Defence & Arms
New Russian Missile Blows Away Competition
By RT, 10 August, 2011
Aug 10, 2011 - 8:18:07 AM

Russia has confirmed the creation of world’s most advanced solid-fuel sea-based nuclear missile with payload capabilities surpassing all others owned by the members of the “nuclear club”.

­By distance/payload ratio, the new missile exceeds any analogues designed in the US, UK, France and China.Russia’s Makeyev Rocket

Design Bureau officially confirmed testing of a new missile with extended functionality and payload, created to be deployed on Project 667 Dolphin strategic nuclear missile carriers.

The new missile is called Liner and it is a deeply modernized version of the RSM-54 Sineva (Azure) missile that has been in service in the Russian Navy since 2007. Project 667 subs carry 16 of them. The first time Liner was tested on May 20 this year by the Ekaterinburg (Project 667 Dolphin) nuclear missile carrier.

The Liner’s payload might vary from six to 12 low – 150 kilotonnes – power warheads or it can deliver four medium-power warheads, which makes it comparable with the American Trident-2 missile that falls within the framework of the New START treaty signed in 2010.

Differently powered and targeted warheads could be combined in a payload of one missile. The new missile also gets advanced capabilities to penetrate existing or perspective ABM shields.

The creation of the Liner allows the prolongation of the service of Project 667 Dolphin submarines to 2030.

There is no more detailed information available on the Liner so far, but its predecessor Sineva weighs 40-tonnes, is 15 meters long and 1.9 meters in diameter, which can be fired in a volley from 55 meters underwater at a speed of up to seven knots. Sineva is fully automatic with celestial correction and are designed to pinpoint difficult targets.

Another Russian rocket design bureau, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, is finishing tests of solid fuel ICBM Bulava (SS-NX-30 by NATO classification), three-stage, solid-propellant missile, which carries 10 hypersonic maneuvering warheads with a payload up to 150 kilotonnes each, at a distance of up to 8,000 kilometers. This missile is designed to arm the new SSBN Borey class.

Experts warn against comparing the Bulava and Liner missiles by the number of warheads, because the missiles are very different. The solid-fuel Bulava was designed after Russia’s Navy took the decision to quit using liquid-fuel missiles in the future because of possible incidents with toxic fuel aboard a submarine – to the prejudice of payload capabilities that the Liner has.

Another plus of solid fuel missiles is their speed from the launch – they are much faster than liquid-fuel missiles, and this feature is particularly valuable in the light of improving anti-missile systems that target launched missiles before they gain the necessary speed.