SATAN IS BACK!

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-12-23 08:22am

Linka

ISN SECURITY WATCH (22/12/04) - For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia's Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN) has successfully test-fired on Russian territory a heavy intercontinental ballistic missile RS-20V Voevoda, classified by NATO as the SS-18 Satan. The RS-20, the heaviest in the inventory of the Russia's strategic nuclear forces, was fired today from a silo in the Urals Mountains and hit its target at the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East, more than 6’000 kilometers away. RVSN's spokesman told RIA Novosti news agency today that the test was the first in a series that RVSN has planned under orders from President Vladimir Putin to boost the effectiveness of the deployment of the Russian nuclear potential. After a thorough examination of the test-fire results, RVSN may decide to prolong the Satan missile deployment span for another year. The missiles were produced in the late 1980's. The missile that was fired today had been deployed for combat for 16 years, according to Interfax news agency. It was fired from a missile base Dombarovka in the Orenburg region, some 1’300 kilometers southeast of Moscow. Since 1991, heavy missiles were not fired from bases, as it was believed to be too dangerous. Instead, they were fired from Baikonur spacecraft and missile facilities in Northern Kazakhstan. Satan missile's range is 10’000 kilometers and it can carry 10 warheads and is believed to be able to destroy objects within an area of 500 square kilometers. On Friday, Russia will test-fire a mobile version of the Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk missile base in the northern Arkhangelsk region. An unnamed Defense Ministry official told Interfax that it would be the last test for the mobile Topol-M missile, after which it would be deployed to serve as the chief weapon for Russia's strategic missile forces. The Topol-M system has been deployed in silos since 1998. The missiles can carry up to 1’200 kilograms in warheads and have a range of about 10’000 kilometers. Reportedly able to conduct in-flight maneuvers and to avoid detection and interception, the Topol-M is sometimes presented by the Russian military as Moscow’s response to the US National Missile Defense shield (NMD) program. President Putin has repeatedly called on Russia’s defense forces to boost the country’s strategic nuclear potential. Two months ago, he announced that Russia was developing a new nuclear missile system that no other nuclear-armed nation would possess in the near future. (By Nabi Abdullaev in Moscow)

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-12-23 08:59am

*hands Vympel a box of kleenex and a clean pair ouf underpants.

CJvR · Post by **CJvR** » 2004-12-23 09:19am

SS-18?

Wasn't all those beasts scrapped in the disarmament treaties along with the Peacekeepers?

IIRC one variant carried a 50MT warhead intended to turn Cheyenne mountain into Lake Cheyenne, brute force approach - love it.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-12-23 09:57am

Col. Crackpot wrote:*hands Vympel a box of kleenex and a clean pair ouf underpants.

I don't think he's the only one but still....

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2004-12-23 10:17am

IIRC one variant carried a 50MT warhead intended to turn Cheyenne mountain into Lake Cheyenne, brute force approach - love it.

It was 20-25MT actually, making it one of the most powerful warheads deployed operationally: the only bomb ever built that had a yield in the 50MT neigbhorhood was Tsar Bomba.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-12-26 06:59am

SATAN never left, Shep- it's always been "with" us.

And I hate articles using those stupid treaty names for Russian ICBMs. The Russian designator is R-36M (other variants being R-36M2 and R-36UTTh).

I'm more interested in another mobile Topol-M launch. The RVSN is alive and well

Wasn't all those beasts scrapped in the disarmament treaties along with the Peacekeepers?

No, Russia never ratified that. Since SORT has made START II redundant, Russia can keep it's SATAN force for as long as it wishes.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2004-12-26 12:21pm

Vympel wrote:SATAN never left, Shep- it's always been "with" us.

Hmph. I could have told you that.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-12-26 08:15pm

Vympel wrote:SATAN never left, Shep- it's always been "with" us.

First launch since 1991.....

And I love the phraseology, "stood ready for combat", that's a fun way of
defining "The End of The World As We Know It"

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2004-12-27 08:28pm

Vympel wrote:The RVSN is alive and well

It celebrated a jubilee recently

had a big program about it and everything nukey on TV.

There was a funny thing mentioned - Nixon asked the USSR leadership to destroy just ONE Satan, if possible, when he knew of the missile. Satans weren't anywhere near to be fully scrapped, although some of them really were by the OSV-2 protocol. During the disarming Russia demonstratively scrapped a Satan in front of the US inspection.

Right now the scrapping is halted back (no need to explain why).

