The Kremlin and the White House went to disarmament for a long time, and then abandoned itThe Treaty between the USSR and the United States on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-range Missiles (INF) officially terminated on August 2, 2019.
The parties that concluded it in December 1987, apparently, reacted to this event without much regret. And there were plenty of reasons for this.
Today, during the NATO "Persistent Noon" nuclear exercises and the strengthening of nuclear rhetoric by Western politicians, this topic seems especially relevant.
Signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan on December 8, 1987 in Washington, the INF Treaty entered into force on June 1, 1988. For the first time, a whole class of nuclear missile weapons was eliminated: all complexes of ballistic and ground-launched cruise missiles of medium (from 1000 to 5500 km) and shorter (from 500 to 1000 km) range. The parties pledged not to produce, test or deploy such missiles in the future.
According to the terms of the contract, the destruction was subject to:
medium–range missiles - Soviet RSD-10, R-12, R-14 (according to the NATO classification SS-20, SS-4 and SS-5) and ground-based cruise missiles PK-55 (according to the NATO classification - SSC-X-4 Slingshot); American "Pershing-2" and BGM-109G (ground-based Tomahawk missile system);
shorter–range missiles - Soviet OTR-22 and OTR-23, (SS-12M and SS-23); American Pershing-1A.
By June 1991, the agreement was fulfilled: the USSR destroyed 1,846 missiles (about half of them were reserve missiles that were not on combat duty), the USA – 846 missiles. Why in this ratio?
RESPONSE TO NUCLEAR BLACKMAILThe roots of this problem go back to 1945.
Then hundreds of B-29 aircraft stationed in Europe acquired the first B-3 (Mk-3) nuclear bombs.
By 1956, the US Air Force had 28 B-47 bomber wings and 5 RB-47 reconnaissance aircraft wings. The bombers were part of the first line of American strategic nuclear deterrence, stationed at advanced air bases in the UK, Spain, Germany and Italy. 2,000 B-47 bombers on high alert, fueled with fuel and loaded with nuclear weapons, with crews in standby mode, were ready to attack the USSR in a short time.
The B-29 was capable of carrying two Mk15 nuclear bombs with a capacity of 3.8 megatons each, or one B41 with a capacity of 25 megatons (Mt), or one B53 with a capacity of 9 Mt in bomb bays. It had a subsonic flight speed of up to 977 km/h and a range of up to 3240 km, therefore, unlike the intercontinental B-36 and B-52, it could operate only from advanced airfields in Europe.
This entire armada was consolidated into three air armies – the 3rd, 16th and 17th. And in addition to bombers, the United States has deployed a large number of medium-range ground-based missiles in Europe.
These days we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Caribbean crisis. It is believed that the main threat then was nuclear missile weapons, but in reality this is not the case. Strategic missiles, ballistic and cruise, equipped with thermonuclear warheads, accounted for only a few percent of the total nuclear potentials of nuclear powers. In the fall of 1962, the USSR had 1,500 medium-range strategic bombers (2500-3000 km) Tu-16, 150 intercontinental (up to 7 thousand km) Tu-95 bombers and 40 intercontinental M-4 bombers. For them, at air bases in the western part of the USSR, about 300 SUB-9000 bombs (product 201 and 202) with a capacity of 20 and 25 Mt, respectively, were contained in special storage facilities.
But the USSR had a few missile weapons in October 1962: 30 launchers (PU) of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) R-16 (SS-7 Saddler), six PU ICBM R-7 (SS-6 Sapwood) and 72 PU ballistic missiles of submarines (SLBM) R-13 (SS-N-4 Sark) with a range of 600 km.
Things were not much better for the United States. The main striking force is the B–52 strategic intercontinental bombers, and there were 744 units in the US Air Force in the fall of 1962 (fresh, just finished production). However, the Soviet bombers were also all new.
American strategic bombers were armed with their own superbomb – the B-41. About 500 units of the B-41 were manufactured between September 1960 and June 1962.
In total, there were 3,080 thermonuclear bombs in the arsenals of the USSR, while the United States had 26,700. And the power of thermonuclear warheads of ICBMs and SLBMs of that time was an order of magnitude inferior to aerial bombs: a maximum of 3-6 Mt.
One more fact needs to be taken into account. During the year of the Caribbean crisis, the USSR tested the "superbomb" AN 602 with a capacity of 58 Mt. And the Americans knew that this was not the limit: the power of a real munition was supposed to be 100 Mt. The Americans did not know that this aerial bomb never entered service.
