R-5 Pobeda

The R-5 Pobeda[3] (Побе́да, "Victory") was a theatre ballistic missile developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The R-5M version was assigned the NATO reporting name SS-3 Shyster and carried the GRAU index 8K51.

R-5
R-5 on display at the Zhytomyr Korolyov Museum
TypeTheatre ballistic missile
Medium-range ballistic missile
Place of originUSSR
Service history
In service21 May 1956 – 1967
Production history
ManufacturerYuzhmash
Specifications
Mass29,100 kg
Length20.75 m
Diameter1.65 m
Wingspan3.452 m
Warhead60 \ 80 kt , 300 kt , 1 Mt (or more) thermonuclear warhead
EngineRD-103M, 8D52
PropellantLiquid (92% Ethanol/water solution & LOX)
Operational
range
1,200 km (750 mi)[1][2]
Guidance
system
inertial guidance plus radio command guidance
Accuracy1.5 km[2]

The R-5 was originally a development of OKB-1 as a single-stage missile with a detachable warhead reentry vehicle. The R-5M was a nuclear armed missile – the first nuclear missile to be deployed by the Soviet Union – with greater payload and weight but better reliability than its predecessor. The R-5M gave the Soviet Union the ability to target many strategic targets in Europe. The R-5M entered service on 21 May 1956 (retired in 1967), and in 1959 was installed at Vogelsang, Zehdenick and Fürstenberg/Havel in East Germany - the first Soviet nuclear missile bases outside the USSR.[4]

By the end of 1956, 24 launchers were deployed, with a final total of 48 produced by the end of 1957; around 200 missiles were built. The R-5M was deployed in brigades of six launchers each or regiments of four launchers each. The basic field unit was a division, each having two batteries with a single launcher. Brigades and regiments had deployments in Kapustin Yar, Kaliningrad, East Germany (from January to September 1959), Volgograd Oblast, Lithuania, the Russian Far East, and Ukraine.[5]

R-5 was additionally an oft-reported alternate designation for the K-5 (missile) air-to-air missile.

In 1958, R-5A rockets were used to launch pairs of dogs to altitudes up to 480 km.[6]

Specification
  • Propellant liquid
  • Range 1,200 kilometres (750 mi)
  • Period of storage after fueling: 1 hour[7]
  • Time of preparation 2.5 hours
  • Guidance: inertial guidance plus radio command guidance
  • Warhead and Yield 60 \ 80 kt, 300 kt, 1 Mt (or more) thermonuclear warhead

Operators
 Soviet Union

See also

References
  1. "Ballistic and cruise missile threat". Defense intelligence ballistic missile analysis committee. 2017.
  2. Podvig, Pavel, ed. (2004). Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. MIT Press. p. 120. ISBN 9780262661812.
  3. "Soviet/Russian missile designations". Johnston's Archive.
  4. Stephen Evans (25 October 2012). "A Soviet missile base in Germany that spy planes never saw". BBC News.
  5. R-5M. Encyclopedia Astronautica.
  6. Harvey, Brian; Zakutnyaya, Olga (2011). Russian Space Probes: Scientific Discoveries and Future Missions. Springer-Praxis. pp. 22–23. ISBN 9781441981493.
  7. "Russian ballistic missiles" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 31 March 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to R-5 (rocket).

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.