The R-17 Elbrus,

GRAU index 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 ...

9K72 is a

tactical ballistic missile A tactical ballistic missile (TBM), or battlefield range ballistic missile (BRBM), is a ballistic missile designed for short-range battlefield use. Typically, range (aeronautics), range is less than . Tactical ballistic missiles are usually ...

, initially developed 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 ...

. It is also known by its

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 ...

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-1C

Scud A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second World, Second and Third World, Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporti ...

-B. It is one of several Soviet missiles to carry the reporting name

; the most prolifically launched of the series, with a production run estimated at 7,000 (1960–1987). Also designated R-300 during the 1970s, the R-17 was derived from the

R-11 Zemlya The R-11 Zemlya, GRAU index 8A61 was a Soviet tactical ballistic missile. It is also known by its NATO reporting name SS-1b Scud-A. It was the first of several similar Soviet missiles to be given the reporting name Scud. Variant R-11M was accep ...

. It has been operated by 32 countries and manufactured in four countries outside the Soviet Union. It is still in service with some. It's been called the Hwasong-5 in North Korea.

History

The first

mock-up In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale model, scale or physical model, full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''protot ...

was designed and built by Makeyev in 1958–1959, before the programme was transferred to the

Votkinsk Machine Building Plant JSC Votkinsk Machine Building Plant (russian: Воткинский завод) is a machine and ballistic missile production enterprise based in Votkinsk, Republic of Udmurtia, Russia. Its production includes the RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballis ...

in 1959 for mass production. The first launch was conducted in 1961, and it entered service in 1964. Wz8K14 RB3

Design

The R-17 featured important improvements over the R-11. The Isayev RD-21 engine used a combination of inhibited

red fuming nitric acid Red fuming nitric acid (RFNA) is a storable oxidizer used as a rocket propellant. It consists of 84% nitric acid (), 13% dinitrogen tetroxide and 1–2% water. The color of red fuming nitric acid is due to the dinitrogen tetroxide, which breaks ...

(IRFNA)

oxidiser An oxidizing agent (also known as an oxidant, oxidizer, electron recipient, or electron acceptor) is a substance in a redox chemical reaction that gains or " accepts"/"receives" an electron from a (called the , , or ). In other words, an oxi ...

and

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, fed into the

combustion chamber A combustion chamber is part of an internal combustion engine in which the fuel/air mix is burned. For steam engines, the term has also been used for an extension of the firebox which is used to allow a more complete combustion process. Interna ...

by fuel pumps that ensured a more consistent thrust. The guidance system, active only during the boosted phase, uses three

gyroscope A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rota ...

s, that give it a

Circular error probable In the military science of ballistics, circular error probable (CEP) (also circular error probability or circle of equal probability) is a measure of a weapon system's precision. It is defined as the radius of a circle, centered on the mean, wh ...

(CEP) of 450 m (900 m according to western sources.) A nuclear warhead was designed for the R-17, with a selectable yield, from 5 to 70 kilotons. However it could also carry a chemical warhead, containing 555 kg of viscous VX; a conventional weapon, with a single

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

warhead; or a series of fragmentation payloads, using either high explosive, anti-tank or anti-runway munitions. SS-1C Scud B missiles on TEL

At first, the R-17 was carried on a tracked TEL similar to that of the R-11, designated 2P19, but this was not very successful, as the vibration of the tracks had a tendency to interfere with the launch electronics. Production of this model was halted after

Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and Premier of the Soviet Union, chairm ...

cancelled the production of heavy tanks in 1962, and a wheeled launcher was designed by the Titan Central Design Bureau, becoming operational in 1967. The new

MAZ-543 __NOTOC__ Year 543 ( DXLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 543 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...

vehicle was officially designated 9P117 ''Uragan'', and its Russian crews nicknamed it ''Kashalot'' (

sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...

), because of its size.Zaloga, p. 17 The eight-wheeled MAZ-543 has a loaded weight of 37,400 kg, a road speed of 55 km/h and a range of 650 km. It can carry out the launch sequence autonomously, but this is usually directed from a separate command vehicle. The missile is raised to a vertical position by means of hydraulically powered cranes, which usually takes four minutes, while the total sequence lasts about one hour.

Constitution

The units of the R-17 theater ballistic missile were organized with the following vehicles: *9P117 Uragan Transport Standing Launcher × 3 *2T3M1 transport trailer x 4 (2SH3 container x 2) *

GAZ-66 The GAZ-66 is a Soviet and later Russian 4x4 all-road (off-road) military truck produced by GAZ. It was one of the main cargo vehicles for motorized infantry of the Soviet Army and is still employed in former Soviet Union countries. It is nickna ...

mobile command vehicle x 5 *1T12-2M weather observation vehicle x 2 *8T311 fuel neutralizer transport vehicle x 3 *9G29 missile fuel vehicle x 2 *ASC-4-255B oxidizer tank car x 4 *9T31M1 mobile crane x 2 *Ural-4320 warhead transport truck x 2 *ZIL-131-MTO-V vehicle maintenance vehicles/ZIL-131-ITO-AT vehicle maintenance vehicle x 2 *ZIL-131-9S436-1 Electronic control vehicle x 2 *UAZ-469 small military car x 1 *KP-130 field kitchen x 2 *

ZIL-157 The ZIL-157 is a general-purpose -ton 6×6 truck, produced at the Lichachev plant in the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1977, when production was transferred to the Amur plant, since the Lichachev plant wanted to focus more on modern trucks, such as ...

KG transport truck x 2 *ATZ-4-131 fuel vehicle x 4

Combat use

Libya – It has been rumoured that R-17s were fired by loyalist forces against rebels in the

2011 Libyan civil war The First Libyan Civil War was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were seeking to oust his government. It erupted with the Liby ...

during the first phase of the war. On 14 August 2011 a confirmed R-17 launch was detected by a US

Aegis The aegis ( ; grc, αἰγίς ''aigís''), as stated in the ''Iliad'', is a device carried by Athena and Zeus, variously interpreted as an animal skin or a shield and sometimes featuring the head of a Gorgon. There may be a connection with a d ...

destroyer, with the missile fired from

Sirte Sirte (; ar, سِرْت, ), also spelled Sirt, Surt, Sert or Syrte, is a city in Libya. It is located south of the Gulf of Sirte, between Tripoli and Benghazi. It is famously known for its battles, ethnic groups, and loyalty to Muammar G ...

and heading toward rebel positions in Ajdabiya. The missile fell 80 km off target in the middle of the desert, inflicting no damage. Eight days later, on August 22, three more R-17 launches were detected by NATO.

Specifications

* Range – 300 km, * CEP – 500–900 m * Type of fuel – liquid * Preparation time – 1 hour * Period of storage – 19 years (in stock), 6 month (in combat condition) * Flight time – 15 minutes

References