The MR-UR-100 Sotka was a
MIRV-warhead
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 ...
(ICBM) developed and 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 ...
from 1978 to 1993. The missile was given 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-17 Spanker and was built under the Soviet industry designation 15A15. An alternative designation for the missile is the UR-100MR.
Development
OKB-586
Pivdenne Design Office ( uk, Державне конструкторське бюро «Південне» ім. М. К. Янгеля , lit=State design bureau "Southern", named after M. K. Yangel, translit=Derzhavne konstruktors ...
developed the MR-UR-100 project. The purpose was to develop a
MIRV capable replacement for the existing
UR-100 missiles in service. While designed to fit into existing
UR-100 silos, it still required some modification of existing silos to accommodate the new missile, due to its requirement for a
cold launch
A vertical launching system (VLS) is an advanced system for holding and firing missiles on mobile naval platforms, such as surface ships and submarines. Each vertical launch system consists of a number of ''cells'', which can hold one or mor ...
system.
The development of "modernized
UR-100" was authorized on 19 August 1970 (document No.682-218) and assigned to both
OKB-586
Pivdenne Design Office ( uk, Державне конструкторське бюро «Південне» ім. М. К. Янгеля , lit=State design bureau "Southern", named after M. K. Yangel, translit=Derzhavne konstruktors ...
and TsKBM (builder of
UR-100). The design bureau conducted flight tests from 1971 through 1974. Deployment commenced in December 1978. The more advanced MR-UR-100UTTh version began development in 1979, with flight tests from 1977 through 1979. The new missiles had completely replaced the original version by 1983, at which time the Soviets fielded 270 launchers. From there the number of launchers declined, and by the 1991
START I
START I (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the reduction and the limitation of strategic offensive arms. The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 De ...
Treaty they were down to 76. All were scheduled for dismantling and removed from the inventory.
In fiction
In the historical fiction novel
''The Third World War'', written by
General Sir John Hackett, a warhead from a MR-UR-100 detonates 3500m above
Birmingham, England at 10:30 hours GMT on 20 August 1985. The explosion kills 300,000 people within minutes, with a further 250,000 likely to die in the aftermath.
[''The Third World War'', General Sir John Hackett, Sphere Books, 1978, p371]
Operator
; : The
Strategic Rocket Forces were the only operators of the Sotka.
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-radiat ...
*
List of rockets
References
External links
15A15
MR-UR-100
The MR-UR-100 Sotka was a MIRV-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed and deployed by the Soviet Union from 1978 to 1993. The missile was given the NATO reporting name SS-17 Spanker and was built under the Soviet industry desig ...
Cold War intercontinental ballistic missiles of the Soviet Union
MR-UR-100
The MR-UR-100 Sotka was a MIRV-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed and deployed by the Soviet Union from 1978 to 1993. The missile was given the NATO reporting name SS-17 Spanker and was built under the Soviet industry desig ...
Military equipment introduced in the 1970s
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