On December 27, 2011, at 16:00 MSK (12:00 UTC) the Strategic Rocket Forces successfully launched a UR-100NUTTH/SS-19 missile from a silo launcher at the Baykonur test site. The ministry of defense reported that the launch was used to confirm the current 32 years service life of the missile and to consider extending it to 33 years (I should note that the Rocket Forces already reported extending service life of UR-100NUTTH to 33 years in 2008). The missile was manufactured in 1978 and was deployed in 1979-2009 in Tatishchevo and then in Kozelsk. It was withdrawn from service in 2009.
The report also says that the launch was used "to test the new combat equipment developed to counter missile defense." Accordingly, representatives of the NPO Mashinostoryeniya took part in the launch.
This is not the first time the industry and the Rocket Forces use missile defense as a pretext for developing new systems. No details about the new anti-missile defense system have been released, but it is probably the famous "hypersonic maneuverable warhead" that made quite a bit of news about five years ago, after first reported to be tested in 2004. Development of this warhead apparently continued without much fanfare after that. I know that a test of this system was supposed to happen around October 20-22, 2011, but was cancelled at the last moment because of a problem with the missile. This time the missile seemed to have worked.
It might be something else, though - some reports quote an unnamed source in the General Staff as saying that this kind of new warhead was first successfully tested in 2010 (probably referring to the Topol launch from Kapustin Yar in December 2010). I would doubt that this is the same warhead - the "hypersonic" one seem to be too large for Topol.
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Comments
I agree with you : any real-life maneuverable nuclear reentry vehicle is something large and heavy ! And that's even more true of the advertised concept of this russian weapon, which would actually be better described as a gliding "wave-rider" semi-ballistic terminal vehicle (supposedly able to glide for thousands of km after a ballistic 1st phase and fly below the intercept floor of the exoatmospheric US MD). By the way, such a flight profile requires a very flat ballistic trajectory which wastes a lot of kinetic energy against range, so a powerful booster is even more required...
By the way, this may be a major operational motivation in the move to develop a new heavy ICBM.
My guess is that Russia is also working on more classical concepts of light exo-atmospheric penaids to defeat US MD (these objects probably don't require much flight testing other than to check their jettison from missile bus and deployment). But given the considerable efforts and advances made by the US for decades on sensors and discrimination, finding a workable solution certainly is not easy ! Not to mention a provable one...
Alexander Stukalin
Was this test, the one on December 27th 2011, the “special” warhead you’ve hinted at? If this new warhead fits on an UR-100NUTTH/SS-19 missile, could we infer this project is developing a new warhead package for the future “liquid fueled heavy missile” under development?
I always appreciate your contributions.
Frank Shuler
USA
What I would like to know is if the warhead itself, meaning the actual nuclear weapon is new or is it just the reentry vehicle that is new.