35th Rocket Division

The 35th Red Banner Orders of Kutuzov and Aleksandr Nevsky Rocket Division (Russian: 35-я ракетная Краснознамённая, орденов Кутузова и Александра Невского дивизия) is a strategic missile division of the Strategic Rocket Forces of Russia. Part of the 33rd Guards Rocket Army, the division is based in the closed settlement (ZATO) of Sibirsky, near Barnaul, Altai Krai.

35th Missile Red Banner Orders of Kutuzov and Aleksandr Nevsky Division
35th Rocket Division
Active1961–present
Country Soviet Union (1961–1991)
 Russia (1991–present)
Branch Strategic Rocket Forces
TypeRocket division
RoleControl of ICBMs
Part of33rd Guards Rocket Army
LocationSibirsky, Altai Krai
EngagementsWorld War II
Decorations
Commanders
Current
commander
Col. Alexander Prokopenkov

History

A Topol missile under camouflage netting on a transporter-erector launcher of the division during a 2014 exercise

The unit was created in 1942 as 21st Light Artillery Brigade of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command in the settlement of Rublyovo (a part of Moscow). It was part of the 6th Artillery Division of the 5th Army and included the 200th Red Banner Pomeranian, 1171st and 1314th Artillery Regiments. The brigade took part in World War II. Beginning its combat operations near the town of Zhizdra, the brigade passed through Mozyr, Kalinkovichi, Karachev, Gomel, Minsk, Warsaw, Berlin, and ended the war on the River Elbe. The brigade was awarded the Order of Red Banner, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, and the Order of Kutuzov, 2nd class.

After the end of World War II, the brigade was based in the city of Rathenow in East Germany. In July 1945, it received new weaponry and was renamed the 65th Heavy Mortar Brigade.

At the end of June 1960, the brigade was relocated to Prokhladny in the North Caucasus Military District, where it was used to form the 46th Missile Brigade. The brigade included the 178th Missile Regiment (formed in August 1959), the 479th Pomeranian Missile Regiment from late 1960, and the 480th Dresden Missile Regiment.

The brigade was redesignated as the 35th Missile Division in April 1961, inheriting the awards of the brigade, and became part of the 43rd Rocket Army. The first battalion of the 178th Missile Regiment with four R-12 ground launchers became the first unit of the division to go on alert duty on 18 April 1961. During the same year, division headquarters was relocated to Ordzhonikidze. During the Groza strategic exercises on 22 December 1963, under the supervision of the Soviet Minister of Defense, the division conducted its first missile launch from a launch site. The division headquarters was relocated to the village of Oktyabrskoye, North Ossetia in 1967. Between 3 and 8 June 1968, during the Vesenny Grom (Spring Thunder) strategic exercise, the division fired a salvo of missiles for the first time. On 18 July 1974, a training launch of all three missiles of the 3rd battalion of the 480th Missile Regiment was made during an experimental exercise.

In 1982, the division was relocated to Borovikha in Altai Krai, where it became part of the 33rd Guards Rocket Army. From 1984 to 1989, the division was commanded by Colonel-General Nikolay Solovtsov, who from 2001 to 2009 was the Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Rocket Forces. In November 1991, the division was re-equipped with RS-12M Topol intercontinental ballistic missiles, for a total of 36. The rearmament was completed in December 1994.[1]

As of 2013, the division commander was Colonel Sergey Andreyevich Talatynnik.

The division was scheduled to be entirely rearmed with RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles during 2022. The regimental command post and first battalion of the 867th Missile Regiment went on alert duty with the new missiles in December 2021 and were scheduled to be followed by the rest of the regiment in April 2022.[2]

Commanders

Term startTerm endRankName
30 May 196022 July 1961ColonelGrigory Aleksandrovich Ivanov
23 July 196129 October 1966Major GeneralVladimir Nikodimovich Shevtsov
29 October 19662 June 1971Major GeneralNikolay Ivanovich Dryakhlykh
2 June 197120 May 1975Major GeneralVladimir Grigoryevich Gladun
20 May 197528 October 1977Major GeneralAndrey Ivanovich Titarenko
2 September 197731 December 1980ColonelVladimir Alekseyevich Fyodorov
31 December 19807 March 1982Colonel GeneralVladimir Alekseyevich Mikhtyuk
March 1982December 1984ColonelYevgeny Sergeyevich Potapov
December 1984January 1989Colonel GeneralNikolay Solovtsov
January 1989September 1992ColonelVladimir Grigoryevich Vorobyev
September 1992September 1995Major GeneralNikolay Ivanovich Kalinichenko
September 1995December 1998Major GeneralVladimir Petrovich Rozovenko
January 1998October 2002Major GeneralKonstantin Vladichevich Svidersky
December 2002October 2005Major GeneralAleksandr Arkadyevich Baranov
October 2005July 2009Major GeneralSergey Sergeyevich Matveyev
October 2009May 2013Major GeneralRoman Olegovich Nogin
May 2013August 2017ColonelSergey Andreyevich Talatynnik
August 2017January 2022ColonelAlexander Alexandrovich Prokopenkov
January 2022 present Colonel Dmitry Sergeyevich Shiryayev

Equipment

  • Artillery
  • Mortar
  • Missiles:
    • R-12 Dvina medium-range ballistic missile (1961–1981)
    • R-14 Chusovaya medium-range ballistic missile (1963–1982)
    • RSD-10 Pioneer mobile ground medium-range ballistic missile system (retired)
    • RT-2PM Topol intercontinental ballistic missile (1991–2022), rearmament completed December 1994, 36 launchers
    • RS-24 Yars (scheduled by April 2022)[3]

Notes

  1. Composition of the Strategic Missile Forces
  2. "Барнаульская дивизия РВСН полностью перевооружится на комплекс "Ярс" в 2022 году". TASS (in Russian). 20 January 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  3. Kristensen, Hans M.; Korda, Matt (2021). "Russian nuclear weapons, 2021". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 77 (2): 90–108. doi:10.1080/00963402.2021.1885869. ISSN 0096-3402. The next mobile ICBM divisions to be upgraded are the 35th Missile Division at Barnaul and the 7th Missile Division at Vypolsovo. The first regiment at Barnaul (the 479th Guards Missile Regiment) went on preliminary combat alert duty with the Yars in September 2019 and full combat duty in December 2019 (Russian Federation Defense Ministry 2019c). The Barnaul division formally accepted its second Yars regiment (the 480th Missile Regiment) in December 2020 (RIA Novosti 2020). The Strategic Rocket Force is expected to put 13 additional Yars and Avangard systems on alert in 2021 (Russian Federation 2020a); it is expected that a portion of these Yars systems will be used to upgrade the third Barnaul regiment, with upgrades to the fourth regiment following a year or two later (Podvig 2020a).
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