Ma Deuce

Ma Deuce wrote:the only bomb ever built that had a yield in the 50MT neigbhorhood was Tsar Bomba.

It's not the "Tzar bomba", it's "kuzkina mat'" (kuzka's mother in Russian, a fraseologism). Krushev promised to "show kuzkina mat" to the States, and he fully fullfilled the promise.
The experimental 50 MT yield weighed 27 tons, and was exploded 4 km high over the Novaya Zemlya 11:32 30th of October, 1961 (Moscow time).

The "Kuzkina mat" assebled:

The energy released was 2*10^17 J.
Radius of total destruction - 25 km.

It was the biggest, and the baddest bomb ever

never mass produced - made for Krushev to "make a point", the bomb was a manifest to the USSR's ability to produce thermonuclear weapons of unlimited power.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-12-27 08:32pm

The funnny thing about the nova zemelya bomb is that with the third stage active, the Russians didn't have a plane fast enough to escape the blast. Silly Kruschev and his atomic wanking.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-12-27 09:25pm

That's why it had the largest parachute ever made. Silly russians NOTHING!

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-12-27 09:31pm

Bah, the mighty BUFF SWARM shall defeat PVO with nuclear hellfire.

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2004-12-27 10:30pm

Stas Bush wrote:There was a funny thing mentioned - Nixon asked the USSR leadership to destroy just ONE Satan, if possible, when he knew of the missile.

The SS-18's were really overrated by the West during the Cold War (not the only Soviet weapon to suffer that phenomemen, the MiG-25 and the Alfa SSN being two other examples): Despite their awesome destructive power against hardened targets, it's not like the SS-18s could realisticly hope to catch the Minuteman fleet on the ground, given that SAC's BMEWS network gave at least 15 minutes warning of a Soviet launch, and the Minutemans could be aloft less than 5 minutes after a Soviet ICBM attack was confirmed. Also there was still the USN's SSBN fleet, whose main selling point is immunity to nuclear first strike or counterattack...

CaptianChewbacca wrote:That's why it had the largest parachute ever made. Silly russians NOTHING!

A parachute so huge, it actually created a nylon shortage in the USSR...

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-12-27 11:42pm

Ma Deuce wrote:The SS-18's were really overrated by the West during the Cold War (not the only Soviet weapon to suffer that phenomemen, the MiG-25 and the Alfa SSN being two other examples): Despite their awesome destructive power against hardened targets, it's not like the SS-18s could realisticly hope to catch the Minuteman fleet on the ground, given that SAC's BMEWS network gave at least 15 minutes warning of a Soviet launch, and the Minutemans could be aloft less than 5 minutes after a Soviet ICBM attack was confirmed. Also there was still the USN's SSBN fleet, whose main selling point is immunity to nuclear first strike or counterattack...

As a note, confirmation of a nuclear attack == nuclear event occuring. Apparently nobody wants to risk launch-on-warning.

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2004-12-28 12:37am

As a note, confirmation of a nuclear attack == nuclear event occuring. Apparently nobody wants to risk launch-on-warning.

And how long would confirmation have taken?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-12-28 02:02am

No idea how long it would take to confirm but I doubt very long at all. At that point they can press the button.

kheegster · Post by **kheegster** » 2004-12-28 04:21am

Col. Crackpot wrote:The funnny thing about the nova zemelya bomb is that with the third stage active, the Russians didn't have a plane fast enough to escape the blast. Silly Kruschev and his atomic wanking.

Yes....apparently it was capable of a maximum of 100MT.

Now THAT would have been a blast. As it is, the 50MT blast contributed an amount of fallout equivalent to 25% of all previous tests.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-12-28 08:31am

phongn wrote:As a note, confirmation of a nuclear attack == nuclear event occuring. Apparently nobody wants to risk launch-on-warning.

Lets be serious, If I'm seeing hundreds of missile tracks on my screen,
and I call up Britain and Norway, along with Japan, and they're also seeing
missile tracks on their totally separate systems, LOW time.

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2004-12-28 01:07pm

As it is, the 50MT blast contributed an amount of fallout equivalent to 25% of all previous tests.

Actually, that would have only happened if they had installed the third stage (the uranium fusion tamper) to the bomb, making it a 100mt device (they simply put a lead weight in place of the 3rd stage , because they were absolutely certain it would work anyway). Since it didn't have a uranium fusion tamper when exploded, the detonation was actually one of the "cleanest" nuke tests in history, with minimal fallout and virtually no lasting contamination at the blast site