115-761: A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War . It was exported widely to both Second and Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name attached to the missile by Western intelligence agencies . The Russian names for the missile are the R-11 (the first version), and the R-17 (later R-300 ) Elbrus (later developments). The name Scud has been widely used to refer to these missiles and
230-931: A Soviet Navy Fleet. From the 1950s to the 1980s the branches ("rods") of the Ground Forces included the Motor Rifle Troops ; the Soviet Airborne Forces , from April 1956 to March 1964; Air Assault Troops ( Airborne Assault Formations of the Ground Forces of the USSR [ ru ] , from 1968 to August 1990); the Tank Troops ; the Rocket Forces and Artillery [ ru ] ( Ракетные войска и артиллерия СССР , from 1961); Army Aviation (see ru:Армейская авиация Российской Федерации ), until December 1990; Signals Troops ;
345-626: A ballistic missile with similar performance to the German V-2 rocket. The R-11 was developed by engineer Viktor Makeev , who was then working in the OKB-1 , headed by Sergey Korolev . It first flew on 18 April 1953, was fitted with an Isayev engine using kerosene and nitric acid as propellant. On 13 December 1953, a production order was passed with SKB-385 in Zlatoust , a factory dedicated to producing long-range rockets. In June 1955, Makeev
460-472: A high amount of military, economic, and political cost. After Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev realized the economic, diplomatic, and human toll the war was placing on the Soviet Union, he announced the withdrawal of six regiment of troops (about 7,000 men) on 28 July 1986. In January 1988 Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze announced that it was hoped that "1988 would be the last year of
575-468: A highly responsive guidance system. The Qiam 1's accuracy is also improved with the addition of a separable warhead. Other changes to the warhead include a "baby-bottle" shape, possibly to increase drag and thus stability during reentry at the expense of range, potentially increasing accuracy. The shape can also increase the terminal velocity of the warhead, making it harder to intercept. Deliveries began in either 2010 or 2011. The missile's first combat use
690-525: A mobile meteorological unit, one tanker and several command and control trucks. During the mujahideen attack against Jalalabad , between March and June 1989, three firing batteries manned by Afghan crews advised by Soviets fired approximately 438 missiles in defense of the embattled garrison. Soon all the heavily contested areas of Afghanistan, such as the Salang Pass and the city of Kandahar , were under attack by Scud missiles. Due to its imprecision,
805-537: A new TEL was designed using an Italian Iveco truck chassis and an Austrian crane. The rapidity with which the Rodong was designed and exported after just two tests came as a surprise for many Western observers, and led to some speculation that it was in fact based on a cancelled Soviet project from the Cold War period, but this has not been proven. Iran is known to have financed much of the Rodong program, and in return
920-703: A new social group known as " Afgantsy ". These men would become influential in popular culture and politics of the time. The extent military districts in 1990 were: From 1985 to 1991, General Secretary Gorbachev attempted to reduce the strain the Soviet Armed Forces placed on the USSR's economy . Gorbachev slowly reduced the size of the Armed Forces, including through a unilateral force reduction announcement of 500,000 in December 1988. A total of 50,000 personnel were to come from Eastern Europe,
1035-661: A nuclear warhead, this was reduced to 150 km. Its purpose was strictly as a mobile nuclear strike vector, giving the Soviet Army the ability to hit European targets from forward areas, armed with a nuclear warhead with an estimated yield of 50 kilotons. A naval variant, the R-11FM (SS-N-1 Scud-A) was first tested in February 1955, and was first launched from a converted Project 611 (Zulu class) submarine in September of
1150-491: A photograph of the target (provided through air reconnaissance) was inserted into a holder. This method was impractical, as the system was only effective in clear weather and it was difficult to take the proper photographs under field conditions. The Soviet artillery troops were not favorable towards the concept due to those limitations. In 1974, the VTO programme was revisited to take advantage of miniaturized computer hardware, where
1265-562: A reduced payload of 450–500 kg (990–1,100 lb) and enlarging the fuel and oxidant tanks along with a slight enlargement of the fuselage. The missile is single-stage and road mobile employing an HE, submunition, chemical, or potentially miniaturized nuclear warhead with a CEP of 3 km (1.9 mi). Its range allows the North Korean military to strike anywhere on the Korean peninsula and threaten areas of Japan . Development of
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#17327795193831380-970: A regional basis, with Soviet soldiers from Russia becoming part of the new Russian Ground Forces , while Soviet soldiers originating from Kazakhstan became part of the new Kazakh Armed Forces . As a result, the bulk of the Soviet Ground Forces, including most of the Scud and Scaleboard surface-to-surface missile (SSM) forces, became incorporated in the Russian Ground Forces . 1992 estimates showed five SSM brigades with 96 missile vehicles in Belarus and 12 SSM brigades with 204 missile vehicles in Ukraine , compared to 24 SSM brigades with over 900 missile vehicles under Russian Ground Forces' control, some in other former Soviet republics. By
1495-426: A series of radical modernization reforms throughout the country. Vigorously suppressing any opposition from among the traditional Muslim Afghans, the government arrested thousands and executed as many as 27,000 political prisoners. By April 1979 large parts of the country were in open rebellion and by December the government had lost control of territory outside of the cities. In response to Afghan government requests,
