| Ракетные войска стратегического назначения Raketnye voyska strategicheskogo naznacheniya Strategic Missile Troops |
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SRF emblem and flag |
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| Active | December 17, 1959 - present |
| Country | Russian Federation (earlier - Soviet Union) |
| Role | Strategic deterrence |
| Garrison/HQ | Вла́сиха (Одинцово-10), 2.5 km northwest of Odintsovo, Moscow Oblast |
| Anniversaries | December 17 |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Lieutenant General Sergei Viktorovich Karakayev[1] |
The Strategic Missile Troops or Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or RVSN RF (Russian: Ракетные войска стратегического назначения Российской Федерации (РВСН РФ), transliteration: Raketnye voyska strategicheskogo naznacheniya Rossiyskoy Federatsii, literally Missile Troops of Strategic Designation of the Russian Federation) are a military branch of the Russian Military that controls Russia's land-based ICBMs. The RVSN was first formed in the Soviet Armed Forces, and when the USSR collapsed in 1990-1991, it effectively changed its name from the Soviet to the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces.
The Strategic Rocket Forces were created on December 17, 1959 as the main Soviet force used for attacking an enemy's offensive nuclear weapons, military facilities, and industrial infrastructure.[2] They operated all Soviet ground-based intercontinental, intermediate-range, and medium-range nuclear missiles with ranges over 1,000 kilometers.
Similar organizations in other nations include United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM), and the 2nd Artillery Corps in China. Complementary strategic forces within Russia are the Long Range Aviation and the Russian Navy's ballistic missile submarines.
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The first Soviet rocket study unit was established in July 1946, by redesignating a Soviet Ground Forces Guards Mortar regiment at Berka in East Germany as the 92nd Special-purpose Brigade of the RVGK [Supreme High Command Reserve] (92 BON RVGK).[3] On 18 October 1947 the brigade conducted the first launch of the remanufactured former German A-4 ballistic missile, or R-1, from the Kapustin Yar Range.[4] In the early 1950s the 77th and 90th Brigades were also formed to operate the R-1 (SS-1a Scunner). The 54th and 56th Brigades were formed to conduct test launches of the R-2 (SS-2 Sibling) at Kapustin Yar on 1 June 1952.
From 1959 the Soviets introduced a number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) into service, including the SS-4 'Sandal', the SS-6 'Sapwood' (R-7), the SS-7 'Saddler' (R-16), the SS-8 'Sasin' (R-9A), the SS-8 'Sasin' (R-26), the SS-9 'Scarp' (R-36), and the SS-16 'Sinner' (RT-21), which was possibly never made fully operational. By 1990 all these early types of missiles had been retired from service.
Two rocket armie were formed in 1960. The 43rd Rocket Army and the 50th Rocket Army were formed from the previous 43rd and 50th Air Armies of the Long Range Aviation.
During a test of the R-16 ICBM on 24 October 1960, the test missile exploded on the pad, killing the first commander of the SRF, Chief Marshal of Artillery Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin. This disaster, the details of which were concealed for decades, became known as the Nedelin catastrophe. He was succeeded by Marshal of the Soviet Union Kirill Moskalenko, who in turn was succeeded quickly by Marshal Sergey Biryuzov.[5] Under Marshal Вiryuzov the SRF deployed missiles to Cuba in 1962 as part of Operation Anadyr. 36 R-12 intermediate range ballistic missiles were sent to Cuba, initiating the Cuban Missile Crisis. 43rd Guards Missile Division of 43rd Rocket Army manned the missiles while in Cuba.[6]
Marshal Nikolai Krylov then took over in March 1963 and served until February 1972. During this time French President Charles de Gaulle visited the Strategic Rocket Forces in 1966. Together with NI Krylov, he visited a missile division in Novosibirsk, and then at the invitation of Leonid Brezhnev participated in a demonstration missile launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh SSR. Chief Marshal of Artillery Vladimir Fedorovich Tolubko commanded the SRF from 12.4.72 to 10.7.85. Tolubko emphasised raising the physical fitness standards within the SRF. He was succeeded by General of the Army Yury Pavlovich Maksimov, who commanded from 10.7.85 to 19.8.92.
