Russian missile defence system ready to fulfil any mission - press service
web site
Moscow, 4 March: The Russian missile defence system is an important part of the Space Troops, the press service of
the Space Troops said in a statement received by Interfax-Military News Agency on Thursday [4 March]. "The missile
defence system of the Space Troops is always combat-ready and capable of fulfilling any mission," the statement
says.
This statement is in connection with the 43rd anniversary of the first launch of a Russian countermissile V-1000.
According to the statement, in addition to missiles proper - all derived from the V-1000 - the missile defence system
also comprises reconnaissance means (Dunay 3U and Don 2N radars) for target detection, tracking and guidance; command
posts, missile silos and an all-encompassing data grid.
The press service said that the Russian missile defence system can perform automatically and by signals from the
early warning missile strike system. It automatically distinguishes between warheads and other (false) targets, jamming
and interference.
On 4 March 1961, the V-1000 countermissile launched from the 10th State Research Training Field hit a Kapustin
Yar-launched R-12 (SS-4 Sandal) missile carrying a mock-up payload of 500 kg. The countermissile's warhead
comprised 16,000 carbide-wolfram core balls, a TNT load and a steel jacket.
The disk-shaped damage area was perpendicular to the axis of the countermissile. The V-1000 created by Petr Grushin,
Fakel Design Bureau, had a speed of 1,000 mps. In 1961 the nuclear version was tested (without the fissionable
material). The test results laid the basis for the A-35 Galosh missile deployed in dozens around Moscow.
According to the press service, Russian designers are at least 25 years ahead of their American counterparts. The
first American experiment on non-nuclear mechanical elimination of a ballistic missile was performed in 1984: a
countermissile launched from the Pacific hit a Minuteman 2 with a mock-up payload.
|
RUSSIA IN FACTS
