RT-21M Pioneer
Encyclopedia
The RSD-10 Pioneer was an intermediate-range ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead
deployed by the Soviet Union
from 1976 to 1988. It carried GRAU
designation 15Zh45. Its NATO reporting name
was SS-20 Saber. It was withdrawn from service under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
.
(SS-16 Sinner) so it was also known as the RT-21M Pioneer. The missile's range was from 600 to 5,000 km initially; the final model had a maximum range of possibly 7,500 km. Initially the missile was fitted with a single 1 Mt
, 1.6 ton warhead, later models could take one warhead or two and from 1980 three MIRV'd 150 kt devices (Pioneer UTTH). The CEP
was also reduced from 550 metres to 150–450 meters. The missile was the first Soviet missile equipped with solid fuel instead of liquid fuel, which meant that it could be launched once the order had given instead of wasting hours doing the dangerous work of pumping the missile with liquid fuel.
states. It entered the development stage in 1966 and a design concept was approved in 1968 and the task given to the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology
and Alexander Nadiradze
. Flight testing began in 1974 and deployment commenced on March 11, 1976, with the first supplied units becoming operational in August of that year. Up to 1986 a total of 48 launch sites, including a site at Pavschino, were equipped with 405 RSD-10 missiles under control of the Strategic Rocket Forces
.
There were several theories as to why the Soviet Union developed the SS-20:
During the 1960s, Soviet missile procurement was dominated by the ideas of Defence Minister, Marshal Andrei Grechko
who was opposed to the idea of nuclear weapons as a weapon of last resort, and planned that if World War III began to begin that conflict with an immediate nuclear strike on the NATO nations. By the early 1970s, Grechko's views had caused opposition within the military and the political leadership, who wanted the Soviet Union to have a second strike capacity in order to prevent a war with the United States from going nuclear immediately as Grechko preferred. More importantly, the increasing influence of Marshal Dmitriy Ustinov
heralded a shift in Soviet thinking about nuclear weapons. Ustinov was a man closely connected with the various Soviet design bureaus, and who generally sided with demands of the design bureaus against the military regarding weapons procurement. The decision to order and introduce the Pioneer in the mid-1970s was in large part due to Ustoinov's wishes to shift military procurement out of the hands of the military into the design bureaus, who in turn pressed for more and varied weapons as a way of increasing orders. The British historian James Cant wrote that it was the triumph of the Soviet version of the military-industrial complex
over the military as regarding weapons procurement that was the most important reason for the Pioneer.
enjoyed in Central Europe a massive conventional superiority over NATO. Soviet leaders assumed that NATO would use Theater Nuclear Forces to stop a massive Warsaw Pact offensive. The RSD-10 provided the Soviet Union with an in-theater "selective" targeting capability that it previously had lacked. The RSD-10 had the capacity to destroy all NATO bases and installations with negligible warning. Thus, the Soviet Union acquired the capability to neutralise NATO's tactical nuclear forces with surgical nuclear strikes
.
In 1979 NATO decided to deploy US Pershing II and Tomahawk
missiles in Western Europe in attempt to counter the RSD-10. In 1979, when the NATO decision was taken, the Soviet Union had 14 (1 operational) SS-20 launch sites.
. Fifteen SS-20 and Pershing II are preserved to commemorate this agreement. One RSD-10 can be seen in the grounds of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Kiev
, Ukraine
, and another is inside the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum at Washington, D.C.
.
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
deployed by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
from 1976 to 1988. It carried GRAU
Grau
Grau is a German word meaning "gray" and a Catalan word meaning "grade". It may refer to:* BAP Almirante Grau , a De Zeven Provinciën class cruiser in service with the Peruvian Navy* Grau Käse, Tyrolean grey cheese...
designation 15Zh45. Its NATO reporting name
NATO reporting name
NATO reporting names are classified code names for military equipment of the Eastern Bloc...
was SS-20 Saber. It was withdrawn from service under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is a 1987 agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union. Signed in Washington, D.C. by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev on December 8, 1987, it was ratified by the United States Senate on May 27, 1988 and...
.
