R-29RM Shtil
SS-N-23 | |
---|---|
Type | Strategic SLBM |
Service history | |
In service | since 1986 |
Used by | Soviet Union / Russia |
Production history | |
Designer | Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau |
Manufacturer | Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant |
Specifications | |
Weight | 40.3 tonnes |
Length | 14.8 metres |
Diameter | 1.9 m |
Warhead | 4 |
Blast yield | 100 kt each |
| |
Engine | three-stage liquid-propellant rocket |
Operational range | 8,300 kilometres (5,200 mi) |
Guidance system | Astroinertial |
The R-29RM Shtil[1] (NATO designation SS-N-23 Skiff) is a liquid propellant, submarine-launched ballistic missile in use by the Russian Navy. It has the alternate Russian designations RSM-54 and 3M27.[2] It is designed to be launched from the Delta IV submarine, each of which is capable of carrying 16 missiles.
Operation Behemoth
On 6 August 1991 at 21:09 Novomoskovsk, under the command of Captain Second Rank Sergey Yegorov, became the world's only submarine to successfully launch an all-missile salvo, launching 16 R-29RM (RSM-54) ballistic missiles of total weight of almost 700 tons in 244 seconds (operation code name "Behemoth-2"). The first and the last missiles hit their targets successfully, while the others were self-destroyed in the air according to the plan.
Previously, the largest number of missiles launched from a submerged SSBN was four Trident II missiles.
Performance
The R-29RM carries four 100 kiloton warheads and has a range of about 8,500 kilometres (5,300 mi).[3]
End of service
The last boat with R-29RM, K-51 Verkhoturye, went into overhaul for rearming with successor missile R-29RMU Sineva, which had entered service in 2007, on 23 August 2010.[4]
Operators
- Soviet Union
- Russia
References
External links
- CSIS Missile Threat SS-N-23
- IDB RSM-54 (R-29RM) 3M37, SS-N-23 "Skiff" (Russian)
- Russian nuclear delivery systems at the Center for Defense Information