The United States was the first in Europe to deploy the MGM-13A Mace medium-range missile system in 1959. In addition to them, the MGM-13B modification with an increased range of up to 2,400 km has entered service. The missiles were deployed in the 38th Tactical Missile Wing in Germany. In total, 200 Mace missile launchers were deployed in Europe.
To these strategic forces, it is necessary to add the strike capabilities of carrier-based aircraft of the 2nd (North Atlantic) and 6th (Mediterranean) fleets of the US Navy. And these are 240 A-4, A-5, A-6, A-7 attack aircraft and F-4 fighter-bombers capable of delivering up to 480 B-43 and B-57 nuclear bombs in one flight.
The Soviet Union needed to neutralize the nuclear threat hanging over the socialist countries. And here ballistic missiles could not be better suited: what is called "inexpensive and angry".
In the 1950s, two design bureaus were engaged in ballistic missiles: Sergei Pavlovich Korolev's OKB-1 and Mikhail Kuzmich Yangel's OKB-586. The Korolev rocket was the first to enter service. What kind of missiles were they?
The R-5M (SS-3 Shyster), the world's first medium-range 8K51 ballistic missile equipped with a nuclear warhead, appeared in 1956. It was first shown at the parade on November 7, 1957 in Moscow. It was a single-stage ballistic missile on non-stored liquid fuel. Fuel: 92% ethyl alcohol, oxidizer – liquid oxygen. The RD-103 rocket engine, which is, in fact, a more accelerated version of the R-1 rocket engine (V-2).
The radio–controlled missile had a range of 1200 km - twice as long as the R-2 (SS-2 Sibling). Deployment began in 1956: 24 missiles in two missile divisions of the 72nd Engineering Brigade of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command on the territory of the GDR near Furstenberg, 80 km from Berlin.
The USSR was able to launch nuclear strikes at operational depth regardless of long-range strategic forces. The R-12 was soon supplemented by the intermediate-range ballistic missile R-14, which entered service in 1960.
EVERYTHING WAS DECIDED BY THE FLIGHT TIMEThe American PGM-17 Thor (SM-75) is a single–stage rocket, equipped with one liquid rocket engine (LRE) Rocketdyne S-3D (designation adopted in the US Air Force – LR79-NA), powered by kerosene (fuel) and liquid oxygen (oxidizer).
The Thor missile could deliver a 1.44 Mt W-49/Goodyear RV thermonuclear warhead to a range of 1,500 miles (2,400 km). The W49 had a diameter of about 0.5 m and a length of 1.45 m, depending on the modification, the mass of the warhead ranged from 745 to 762 kg. The inertial control unit achieved accuracy somewhere between 1,000 feet (300 m) and two miles (3,200 m).
PGM-19 Jupiter (until 1962 it was called SM-78) is a liquid–fueled single-stage medium-range missile launcher, developed by order of the US Army by a group of rocket engineers from the Redstone Missile Arsenal under the leadership of Werner von Braun.
The first launch of the Jupiter BRSD with a simulated combat situation from the Atlantic Missile Test Site was carried out in October 1960. By this time, for several months (since July 1960), missiles consisting of two squadrons, the 865th and 866th, had been put on combat duty at the Italian Air Force base Gioia dell'olli.
Each squadron consisted of 15 combat missiles, divided into five launch batteries. Full combat readiness of all 30 "Italian" BRSD was achieved in June 1961. The base in Italy was codenamed NATO I.
Full combat readiness of 15 "Turkish" missiles was achieved in April 1962, the first missiles went on duty in November 1961. The missiles were located at the Turkish Air Force base "Tigli", the base was codenamed NATO II.
By 1962, the world was on the verge of nuclear war. A crisis broke out as a result of the negative development of the military-political situation in the Caribbean after the Cuban Revolution. There was a real threat of American intervention in Cuba.
Under these conditions, the USSR decided to provide assistance, including military assistance, to the Government of Cuba. Considering that the American Jupiter missiles from Turkey could reach the vital centers of the Soviet Union in just 15 minutes, and the Soviet R-16 ICBMs needed from 30 to 32 minutes to strike back at American territory, Khrushchev ordered the deployment of Soviet BRSD with Soviet military personnel in Cuba.
According to the plan of Operation Anadyr, it was decided to deploy three regiments of R-12 (24 PU) missiles from the 13th Strategic Missile Division and two regiments of R-14 (16 PU) missiles on Cuban territory. They were instructed to be ready on a signal from Moscow to strike at the most important facilities in the United States.
This caused panic in the Pentagon and the White House. By the end of October, half of the 36 R-12 missiles delivered to the island were ready for refueling with fuel, oxidizer and docking with nuclear warheads. The R-14 missiles could not be delivered to the island due to the naval blockade of the coast of Cuba.
