R-16 (missile)
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The R-16 was the first successful
intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...
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 ...
. In the West it was known by the NATO reporting name SS-7 Saddler, and within Russia, it carried the GRAU index 8K64.


Description

The missile was 30.4 m long, 3 m in diameter and had a launch weight of 141 tons. The maximum range was 11,000 km with a 5-6 Mt
thermonuclear warhead A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a low ...
and 13,000 km with a 3 Mt warhead. The missile had a circular error probable (CEP) of 2.7 km.


History

During development, a massive failure occurred on October 24, 1960, when a prototype rocket exploded on the pad killing at least 78 personnel. After decades of coverup, the government finally revealed this incident, referred to as the
Nedelin catastrophe The Nedelin catastrophe or Nedelin disaster was a launch pad accident that occurred on 24 October 1960 at Baikonur test range (of which Baikonur Cosmodrome is a part), during the development of the Soviet R-16 (missile), R-16 Intercontinental ...
. A fatal accident with the R-9 missile occurred exactly three years later, causing October 24 to be referred to as Baikonur's "Black Day." No launches have been attempted on that date at Baikonur ever since. After the delays associated with the deaths of many people working on the project, the first flight of the missile took place on 2 February 1961. Initial operational capability was achieved on 1 November 1961. The missile continued to serve until 1976, with maximum deployment numbers reached in 1965 with 202 missiles deployed. The Soviets had fewer than 50 of these missiles deployed in 1962 during the
Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
. It is possible that only around 20 interim R-16 launchers were operational during the height of the crisis. The R-16 was a true first-generation intercontinental missile and a vast improvement over the largely experimental 'zeroth' generation R-7 Semyorka. The missile used a hypergolic bipropellant combination of
unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH; 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, НДМГ or codenamed Geptil) is a chemical compound with the formula H2NN(CH3)2 that is used as a rocket propellant. It is a colorless liquid, with a sharp, fishy, ammonia-like smell ...
(UDMH) fuel in combination with red fuming nitric acid (RFNA) oxidiser. The Soviets initially deployed it at soft sites which were not shielded from nuclear attack. On normal duty the missiles were stored in hangars, and it took one to three hours to roll them out, fuel them, and reach launch readiness. The missiles could remain fueled for only a few days due to the corrosive nature of the nitric acid. After this, the fuel would have to be removed and the missile sent back to the factory for rebuilding. Even when fueled and in an alert posture, the Soviet missiles still needed to wait up to twenty minutes to spin up the gyroscopes in their guidance systems before launch was possible. Despite these shortcomings, the R-16 was unquestionably the first truly successful intercontinental ballistic missile developed by the Soviet Union. The Soviets were aware of the missile's vulnerability, and from 1963 onward some R-16U missiles were based in silos, with around 69 silo launchers put into service. Each launch complex consisted of three silos clustered together for economic reasons to allow them to use a common refueling system, making them vulnerable to a single U.S. missile. The control system of this rocket was designed at OKB-692Krivonosov, Khartron: Computers for rocket guidance systems
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Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.
,
Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
).


Operator

;: The
Strategic Rocket Forces The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or the Strategic Missile Forces of the Russian Federation (RVSN RF; russian: Ракетные войска стратегического назначения Российской Фед ...
were the only operator of the R-16.


See also

*
List of missiles Below is a list of missiles, sorted alphabetically into large categories and subcategories by name and purpose. Other missile lists Types of missiles: * Conventional guided missiles ** Air-to-air missile ** Air-to-surface missile ** Anti-rad ...


References

*''The Kremlin's Nuclear Sword'', Steven J. Zaloga, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London, 2002.


External links


«At risk»
– A. A. Toul, Kaluga, "the Golden path", 2001.
"Катастрофа на Байконуре: почему погибли 124 человека во главе с маршалом"
(The disaster at Baikonur), ''
Moskovskij Komsomolets ''Moskovskij Komsomolets'' (russian: Московский комсомолец, lit=Moscow Komsomolets) is a Moscow-based daily newspaper with a circulation approaching one million, covering general news. Founded in 1919, it is famed for its to ...
'', 29 October 2015 {{Navboxes , list = {{Russian and Soviet missiles, SSM {{Russian and Soviet military designation sequences Cold War intercontinental ballistic missiles of the Soviet Union Cold War guided missiles of the Soviet Union R-016 Military equipment introduced in the 1960s