Designed to destroy strategic targets at intercontinental ranges. Adopted for operation by the Navy in 1977. The missile was installed aboard the 667BDR nuclear submarines (16 missiles per submarine).
The missile comprised a number of new technical solutions:
- a warhead with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV) was created;
- possibility to equip the missiles with warheads of different configurations was realized;
- a complete astro-correction system was introduced and the firing accuracy was significantly improved;
- small high-velocity reentry vehicles with low radius of dispersion at atmospheric phase of trajectory.
The R-29R missile has a two-stage configuration, with stages having the same diameter. It has liquid-fuel engines on the 1st and 2nd stages “submerged” in the fuel tanks and a warhead which allows using any of three replaceable warheads (single, with three and with seven reentry vehicles).
At present, as prescribed by Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty 1 (START 1), the missiles carry a three-RV warhead.
The cases of the 1st and 2nd stages consist of wafer-type tank shells made of aluminum-magnesium alloy, a two-layer intermediate and single-layer rear and front bottoms.
The first-stage propulsion system comprises a two-unit engine consisting of a stationary main unit and two gimbaled chambers of the steering system. On the second stage there is a gimbaled single-chamber engine. Pitch and yaw control is provided by swinging the engine in a сorresponding plane, whereas roll control is accomplished by redistribution of the pump turbine exhaust gases through the roll control nozzles. The missile stages are separated by the energy of the 1st stage pressurization gases, and rigid connections between the stages are destroyed by the extended explosive charge. The filling and encapsulation of the missile tanks are made at the factory.
The upper stage of the missile consists of an instrument, engine and warhead sections.
The autonomous inertial control system with the flight trajectory astro-correction equipment is located in the missile nose in a sealed instrument section with an astro-dome jettisoned in flight. Application of the complete astro-correction system which calculates and compensates all the submarine navigation complex errors in determination of both the direction and position of the submarine substantially improved the firing accuracy.
Structurally, the instrument section is divided into two subsections by a sealed bottom. The first subsection houses a three-axis gyrostabilizer with an astro-sighting device. The control system equipment is mounted on a frame without individual shock absorbers for its elements and the frame is attached to the instrument section ring with shock absorbers. Such method of installation of the control system devices allowed to densify their configuration in the instrumentation section.
The engine section of the upper stage includes four-chamber liquid-fuel engine, propellant tanks and a case and provides for individual targeting of each reentry vehicle within a large-radius zone. On the outside surface of the case engine combustion chambers and nozzles are mounted and inside there are propellant tanks shaped as toroid parts. The engine automatic control elements and the steering actuator are arranged in the central part of the section. The engine has an open-loop configuration with a turbine-pump fuel supply system. Pitch and roll control is provided by redistribution of thrusts of the pairs of chambers placed in corresponding stabilization planes.
In the warhead section there are reentry vehicles, a frame, cables and a reentry vehicle fixing- release device. It occupies the area formed by the concave upper bottom of the 2nd stage fuel tank. The reentry vehicles are mounted on the frame and separated in flight by the control system command.
The instrument section containing a control system is replaceable. If necessary, the reentry vehicles and instrument section can be replaced without unloading the missile from the launch tube. The missiles can be launched from a submerged and surfaced submarine.
| Basic characteristics |
| Mass, t: |
|
| Maximum firing range |
intercontinental |
| Warhead |
single and MIRVed |
| Number of re-entry vehicles. |
3 |
| Control system |
astroinertial |
| Number of stages |
2 |
| Missile length, m |
14.1 |
| Missile diameter, m |
1.8 |
| Propellant |
liquid |
 |
