Russian Defensive/Offencive/Reconnaissance Weapons, page
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Topic started on 15-9-2004 @ 11:10 PM by titus

The Soviet Challenge In Space: Illustrating The Threat

When forming national security policy or conducting foreign affairs during times of peace as well as war, our leaders need to know the military capabilities and intentions of other nations. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) serves as the nation's chief collector and producer of foreign military intelligence.

During the Cold War, DIA analysis focused on the Soviet military. One product of this effort was a series of illustrations depicting Soviet weapons systems and advanced technology, which were made for official briefings and publications. The artists and intelligence analysts who created them drew upon eyewitness accounts, photography, overhead reconnaissance, and other sources. Many of the illustrations remain classified.

Most of the 9 paintings displayed here have never been seen in public. They depict Soviet systems in three areas of Cold War competition: offensive weapons, defensive weapons, and reconnaissance.

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OFFENSIVE WEAPONS:

Soviet offensive forces grew dramatically in quality and quantity during the Cold War. These included missiles, submarines, and aircraft capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The United States devoted considerable resources to assessing and countering this threat. Both the United States and the Soviet Union produced thousands of offensive nuclear warheads capable of destroying both countries many times over. Arms control treaties during the last two decades have significantly reduced these nuclear arsenals.



Scud B
The Soviets first deployed the Scud B in the late 1950s. A tactical, mobile, ballistic missile, it could deliver a conventional, nuclear, biological, or chemical warhead to a target about 320 kilometers (200 miles) away. The Soviet Union exported Scud B missiles to its Warsaw Pact allies and to such countries as Iraq, China, and North Korea. The Iraqi use of Scuds during the Gulf War showed the continuing threat posed by these weapons. This illustration was prepared in 1972.



Delta III Submarine
This depiction of the Delta III nuclear-powered submarine was completed shortly after the warship entered service in the late 1970s. A Delta III could fire the nuclear-tipped SS-N-18 Stingray ballistic missile from 16 launch tubes. With a range of 6,500 kilometers (3,900 miles), Stingrays could hit targets in the United States form Soviet home ports or coastal waters. The Delta III is still deployed with the Russian navy today.



Sickle
The deployment of the mobile SS-25 Sickle intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the 1980s made Soviet land-based nuclear forces harder to locate and destroy. As seen in this work from 1986, the missile and support equipment was mounted on massive off-road vehicles that enabled rapid dispersal. The Sickle carried a single nuclear warhead and was about the same size as the U.S. Minuteman ICBM. Post-Soviet Russia continues to deploy this missile.



DEFENSIVE WEAPONS

Beginning in the 1960s, the Soviet Union conducted a substantial research program to develop a defense against ballistic missiles. The Soviets built, and Russia continues to maintain, the world's only operational anti-ballistic missile system. Additional programs focused on the development of other ground- and space-based weapons using laser, particle beam, and kinetic energy technology.


Pushkino ABM Site
The Soviet Union built the world's only operational anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system around Moscow in the 1970s. Beginning in 1980, they improved and expanded this system. Two of these improvements are shown in this 1983 illustration: the silo-based, nuclear-tipped Gazelle interceptor missile and a new large radar intended to control ABM engagements.



Space Laser
Soviet research into ground- and space-based laser weapons systems began in the 1960s. The Soviets actually built several ground-based lasers in the 1980s, which reportedly could destroy or interfere with satellites and aircraft. The space-based laser system envisioned in this 1987 work was designed to destroy or incapacitate satellites and intercontinental ballistic missiles, but it was never built.



Particle Beam Weapon
The Soviets first explored the use of space-based particle beam weapons in the late 1960s. As portrayed in this 1987 illustration, the weapon would have targeted satellite or intercontinental ballistic missiles with high-velocity particle beams. The Soviet Union also studied other space-based directed-energy weapons, including some using laser and kinetic energy technology. None of these types of weapons was ever deployed.



RECONNAISSANCE SYSTEMS

The United States and the Soviet Union used many different reconnaissance systems during the Cold War. Some imaged military targets, others detected radar and radio emissions, and still others intercepted communications. Advances in technology enabled both nations to conduct these missions from the relative safety of space beginning in the 1960s. Soviet systems provided military and political leaders with information on U.S. military forces and developments.



Mandrake
American U-2 overflights of Soviet territory in the late 1950s prompted the Soviet Union to develop its own high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, the Yak-25RD Mandrake, which is depicted in this 1972 illustration. Unlike the U-2, the Soviets designed the Mandrake around an existing airframe, the all-weather Yak-25 interceptor. Carrying cameras and signals intelligence equipment, the Mandrake flew missions in the early 1960s over the Middle East, South Asia, China, and the border regions of NATO nations.



Cosmos 389
This 1982 work shows the Cosmos 389 satellite, which was launched in December 1970 and performed electronic intelligence (ELINT) missions. Cosmos 389 was the first in a series of "ferret" satellites that pinpointed sources of radar and radio emissions to identify air defense sites and command and control centers. Transmitted to ground stations, the data was used for Soviet targeting and war planning.



RORSAT
This Soviet Union placed a series of radar-equipped ocean reconnaissance satellites (RORSATs) in low Earth orbit beginning in 1967. Employing powerful radars and working in pairs, they located and targeted U.S. ships for destruction by Soviet naval forces. Nuclear-powered RORSATs launched in the 1970s occasionally malfunctioned, including one that crashed and spread radioactive debris across northern Canada in 1978.



The Soviet Challenge In Space: Illustrating The Threat

RORSAT Nuclear Satelite


ok, now, what do you think of that?


[edit on 16-9-2004 by titus]
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