According to a 1980 TIME Magazine article citing analysts from RAND Corporation, Soviet non-Slavs were generally barred from joining the Strategic Rocket Forces because of suspicions of loyalty of ethnic minorities to the Kremlin.[7]
In 1989 the Strategic Rocket Forces had over 1,400 ICBMs, 300 launch control centers, and twenty-eight missile bases.[8] The SMT also operated SS-20 (RSD-10 Pioneer) intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) and SS-4 medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs). Two-thirds of the road-mobile Soviet SS-20 force was based in the western Soviet Union and was aimed at Western Europe. One-third of the force was located east of the Ural Mountains and was targeted primarily against China. Older SS-4 missiles were deployed at fixed sites in the western Soviet Union. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed in December 1987, called for the elimination of all 553 Soviet SS-20 and SS-4 missiles within three years. As of mid-1989, over 50% of SS-20 and SS-4 missiles had been eliminated.
By 1990 the Soviet Union had seven types of operational ICBMs; about 50% were heavy SS-18 and SS-19 ICBMs, which carried 80% of the country's land-based ICBM warheads. By this time it was also producing new mobile, and hence survivable ICBMs, the SS-24 and SS-25. In 1990, with the SS-4 apparently fully retired, the IISS reported that there were 350 SS-11 'Sego' (UR-100) (Mod 2/3), 60 SS-13 'Savage' (RT-2) still in service in one missile field, 75 SS-17 'Spanker' (UR-100MR) (Mod 3, with 4 MIRV), 308 SS-18s (mostly Mod 4 with 10 MIRV), 320 SS-19 (mostly Mod 3 with 6 MIRV), some 60 SS-24 'Scalpel' (RT-23) (silo and rail-mobile), and some 225 SS-25 (mobile).[9]
Composition of the Strategic Rocket Forces 1960-1991
| Formation | Headquarters Location | Year formed as Corps | Year formed as Army | Year disbanded[5] | Divisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27th Guard Rocket Army | HQ Vladimir, Moscow Military District | 01.09.59 | 1970 | Still active | 7th Guards Rocket Division, 28th Guards Rocket Division, (32 [1]), 54th Guards Rocket Division, 60th Rocket Division |
| 31st Rocket Army | Orenburg, Urals Military District | 05.09.65 | 1970 | Still active | 8th, 13th, 14th, (41), 42nd, 50, 52, (55), 59 |
| 33rd Guards Rocket Army | Omsk, Siberian Military District | 1962 | 1970 | Still active | 23, (34), 35th, 36th Guards, 38, 39th Guards, 57, 62 |
| 43rd Rocket Army[10] | Vinnitsa, Kiev Military District | - | 1960 | 8 May 1996 | 19 (Khmelnitsky), 37th Guards (Lutsk), 43 (Kremenchug), 44 (Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankovsk Oblast, disbanded 31 March 1990. Previously 73rd Engineer Brigade RVGK at Kamyshin.),[11] 46 (Pervomaisk, Mykolaiv Oblast) |
| 50th Rocket Army[12] | Smolensk, Belorussian Military District | - | 1960 | 30 June 1990 | 1988:[5] 7th Guards, 24th Guards (Gvardeysk, Kaliningrad Oblast),[13] 31st Guards (former 83rd Guards Bryansko-Berlinskaya Aviation (Missile) Division, renumbered 1 July 1960), 32nd (Postavy, Vitebsk Oblast), 40th, 49th Guards (Lida, Grodno Oblast, 1963 to 1990), 58th (Karmelava, Lithuania) |
| 53rd Rocket Army[14] | Chita, Transbaikal Military District | 1962 | 8 June 1970 | 16 Sept. 2002 | 1988:[5] 4th Missile Division (Drovyanaya, Chita Oblast),[15] 23rd Guards Missile Division (Kansk, assigned 1983-2002), 27th Rocket Division (Svobodnyy, Amur Oblast), 29th, 36th Guards, 47th Rocket Division (Olovyannaya, Chita Oblast)[16] |
Source: Feskov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A., Golikov, V.I. (2004). The Soviet Army in the Years of the Cold War 1945–91. Tomsk: Tomsk University Publishing House. p. 132. ISBN 5-7511-1819-7. and Holm, Strategic Rocket Forces
Like most of the Russian military, the Strategic Rocket Forces have had limited access to resources for new equipment in the Yeltsin era. However, the Russian government has made a priority of ensuring that the Rocket Forces receive new missiles to phase out older, less-reliable systems, and to incorporate newer capabilities in the face of international threats to the viability of the nuclear deterrent effect provided by their missiles, in particular the development of missile defense systems in the United States.
