear charges of the nine-megaton "pure" version began in August 1962 and ended in June 1965.
A total of 340 charges were produced for the B53 bombs, as well as 65 in the Mk.6 warhead case for the Titan II ICBM. The weight of the charger is 6200 pounds (2800 kg), in the body of the B53 aerial bomb – 8850 pounds (4010 kg), and as a warhead for the missile – 8140 pounds (3690 kg).
Today, the technical parameters of our civilian Proton missile, created on the basis of the UR-500 ICBM, have been published in many reference books. The key parameter is the output of a payload of up to 24 tons into low Earth orbit (190 km). It follows from this that the missile has the ability to deliver a payload of up to 25 tons along a ballistic trajectory at a range of 12 to 15 thousand km. Both by weight and dimensions, the AN602 charge fits freely into the rocket. Obviously, the 100-megaton charger AN602 was developed specifically for the 8F17 ICBM UR-500, since there were no other options.
These two events were united not only by the fact that two of the most powerful ammunition in its class were tested – thermonuclear and thermobaric. Both munitions were tested in the form of free-fall bombs, but neither one nor the other should have been used in this form. The first was created as a combat equipment of the world's most powerful ICBM UR-500 of the Chelomey Design Bureau, the second – as a combat equipment of the conventional version of the most powerful ICBM of our time RS-28 "Sarmat".
THE HEIRESS OF THE "VOIVODE"
It is known from open sources that the RS-28 Sarmat is very close to the Voivode in terms of tactical and technical characteristics. The first modification of the "Satan" R-36M (SS-18 Mod 1) is equipped with a monoblock warhead 15B86 with a capacity of 24 megatons with a throwable weight of 7500 kg. In the latest monoblock modification of the R-36M2 "Voevoda" (SS-18 Mod 6), the power and weight of the warhead are slightly reduced – to 20 megatons and 7300 kg, respectively. In total, according to expert Robert Johnston, from 20 to 60 monoblock modifications of the missile were deployed during the entire operation of the SS-18.
In the early 1980s, the Soviet Strategic Missile Forces received 4th generation missiles. The most powerful of them are the "heavy" R–36M UTTH (SS-18 Mod 3/4) deployed in ultra-protected mine launchers (SHPU). In total, the RVSN had 308 such missiles.
In 1988, rearmament began with new R-36M2 missiles (SS-18 Mod 5/6) and more advanced silos, better protected from external influences. But by the collapse of the USSR in 1991, only 58 Voevoda R-36M2 missiles had been produced.
On September 11, 2007, the Russian Aerospace Forces conducted the already mentioned tests by dropping an AVBPM bomb weighing 7,100 kg from a Tu-160 bomber. The bomb was descending by parachute. After the explosion, measurements were carried out, which showed that the explosion power was 44 tons in TNT equivalent. The temperature in the center of the explosion of the Russian AVBPM was twice as high as that of the MOAB, the radius of destruction is also twice as large.
In terms of the mass of the charge, the power of the explosive used exceeds the power of TNT by 6.2 times (for MOAB – by 1.34 times). AVBPM is comparable in destructive force of explosion with tactical nuclear weapons. For example, one of the least powerful Davy Crockett W-54 nuclear devices had a TNT equivalent of 10-20 tons.
It is clear that in this form the ammunition will definitely not be used. And here's how the warhead for the Sarmat ICBM is ideally suited. Most likely, it was developed specifically for this purpose. Surely, in addition to nuclear, there will also be a non-nuclear version of the Sarmat.
On December 24, 2019, during the presentation of modern weapons systems at the National Defense Control Center, it was reported that Sarmat was capable of making a "suborbital flight of 35 thousand km."
In the period 2020-2027, it is planned to re-equip 20 missile regiments on the RS-28. According to the commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel-General Sergei Karakaev, RS-28 "Sarmat" will be deployed as part of the 13th Red Banner Missile Division of the 31st Missile Army in the Orenburg Region and as part of the 62nd Red Banner Missile Division of the 33rd Guards Missile Army in Uzhur, Krasnoyarsk Territory, replacing the ICBMs previously located there.- 36M.
The deployment of the Avangard hypersonic units (object 4202, product 15Y71), as well as the Sarmat heavy ICBM, will most likely be limited to 46 units. Of the 58 SHPU, 12 have already been "booked" for other Avangards launch vehicles - UR-100 N UTTH (SS-19 mod 3/4).
The Avangard, according to the state armament development program for 2018-2027, will appear in two regiments of six missiles each in the 13th Missile Division - a total of 12 carriers in a monoblock version. The carrier of the first "Vanguards" will be the ICBM UR-100N UTTH (15A35).
Note that the three–block "Avangard" is only one of the options for combat equipment. The standard equipment of the Sarmat ICBM is a classic MIRV with 16 medium–class warheads with a capacity of 500 kt or 10 high-class warheads with a capacity of 2 megatons each.
In the RFNC-VNIIEF (Sarov) over the past ten years, three new types of universal (for ICBMs and SLBMs) combat units have been created in nuclear equipment of small, medium and high power classes – 150 and 500 kt, 2 Mt, respectively.
On March 1, 2018, in his already legendary speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin partially revealed the technical characteristics of the missile, noting that the Sarmat missile carries much more warheads and they are much more powerful than those of the Voivode.
At the time of its adoption, Voevoda carried the most advanced 15F173 warheads, in terms of specific power they exceeded the W-88/Mk-5 warheads adopted a year later by the American Trident-2 SLBM, which are still considered the most advanced in the US nuclear arsenal. The newest Russian warheads, with the same weight of 450 kg as the old Soviet 15F173, exceed them in terms of specific power by 2.7 times.
As for the medium-class warheads of power (500 kg), they are twice as light and theoretically they could be deployed on a missile of more than 10 units with some limitation on the flight range. Therefore, the designers of the rocket limited their number to 16 units.
The probability of using the RS-28 missile in nuclear equipment in an armed conflict of any scale is millionths of a percent. And in thermobaric – tens of percent. It can be concluded that Russia has a real and very effective weapon for a real war and attacks on "decision-making centers".
Sergey Ketonov
Sergey Vladimirovich Ketonov is a military journalist.
