Combat railway missile system of the USSR

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The entire Cold War era is strongly associated with the arms race, which culminated in the 1960s. Indeed, at that time, the opposing superpowers were actively looking for ways to "reach" the opponent through a distance of thousands of kilometers.

Both the United States and the Soviet Union practically simultaneously began to develop a very unusual idea - to create a ghost train that would carry ICBMs. And if in America this idea was quickly abandoned, then the domestic project of the Combat Railway Missile System was so exciting that it was finally closed only two years ago.

In the late 1950s, relations between the United States and the USSR escalated, and both states sought to find as many means as possible to potentially defeat the enemy. The first people who tried to implement the idea of creating a ghost train with missiles in carriages were the Americans.

Just in 1961, the Minuteman ballistic missile was successfully tested, which was going to be used in the development of the BZHRK - a combat railway missile system. And at first this project was reacted with considerable enthusiasm - according to the original plan, at least thirty "special trains" were to be adopted by the United States. However, in the same 1961, the history of the American BZHRK ended - after calculating how much this idea would cost the US budget, it was abandoned in time.

But in the Soviet Union, the idea of "putting on rails" a rocket firmly took root among military engineers. The reason was the active work of intelligence of both countries, as a result of which both the Americans and the Soviets became aware of the location of the launch sites from which missiles could be launched. Initially, they began to "hide" warheads in mines. But even this solution seemed not enough. It was then that Soviet developers decided to create a mobile installation for launching intercontinental missiles.

Interesting fact:there was a problem of using warheads from nuclear mines in real conditions - the fact is that opening the hatch for the further release of the rocket took the same amount of time as its flight took - about eight minutes.

The work on the manufacture of "ballistic weapons on rails" was entrusted to the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. Its head, Vladimir Utkin, took personal supervision of the project, and his brother Alexei supervised the creation of the carrier train.

When choosing a rocket that was supposed to stand on wheels, they stopped at the brainchild of the Yuzhny design bureau RT-23. However, to implement the idea, it needed to be modernized. It took five years. The result of the modifications was the RT-23UTTH rocket. The very same combat railway missile system was completed only in the early 1980s. Moreover, they tried not only over the design, but also over the level of camouflage - according to Novate.ru, even experienced railroad workers could not immediately determine that they were in front of an unusual train.

The first experimental period of operation of the BZHRK was started in 1983, but the tests stretched out for several years. Moreover, in the first year and a half, not a single rocket was launched directly from the train. In addition, at the first start-up there was an “extraordinary situation”: the tests were carried out in severe frosts, and while the installation was being prepared for launch, the hinged cover simply froze to the carriage. To eliminate the problem that arose, the train was again driven into the hangar, where it was located most of the time, and warmed up, and then again taken out to the open area.

Nevertheless, a series of complex tests, carried out in several stages, were successfully completed. The first composition was put into service with the USSR Armed Forces in 1987. In total, 12 BZHRKs were manufactured, which for several years carried out combat duty, continuously moving through the territory of the Soviet Union. "Warheads on rails" remained unique of their kind, which was a separate subject of pride. However, this did not save them from the inglorious end.

The reason was the same Cold War, or rather, its end. The idea of how to "get" America off the agenda of the Russian defense industry, and with it the trains with missiles have lost their former relevance. In the 1990s, the movement of the BZHRK was severely restricted. And at the beginning of the new millennium, they were already actively dismantled - the last train was taken off duty in 2007. Curiously, the idea itself did not go to the margins of history: a few years ago, a project of a new type of BZHRK "Barguzin" was presented, however, due to lack of funding, it was finally closed in 2017.