In 1995, the decree of the President of Russia № 1239 from December 10, 1995 "On establishing the Day of the Strategic Rocket Forces Day and Military Space Forces Day" was promulgated. On 16 July 1997, President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree incorporating the Russian Space Forces and the Space Missile Defence Forces (Russian: Ракетно-космической обороны) into the SMT.[17] In doing so, 'nearly 60' military units and establishments were dissolved. However, four years later, on 1 June 2001, the Russian Space Forces were reformed as a separate branch of service from the SMT.
Minister of Defence Marshal of the Russian Federation Igor Sergeev, a former commander of the SMT from 19.8.92 - 22.5.97, played a major role in assuring funding for his former service.[5] He was succeed by General of the Army Vladimir Nikolavevich Yakovlev, who commanded the SMT from June 1997 until 27 April 2001. Yakovlev was succeeded by Colonel General Nikolay Solovtsov (ru:Соловцов, Николай Евгеньевич), appointed the same day. In early 2009 Solovtsov said that 96% of all Russian ICBMs are ready to be launched within a minute's notice.[18] Solovtsov was dismissed in turn in July–August 2009. Speculation over why Solovtsov was dismissed includes opposition to further cuts in deployed nuclear ballistic missile warheads below the April 2009 figure of 1,500, the fact that he had reached the retirement age of 60, despite that he had recently been extended another year's service, or the failure of the Navy's Bulava missile).[19] After only a year, Lieutenant General Andrey Shvaichenko, appointed on August 3, 2009 by President Dmitry Medvedev, was replaced himself. The current commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces, Lt.-General Sergei Karakayev, was appointed to the post by a presidential decree of 22 June 2010.[1]
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According to Globalsecurity.org, the RSVN main command post is at Kuntsevo in the suburbs of Moscow, with the alternate command post at Kosvinksky Mountain in the Urals.[20]
Female cadets have now started to join the Peter the Great Strategic Rocket Forces Academy.[21] SRF institutes also exist at Serpukhov and Rostov-on-Don. An ICBM test impact range is located in the Far East, the Kura Test Range.
The Strategic Rocket Forces operate four distinct missile systems. The oldest system is the silo-based R-36M2 / SS-18 Satan which carrying ten warheads, last missile will be in service till 2020. The second system is the silo-based UR-100NUTTH / SS-19 Stiletto, last 70 missiles is in service with six warheads each and will be removed till 2017. The most numerous missile in service is the single warhead mobile RT-2PM Topol / SS-25 Sickle which have 171 missiles in service, all of them is planned to decommiss till 2019.[22][23] A new missile entering service is the RT-2UTTH Topol-M / SS-27 Sickle B with single warhead, from which is 49 in silo-based and 19 in mobile modification, some new missiles will be add in future. First upgraded Topol-M called RS-24 Yars which carrying three warheads, was commissioned in 2010 and in July 2011 completing of first mobile regiment with 9 missiles was completed.[24]
The composition of missiles and warheads of the Strategic Rocket Forces previously had to be revealed as part of the START I treaty data exchange. The current (December 2010) order of battle of the forces is as follows:[25]
In 2016 is estimated the 31st Rocket Army will be disbanded. The 42nd RD with RT-2PM will be disbanded, and 13th RD with R-36 will be transferred to the 27th GRA. (Podvig)
The Strategic Rocket Forces have 377 ICBMs able to deliver 1,279 nuclear warheads.The total arsenal of Russia's SMF comprises 377 ICBMs, including 162 SS-25 Topol (Sickle) missiles ,58 R-36 missile,70 UR-100N,72 SS-27 Topol-M missiles and 15 RS-24 with each missile having 3-4 warheads.Total number is 377 missiles as of January 2012.http://warfare.ru/?sf=true
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