The RPK-2 Vyuga (, ''

blizzard A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling ...

''; NATO reporting name: SS-N-15 Starfish), also designated as 81R, is a

Soviet 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 nation ...

submarine-launched, nuclear-armed

anti-submarine missile An anti-submarine missile is a standoff anti-submarine weapon. Often a variant of anti-ship missile designs, an anti-submarine systems typically use a jet or rocket engine, to deliver an explosive warhead aimed directly at a submarine, a depth c ...

system, launched exclusively through

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s. The system was designed in Sverdlovsk,

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

in the 1960s. Analogous to the

SUBROC The UUM-44 SUBROC (SUBmarine ROCket) was a type of submarine-launched rocket deployed by the United States Navy as an anti-submarine weapon. It carried a 250 kiloton thermonuclear warhead configured as a nuclear depth bomb. Development SUBROC ...

missile previously used by the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, it is designed to be fired from a 533 mm torpedo tube. It is boosted by a choice of mechanisms depending on model before clearing the water, firing a solid fuel rocket and delivering its payload up to away. The payload ranges from a simple depth charge to a 200 kt

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 ...

Design

The RPK-2 uses a 82R

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

or 90R nuclear depth charge in the 533 mm version, and a 83R torpedo carrying or 86R nuclear depth charge in 650 mm version. Both submarine- and surface-launched versions exist. The surface-launched versions are used by the , , and classes. The submarine-launched versions are used by the , , , , , and classes. However, the munition package used in either is identical and hence the ship-launched version is launched into the water and submerges before firing its engines.

Operators

; ;

External links

Encyclopedia Astronautica

Cold War submarine-launched cruise missiles of the Soviet Union RPK-002 Anti-submarine missiles Military equipment introduced in the 1960s {{Missile-stub

Design

Operators

See also

External links