The OTR-23 Oka (russian: OTP-23 «Ока»; named after

Oka River The Oka (russian: Ока́, ) is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its ...

) was a mobile

theatre ballistic missile A theatre ballistic missile (TBM) is any ballistic missile with a range less than , used against targets " in-theatre". Its range is thus between that of tactical and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The term is a relatively new one, encompa ...

(russian: оперативно-тактический ракетный комплекс) deployed by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

near the end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

to replace the obsolete SS-1C 'Scud B'. It carried the

GRAU The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...

index 9K714 and was assigned the

NATO reporting name NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union and other nations of the Warsaw Pact). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manne ...

SS-23 Spider. The introduction of the Oka significantly strengthened Soviet theatre nuclear capabilities as its range and accuracy allowed it not only to strike hardened

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

targets such as

airfields An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publi ...

, nuclear delivery systems, and command centers, but moving targets as well. It also had a fast reaction time, being able to fire in approximately five minutes, and was nearly impossible to intercept, thereby allowing it to penetrate defenses. The main components of the 9K714 system were: * the transport and launch vehicle PU 9P71 (russian: cамоходная пусковая установка), based on the amphibious BAZ-6944 * the similar transporter-loader TZM 9T230 (russian: транспортно-заряжающая машина) with one spare missile and equipped with a hydraulic crane * the re-supply vehicle TM 9T240 (russian: транспортная машина), a ZIL-131 tractor with semi-trailer to transport a missile (in transport container 9Ya249) and a warhead (in a 9Ya251 container) The operational life of the Oka was limited and controversial. The Soviet military asserted that the Oka had a maximum range of 250 miles (400 km). American experts, however, estimated it had a greater range. In 1987,

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

proposed to

George Shultz George Pratt Shultz (; December 13, 1920February 6, 2021) was an American economist, businessman, diplomat and statesman. He served in various positions under two different Republican presidents and is one of the only two persons to have held fou ...

that he would unilaterally remove all Okas, if it would prevent the United States from building up its own short-range nuclear forces in Europe, despite the fact that the Soviet military was in favor of the Oka. Shultz however lacked the authority to act on the suggestion. Gorbachev included the Oka in the class of systems to be discontinued as part of the

INF Treaty The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty, formally the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles; / ДРСМ� ...

as a gesture of goodwill, even though Soviet assertions of its maximum range did not put it outside the specifications of the treaty. There was diplomatic controversy over this weapons system in April 1990, when the Soviets informed the US of their covert transfer of at least 120 missiles to the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...

states of Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

during the time of negotiation of the

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty, formally the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles; / ДРСМ� ...

. Evidence indicates that the missiles were transferred with conventional warheads only, although equipment to load Soviet nuclear warheads was apparently retained.https://fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/theater/ss-23.htm SS-23 SPIDER - Russian / Soviet Nuclear Forces

Missile variants

9M714 missile of the Soviet 9K714 Oka komplex

* The 9M714B missile armed with the AA-60 (9N63) nuclear warhead and possessing a maximum range of 500 km * The 9M714F missile armed with a FRAG-HE warhead weighing 450 kg and possessing a maximum range of 450 km * The 9M714K missile armed with a submunitions warhead 9N74K weighing 715 kg and possessing a maximum range of 300 km In addition to these warheads, the OTR-23 Oka was also reported to be able to deliver chemical munitions.

Operators

Former operators

; : Phased out in 2002 ; : Phased out in the 1990s ; : Passed on to successor states ; : Phased out in the 1990s, shortly before the reunification with West-Germany ; : Phased out in 2000 ; : Phased out as directed by the

Notes

External links

9К714 "Ока" (Russian

Komplex 9K714 Oka (Czech)

SS-23 (Spider) / 9K714 Oka - Military Factory

{{Russian and Soviet missiles, SSM Theatre ballistic missiles Cold War missiles of the Soviet Union Votkinsk Machine Building Plant products KB Mashinostroyeniya products Cluster munition Military equipment introduced in the 1970s

Missile variants

Operators

Former operators

See also

Notes

External links