Specifications
The missile was 16.5 m high, 1.79 m in diameter and weighed 37.1 tons. It was based on two solid-fuel fibre-glass clad stages of the RT-21 Temp 2SRT-21 Temp 2S
The RT-21 Temp 2S was a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was assigned the NATO reporting name SS-16 Sinner and carried the industry designation 15Zh42....
(SS-16 Sinner) so it was also known as the RT-21M Pioneer. The missile's range was from 600 to 5,000 km initially; the final model had a maximum range of possibly 7,500 km. Initially the missile was fitted with a single 1 Mt
TNT equivalent
TNT equivalent is a method of quantifying the energy released in explosions. The ton of TNT is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 gigajoules, which is approximately the amount of energy released in the detonation of one ton of TNT...
, 1.6 ton warhead, later models could take one warhead or two and from 1980 three MIRV'd 150 kt devices (Pioneer UTTH). The CEP
Circular error probable
In the military science of ballistics, circular error probable is an intuitive measure of a weapon system's precision...
was also reduced from 550 metres to 150–450 meters. The missile was the first Soviet missile equipped with solid fuel instead of liquid fuel, which meant that it could be launched once the order had given instead of wasting hours doing the dangerous work of pumping the missile with liquid fuel.
Development
It was intended to replace, or augment, the R-12 Dvina (SS-4 Sandal) and R-14 Chusovaya (SS-5 Skean) missiles deployed from 1958 and 1961 respectively in the USSR and Warsaw PactWarsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
states. It entered the development stage in 1966 and a design concept was approved in 1968 and the task given to the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology
Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology
Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology a Russian scientific research institute that was founded on May 13, 1946...
and Alexander Nadiradze
Alexander Nadiradze
Alexander Davidovich Nadiradze was a famous Soviet missile engineer. He was the main designer of the first Soviet mobile ICBM RT-21 Temp 2S , intermediate range ballistic missile RSD-10 Pioneer and RT-2PM Topol...
. Flight testing began in 1974 and deployment commenced on March 11, 1976, with the first supplied units becoming operational in August of that year. Up to 1986 a total of 48 launch sites, including a site at Pavschino, were equipped with 405 RSD-10 missiles under control of the Strategic Rocket Forces
Strategic Rocket Forces
The Strategic Missile Troops or Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or RVSN RF , transliteration: Raketnye voyska strategicheskogo naznacheniya Rossiyskoy Federatsii, literally Missile Troops of Strategic Designation of the Russian Federation) are a military branch of the Russian...
.
There were several theories as to why the Soviet Union developed the SS-20:
- Some in the United States such as Richard PerleRichard PerleRichard Norman Perle is an American political advisor, consultant, and lobbyist who began his career in government, a senior staff member to Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson on the Senate Armed Services Committee in the 1970’s...
saw the SS-20 as a part of a bid for global power on the part of the Soviet Union. - Another popular theory held that the SALTStrategic Arms Limitation TalksThe Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty refers to two rounds of bilateral talks and corresponding international treaties involving the United States and the Soviet Union—the Cold War superpowers—on the issue of armament control. There were two rounds of talks and agreements: SALT I and SALT...
treaties, by placing quantitative limits on long-range missiles, had encouraged the Soviets to place more emphasis on medium-range missiles, which were not covered by SALT. - Another theory held that the SS-20 was the "son" of the failed SS-16 ICBMRT-21 Temp 2SThe RT-21 Temp 2S was a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was assigned the NATO reporting name SS-16 Sinner and carried the industry designation 15Zh42....
project. Following the failure of the SS-16, the Soviets simply used the technology and parts that been developed for the SS-16 for the SS-20. - Others argued that the SS-20 was part of an attempt on the part of the Soviet military to develop a more sophisticated nuclear strategy that did not call for an all out nuclear first strike as soon as World War III began by giving the Soviets a second strike capability that they had previously lacked.