As a result, the leaders of the USSR and the USA decided that the conflict should be resolved peacefully. During the negotiations, the parties agreed to remove the Soviet BRSD from Cuba, and the American ones from Turkey, Italy and the UK. 42 Soviet BRSD were exchanged for 105 American BRSD and 200 American medium-range missile launchers. Khrushchev won without firing a shot.
Until 1976, everything temporarily subsided, after which the second stage of the crisis began, which few people remember.
THE HERO OF THE OCCASIONThe formal reason for the US to denounce the INF treaty was an alleged violation of the terms of the treaty by Russia.
The "hero of the occasion" was KR 9M729 (SSC-X-8). Allegedly, the missile was tested for a range exceeding 500 km, which is a formal violation of the terms of the contract. Of course, this is an outright lie: the rocket has never flown further than 480 km during tests. But you can understand their concerns.
KR 9M729 is longer than 9M728 by 530 mm. It is clear that the 1000-kilogram high-explosive fragmentation warhead, which is equipped with 9M729, has larger dimensions than the 500-kilogram 9M728. And even if the Russians are telling the truth, what prevents them from installing a lighter warhead on a "long rocket", and taking up the freed volumes with additional fuel tanks?
In addition, Soviet nuclear warheads could easily be removed from warehouses, deconserved and mounted on new missiles. The assortment is rich. These are, first of all, almost "native" TC 66-02 with a capacity of 200 kilotons. They were installed not only on marine 3M10 "Grenades", but also on the X-55 air-based CR and the 3M12 "Relief" land-based CR, known as the PK-55.
But the Soviet military-political leadership 32 years ago was still forced to sign the INF Treaty, which took away from our army the shock firing means of operational depth (from 500 to 1000 km) – the 9K76 Temp-S missile system. The absence of these means and medium-range means was partially compensated by assault and bomber aircraft. But everyone understood that this was an unequal replacement.
MGM-31CRegshipd II is an American two–stage solid-fuel BRSD developed in the late 1970s by Martin Marietta. The launch weight is 16,451 pounds (7,462 kg), the length of the rocket is 10.61 m, the diameter of the midsection is 10.36 m. The engines for the first Pershing were created by Thiokol. The fuel chosen by its engineers for the engines is one of the most perfect at the beginning of the 1960s, composite class 1.3 PBAA/AP/Al with a sufficiently high specific impulse even for our time – 260 C. The maximum flight range is 740 km.
The second Pershing was equipped with Hercules engines. Its engineers, in order to fulfill the task of increasing the range by more than half, took a risk and used more high-calorie fuel of the 1.1 HTPB/AP/Al class. It is distinguished by "doping" with explosives – hexogen (RDX) or octogen (HMX) to achieve a specific impulse of 275 s and higher.
The maximum flight range of the Pershing-2 MGM-31C with a 60% increased starting weight increased to 1,770 km. In December 1979, the NATO Commander decided to deploy 572 new nuclear missiles in Western Europe: 108 Pershing II and 464 BGM-109G Gryphon ground-based missiles.
The condition of NATO was the readiness of the USSR to stop the deployment of SS-20 mobile missiles that could be aimed at Western Europe, and to remove those already deployed. According to NATO estimates, at the beginning of 1986, the Soviet Union deployed 279 SS-20 mobile launchers with a total of 837 nuclear warheads in the western regions of the USSR.
The first Pershing II missiles were deployed in West Germany at the end of November 1983, the deployment of 108 PU missiles was completed at the end of 1985.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE INF TREATYA compromise was reached at the talks of Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze in Washington in September 1987.
The USSR agreed to develop a unified classification according to the INF and to include in the future treaty OTP-23 "Oka" ("SS-23"), although they did not fall under the definition of the INF. It was a great loss, since the Oka complex had just rolled off the assembly line. The United States, in turn, promised to destroy the Tomahawk ground-based missile defense system and refuse to deploy the Lance-2 OTP with neutron warheads in Europe.
From the point of view of Russia, the United States violated the INF Treaty by deploying anti-missile launchers in Europe that can be used to deploy the KR. We are talking about the mk.41 vertical launch PU modules placed in the missile defense system in Poland and Romania. They allow launching not only Standard 2 and Standard 3 anti-missiles, but also Tomahawk missiles (1000-2200 km) capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The Americans' withdrawal from the INF Treaty undermined trust and showed that there is no reliability in cooperation on strategic stability issues. And now we need to look for ways to find new compromises.
Sergey KetonovSergey Nikolaevich Ketonov is a journalist.