| R-14 | ||
The R-14, with a range of 3600 km, was the only missile of that range class to be fielded. A key element in the Cuba missile crisis, it thereafter was part of the nuclear deterrent targeted at NATO and China. Built in relatively limited numbers by Soviet standards, it was perhaps more important as the basis for the first stage of the R-16 ICBM and the Kosmos-3 launch vehicle. The latter continued in use into the 21st Century. A government decree of 2 July 1958 directed development of a new IRBM with 4000 km range, with trials to begin in April 1960. This would become possible due to 15 years of research by Glushko on use of UDMH as a fuel. This research indicated that UDMH would provide 6 to 8 seconds better specific impulse than kerosene-based fuels. Production processes were developed at the Leningrad State Institute of Applied Chemistry (GIPKh) with production of factory quantitities set for the early 1960's. The draft project was completed in December 1958. First tests of the new rocket engine began at Zagorsk on 28 March 1960. Flight trials of the complete missile and its 8S224 launch complex from Kapustin Yar began on 6 June 1960 and were completed on 15 February 1961. These included tests with a variety of warheads with the impact zone being near Bratsk. Barmin at Spetsmash designed the truck launcher. Production of the missile was done at both Factory 586 in Dnepropetrovsk and Factory 1001 in Krasnoyarsk. The RD-216 engine was built only at Factory 586. In 1962 design responsibility for future versions and the complete drawing package was handed over to Reshetnev at Krasnoyarsk KB-10 (later NPO Applied Mechanics). He further subcontracted it to PO Polyot in Omsk, where the Chief Constructor was A S Klinyshkov. Production of later versions was therefore accomplished at Aviation Factory 166 in Omsk. The system was accepted by the military on 24 April 1961 and the first division with 4 launchers entered service on 31 December of the same year. The first regiment was organised a day later, and by the end of 1962 two regiments were fully operational in the Ukraine and Latvia. An R-14 regiment consisted of two divisions, with eight launchers total. The long-range missiles were targeted on Thor and Jupiter missile launchers and Polaris bases in Turkey, Italy, Spain, and Britain. The missile had a guaranteed storage life of 30 days in fuelled condition, and a reaction time of two hours from a launch go-ahead. From 5 to 8 September 1962 seven R-14's were launched with live nuclear warheads from Yasnaya near Chita to Novaya Zemlya in Operation Tyulin. In parallel with this the new rocket was being secretly deployed to Cuba. Two regiments with 16 R-14 launchers joined 3 regiments of R-12's on the island. The missiles were returned to the Soviet Union in the agreement reached to end the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. A missile forces veteran remembers that the R-12 and R-14 were deployed primarily on surface launch pads. By the 1970's one mobile regiment consisted of 3 control units and 4 to 5 launchers. While he was in service he visited at least 15 launch sites: Sovietsk, Gvardeisk, and Znamensk in the Kaliningrad enclave; Taurage and Ukmerge in Lithuania, Elgava and Dobele in Latvia, and Postavy and Lida in Belorussia. His own regiment in Priekule, Latvia had 6 silo-based R-14's and 3 R-14 on surface pads. While both the R-12 and R-14 used AK-27I oxidizer, the R-12 fuel was called Samin, and the one used in R-14 Heptyl. Both missiles used the same SP6 surface launch pad complex. According to the veteran, his regiment was the last which was armed with the missile, which was withdrawn from service in the middle of 1984. Offical histories indicate that the last R-14 IRBM was withdrawn from service in 1987. A variant of the missile with experimental STK 'grid' stabilisers designed by NII-888 was test launched in 1962-1963. The modification allowed launches at up to 45 degrees from the vertical, but was not adopted for any production version. Other derivatives of the missile included the Vertikal-4 sounding rocket and a number of space launch vehicle variants (8K65S, 8K65SM, Kosmos-3 11K65, Kosmos-3M 11K65M). The R-14 also had many similarities to the first stage of the R-16 ICBM, which was developed concurrently. Reshetnev also developed the K65M-P version for reentry vehicle tests, and the K65M-R version for launches from the experimental launch complex 11P865M, developed by KBTM Moscow for LC-107 at Kapustin Yar. Manufacturer: OKB-586. Launches: 30. First Launch Date: 1959-09-30. Last Launch Date: 1983-01-01. Launch data is: incomplete. Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Liftoff Thrust: 1,480.000 kN (332,710 lbf). Total Mass: 86,300 kg (190,200 lb). Core Diameter: 2.44 m (8.00 ft). Total Length: 24.39 m (80.01 ft). Span: 2.74 m (8.98 ft). Standard warhead mass: 680 kg (1,490 lb). Maximum range: 3,700 km (2,200 mi). Number Standard Warheads: 1. Standard warhead yield: 1,000 KT. Standard warhead CEP: 1.13 km (0.70 mi). Boost Propulsion: Storable liquid rocket, IRFNA/UDMH. Boost engine: RD-216. Guidance: Inertial. Model: R-14U. IOC: 1960. Family: R-14. Country: Russia. Department of Defence Designation: SS-5 Mod 2. ASCC Reporting Name: Skean. Article Number: 8K65U. Manufacturer's Designation: R-14U. Launch System: Chusovaya. Complex: 8K65U. Universal version, for pad-launch or from silo complex 'Chusovaya'. Development of the modernised R-14U (universal) version, which could also be launched from 'Chusovaya' complex silos, was authorised on 30 May 1960. The authority to design the silo was issued two weeks later. The first test launch from a surface pad was conducted on 12 January 1962, followed by a series of launches from the silos from 11 February 1962 to October 1963. In the silo-launched version, each regiment consisted of two divisions, each division being a single emplacement with a technical point and three silos. The launch complex was designed by TsKB TM under the direction of Nikolai Krivoshein. The hardened command and control technical point was modified from that for the R-12U, with each silo placed at least 100 m from the other about the technical point. Each silo was 30 m deep, had an inner diameter of 4.0 to 4.5 m, and was hardened to withstand overpressures of 2 kg/cm2. The silo design was accepted for military service on 15 June 1963. The first R-14U silo division became operational at Priekule, Latvia in 1964. Further complexes were at Nerchinsk and Yasnaya in the far east, Dzhambul in Kazakhstan, Glukhov and Belokorovichi in the Ukraine, and Karmelaya in Lithuania. By 1965 a total of 97 R-14 and R-14U test or operational verification launches had been conducted, and around 100 mobile and silo launchers were operational. The R-14U, in mixed deployment with mobile launchers, was retired in the late 1970's. Manufacturer: Yangel. Liftoff Thrust: 1,480.000 kN (332,710 lbf). Total Mass: 86,400 kg (190,400 lb). Core Diameter: 2.40 m (7.80 ft). Total Length: 24.40 m (80.00 ft). Maximum range: 4,000 km (2,400 mi). Model: Vertikal-4. Year: 1973. Family: R-14. Country: Russia. Status: Out of production. Article Number: K65UP. Popular Name: Vertikal. Soviet sounding rocket, based on the R-14 IRBM.
Manufacturer: Polyot. Apogee: 1,500 km (900 mi). Liftoff Thrust: 1,485.000 kN (333,841 lbf). Total Mass: 90,000 kg (198,000 lb). Core Diameter: 2.40 m (7.80 ft). Total Length: 27.60 m (90.50 ft). R-14 Chronology 1958 July 2 - Launch Vehicle: R-14, R-7A.
Bibliography and Further Reading
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