During the 1960s, Soviet missile procurement was dominated by the ideas of Defence Minister, Marshal Andrei Grechko
Andrei Grechko
Andrei Antonovich Grechko was a Soviet general, Marshal of the Soviet Union and Minister of Defense.-Biography:Born in a small town near Rostov-on-Don, the son of Ukrainian peasants, he joined the Red Army in 1919, where he was a part of the legendary “Budyonny Cavalry”...
who was opposed to the idea of nuclear weapons as a weapon of last resort, and planned that if World War III began to begin that conflict with an immediate nuclear strike on the NATO nations. By the early 1970s, Grechko's views had caused opposition within the military and the political leadership, who wanted the Soviet Union to have a second strike capacity in order to prevent a war with the United States from going nuclear immediately as Grechko preferred. More importantly, the increasing influence of Marshal Dmitriy Ustinov
Dmitriy Ustinov
Dmitriy Feodorovich Ustinov was Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union from 1976 until his death.-Early life:Dimitry Feodorovich Ustinov was born in a working-class family in Samara. During the civil war, when hunger became intolerable, his sick father went to Samarkand, leaving Dimitry as head...
heralded a shift in Soviet thinking about nuclear weapons. Ustinov was a man closely connected with the various Soviet design bureaus, and who generally sided with demands of the design bureaus against the military regarding weapons procurement. The decision to order and introduce the Pioneer in the mid-1970s was in large part due to Ustoinov's wishes to shift military procurement out of the hands of the military into the design bureaus, who in turn pressed for more and varied weapons as a way of increasing orders. The British historian James Cant wrote that it was the triumph of the Soviet version of the military-industrial complex
Military-industrial complex
Military–industrial complex , or Military–industrial-congressional complex is a concept commonly used to refer to policy and monetary relationships between legislators, national armed forces, and the industrial sector that supports them...
over the military as regarding weapons procurement that was the most important reason for the Pioneer.
Deployment
The Warsaw PactWarsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
enjoyed in Central Europe a massive conventional superiority over NATO. Soviet leaders assumed that NATO would use Theater Nuclear Forces to stop a massive Warsaw Pact offensive. The RSD-10 provided the Soviet Union with an in-theater "selective" targeting capability that it previously had lacked. The RSD-10 had the capacity to destroy all NATO bases and installations with negligible warning. Thus, the Soviet Union acquired the capability to neutralise NATO's tactical nuclear forces with surgical nuclear strikes
Surgical strike
A surgical strike is a military attack which results in, was intended to result in, or is claimed to have resulted in only damage to the intended legitimate military target, and no or minimal collateral damage to surrounding structures, vehicles, buildings, etc....
.
In 1979 NATO decided to deploy US Pershing II and Tomahawk
BGM-109 Tomahawk
The Tomahawk is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile. Introduced by General Dynamics in the 1970s, it was designed as a medium- to long-range, low-altitude missile that could be launched from a surface platform. It has been improved several times and, by way of corporate divestitures...
missiles in Western Europe in attempt to counter the RSD-10. In 1979, when the NATO decision was taken, the Soviet Union had 14 (1 operational) SS-20 launch sites.
Operators
- 23rd Guards Rocket Division, KanskKanskKansk is a town on the left bank of the Kan River in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Population: It is home to the Kansk air base and is crossed by the Trans-Siberian railroad....
, Krasnoyarsk KraiKrasnoyarsk KraiKrasnoyarsk Krai is a federal subject of Russia . It is the second largest federal subject after the Sakha Republic, and Russia's largest krai, occupying an area of , which is 13% of the country's total territory. The administrative center of the krai is the city of Krasnoyarsk...
, c.1983-1988 - Other rocket divisions
Decommissioning
654 missiles were built in total. These and the 499 associated mobile launchers were destroyed by May 1991 in accordance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces TreatyIntermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is a 1987 agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union. Signed in Washington, D.C. by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev on December 8, 1987, it was ratified by the United States Senate on May 27, 1988 and...
. Fifteen SS-20 and Pershing II are preserved to commemorate this agreement. One RSD-10 can be seen in the grounds of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Kiev
Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Kiev
The National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War is a memorial complex commemorating the German-Soviet War located in the southern outskirts of the Pechersk district of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, on the picturesque hills on the right-bank of the Dnieper River.The museum has moved...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, and another is inside the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum at Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
Reference
- Cant, James "The SS-20 Missile-Why Were You Pointing at Me?" pages 240-253 from Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy edited by Ljubica and Mark Erickson, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004 ISBN 0297849131.