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RT-21 / SS-16 SINNER

The "Temp-2S" missile was the first attempt to develop a mobile ICBM. that received the western designations SS-X-16 Sinner, According to Western assessments, the SS-16 probably was intended originally for both silo and mobile deployment, using equipment and a basing arrangement comparable to that used with the SS-20. The RT-21/SS-16 intercontinental ballistic missile is a three-stage, tandem, solid-propellant missile with a post-boost vehicle (PBV) operating after third-stage burnout. The SS-16 is 65 feet long and 6 1/2 feet in diameter. Although equipped with the same bus system as the SS-20 mobile missile, the SS-16 was never tested in a MIRV configuration.

The Temp-2S was a three-stage solid-propellant missile with an autonomous inertial guidance/control system. It was started from a transport launch canister. The container was installed on the mobile launcher on a wheel landing gear. With a launching weight of 44 tons the rocket could deliver a payload of 940 kg to a maximum range of 9,000 km according to Russian sources. It carried a single warhead with a yield of 0.65-1.5 Mt and a CEP of 450 m to 1640 m according to Russian sources. The missile was assessed by Western intelligence to be capable of delivering a throw-weight of about 2,100 lb to a range of 5,000 nm, with the PBV providing the capability for an additional range increment of about 500 nm for the 1,000-lb class reentry vehicle known to have been tested. The missile used an inertial guidance system providing a CEP assessed by Western intelligence to be about 0.4 nm.

The development of the missile began with a decree of the Ministerial Council on 10 July 1969. The main developer was the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology under its chief designer A. D. Nadiradzye. The flight tests of the "Temp- 2S" began on 14 March 1972, which was detected by Western intelligence. Through the end of1974 a total of 26 missile launches were conducted on the training site in Plesetsk. The last missile firing that took place in April 1976 ended in failure.

According to Russian sources the SS-16 Temp-2S was not introduced into the operational inventory, although Russian sources affirm that the first two rocket regiments equipped with the "Temp-2S" were put on alert on 21 February 1976. According to Western estimates, the SS-16 was deployed beginning in 1978. According to Western sources, at the time of the signing of the SALT II Treaty in June 1979 as many as 200 missiles had been built, of which as many as 60 were stored on the test training site in Plesetsk. According to Western data by the middle of 1978 as many as 50 missiles could have been deployed in Plesetsk. As of 1983 the American assessment was that available information did not allow a conclusive judgment on whether the Soviets deployed the SS-16, but did indicate probable deployment.

The Soviet Union agreed in SALT II not to produce, test, or deploy ICBMs of the SS-16 type and, in particular, not to produce the SS-16 third stage, the RV or the appropriate device for targeting the RV of that missile. The missile appeared to share a number of components with the Soviet SS-20, an intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM). As the Parties had agreed that land-based launchers of ballistic missiles which are not ICBMs should not be converted into launchers of ICBMs, the United States sought this ban on the SS-16 in order to prevent verification problems which might have arisen if the SS-16 program had gone forward, since in that case distinguishing between SS-16 and SS-20 deployments would have been very difficult. In 1985 the US government determined that somewhat ambiguous evidence indicated that the SS-16 activities at Plesetsk were a probable violation of SALT II, which banned SS-16 deployment.

By 1985 all supporting equipment had been removed from the training sites and the INF-Treaty finally ruled out the deployment of the SS-X-16.

Sources and Resources

• Russian Strategic Nuclear Weapons, Pavel Podvig, ed., IzdAT, Moscow, 1998, 492 pp. (in Russian). Authors: Oleg Bukharin, Timur Kadyshev, Eugene Miasnikov, Pavel Podvig, Igor Sutiagin, Maxim Tarasenko, Boris Zhelesov
• The SALT Handbook, edited by Michael B. Donley
• "A History of Strategic Arms Competition 1945-1972" (U), Volume 3, A Handbook Of Selected Soviet Weapon and Space Systems, United States Air Force, June 1976. pgs 224 and 228

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