R-29RM Shtil

SS-N-23
Type SLBM
Service history
In service 1986–2010
Used by Soviet Navy
Russian Navy
Production history
Designer Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau
Manufacturer Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant
Specifications
Weight 40.3 tonnes
Length 14.8 metres
Diameter 1.9 m
Warhead The payload (2800 kg) was capable of carrying ten 100 kT yield MIRV warheads, though only a four MIRV warhead version entered production.
Blast yield 200 kt each [1]
Engine Three-stage liquid-propellant rocket
Operational
range
 8,300 kilometres (5,200 mi)
Guidance
system
 Astroinertial

The R-29RM Shtil[2] (Russian: Штиль, lit. "Calmness", NATO reporting name SS-N-23 Skiff) was a liquid propellant, submarine-launched ballistic missile in use by the Russian Navy. It had the alternate Russian designations RSM-54 and GRAU index 3M27.[3] It was designed to be launched from the Delta IV submarine, each of which is capable of carrying 16 missiles.

They were replaced with the newer R-29RMU Sineva and later with the enhanced variant R-29RMU2 Layner.

Operation Behemoth

On 6 August 1991 at 21:09 Novomoskovsk, under the command of Captain Second Rank Sergey Yegorov, became the world's only submarine to successfully launch an all-missile salvo, launching 16 R-29RM (RSM-54) ballistic missiles of total weight of almost 700 tons in 244 seconds (operation code name "Behemoth-2"). The first and the last missiles hit their targets; the remaining missiles were intentionally caused to self-destruct in flight.

Previously, the largest number of missiles launched from a submerged SSBN was four Trident II missiles.

Performance

The R-29RM carried four 100 kiloton warheads and had a range of about 8,500 kilometres (5,300 mi).[4]

End of service

The last boat carrying R-29RM, K-51 Verkhoturye, went into refit to be rearmed with the newer R-29RMU Sineva on 23 August 2010. [5]

Space Launch Vehicle

Several R-29RM were retrofitted as Shtill carrier rockets to be launched by Delta-class submarines, the submarines being mobile can send a payload directly into a heliosynchronic orbit, notably used by imaging satellites. Outside the confines of the Russian military, this capability has been used commercially to place three out of four microsatellites into a low earth orbit with one cancellation assigned to the Baikonur Cosmodrome for better financial terms.

Operators

Former operators

 Russia
 Soviet Union

See also

References

  1. ↑ – Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces (rus)
  2. ↑ Aviation.ru – Missiles Archived 4 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ "R-29RM Shetal/Sineva (SS-N-23 'Skiff'/RSM-54/3M27) (Russian Federation), Offensive weapons". Janes.com.
  4. ↑ CSIS Missile Threat SS-N-23
  5. ↑ "SSBN K-51 Verkhoturye arrived to Zvezdochka for repairs today". Rusnavy.com. 23 August 2010.
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