1610-408: A single liquid-fuel rocket engine burning kerosene and corrosion-inhibited red fuming nitric acid (IRFNA) with unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH, Russian TG-02 like German Tonka 250) as liquid igniter (self-ignition with IRFNA) in all models. The missile reaches a maximum speed of Mach 5. The first of the "Scud" series, designated R-11 (SS-1B Scud-A) originated in a 1951 requirement for
1725-435: A single military or civilian leader in the headquarters complexes. The Soviet Union supplied North Vietnam with medical supplies, arms, tanks, planes, helicopters, artillery, anti-aircraft missiles and other military equipment. Soviet crews fired Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles at U.S. F-4 Phantoms , which were shot down over Thanh Hóa in 1965. Over a dozen Soviet soldiers lost their lives in this conflict. Following
1840-463: A stalemate, and both belligerents began employing terror tactics in order to break the deadlock. Lasting from 29 February to 20 April, this conflict became known as the war of the cities and saw an intensive use of Scud missiles in what became known as the "Scud duel". The first rounds were fired by Iraq, when seven Al-Husseins landed in Tehran on 29 February. In all, Iraq fired 189 missiles, mostly of
1955-684: A tank regiment, for a total of ten motor rifle battalions and six tank battalions; tank divisions had the proportions reversed. The Land Forces Main Command was created for the first time in March 1946. Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov became Chief of the Soviet Ground Forces in March 1946, but was quickly succeeded by Ivan Konev in July 1946. By September 1946, the army decreased from 5 million soldiers to 2.7 million in
2070-552: A tracked transporter erector launcher (TEL) similar to that of the Scud-A, designated 2P19, but this was not successful and a wheeled replacement was designed by the Titan Central Design Bureau, becoming operational in 1967. The new MAZ-543 vehicle was officially designated 9P117 Uragan . The launch sequence could be conducted autonomously, but was usually directed from a separate command vehicle. The missile
2185-739: A whole. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under the command of the Commonwealth of Independent States until it was formally abolished on 14 February 1992. The Soviet Ground Forces were principally succeeded by the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation in Russian territory; beyond, many units and formations were taken over by the post-Soviet states ; some were withdrawn to Russia, and some dissolved amid conflict, notably in
2300-667: Is allowed to produce the missile, as the Shahab-3 . While the first prototypes may have been acquired as early as 1992, production began only in 2001, with assistance from Russia. The Rodong has also been exported to Egypt and Libya. The Hwasong-9 also called the Scud-ER (extended range), is essentially a North Korean modification of the Hwasong-6 that exchanges payload for greater range; estimates range from 700–800 km (430–500 mi) to as much as 995 km (618 mi) through
2415-523: Is less than 300 kilometres (190 mi). Tactical ballistic missiles are usually mobile to ensure survivability and quick deployment, as well as carrying a variety of warheads to target enemy facilities, assembly areas, artillery, and other targets behind the front lines. Warheads can include conventional high explosive, chemical , biological , or nuclear warheads . Typically tactical nuclear weapons are limited in their total yield compared to strategic nuclear weapons . Tactical ballistic missiles fill
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#17327795193832530-585: Is raised to a vertical position by means of hydraulically powered cranes, which usually takes four minutes, while the total sequence lasts about one hour. The Makeyev OKB also worked on an extended-range version of the R-17, known in the West as SS-1d Scud-C, that was first launched from Kapustin Yar in 1965. Its range was brought up to 500–600 km, but at the cost of a greatly reduced accuracy and warhead size. Eventually,
2645-617: Is simply a licensed copy of the Scud-C missile without major changes. The Golan-2 missile is a modernization of the Scud-D, with an increased range of up to 850 km (compared to 700 km for the basic version). Syrian engineers have also converted various versions of Scud missiles (possibly including Golan missiles) to use cluster munitions. Developed and produced in Syria by Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center . The number of missiles produced
2760-647: Is unknown. Used in the Syrian Civil War . The Scud missile family is one of the few ballistic missiles to be extensively used in actual warfare by different forces, second only to the V-2 in terms of combat launches. The first recorded combat use of the Scud was at the end of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, when three missiles were fired by Egypt against Israeli-held Arish and bridgehead on the western bank of
2875-687: The Khatam Al-Anbya force, attached to the Pasdaran . On 12 March, the first Iranian Scuds fell in Baghdad and Kirkuk . The strikes infuriated Saddam Hussein , but the Iraqi response was limited by the range of their Scuds, that could not reach Tehran . After a request for TR-1 Temp (SS-12 Scaleboard) missiles was refused by the Soviets, Iraq turned to developing its own long-range version of
2990-662: The 2003 invasion of Iraq , the government of Saddam Hussein had asserted that Iran fired dozens of Scud missiles at the People's Mujahedin (MKO) in Iraq in 1999 and 2001, with the MKO itself claiming that Iran fired more missiles at Iraq in 2001 than it did during the entire Iran–Iraq War. The most intensive – and less well-known – use of Scud missiles occurred during the civil war in Afghanistan between 1989 and 1992. As compensation for
3105-636: The Caucasus . At the end of World War II the Red Army had over 500 rifle divisions and about a tenth that number of tank formations. Their war experience gave the Soviets such faith in tank forces that the infantry force was cut significantly. A total of 130 rifle divisions were disbanded in the Groups of Forces in Eastern Europe in summer 1945, as well as 2nd Guards Airborne Division , and by
3220-489: The Central Office for South Vietnam , North Vietnam's southern headquarters. Using airspeed and direction, COSVN analysts would calculate the bombing target and tell any assets to move "perpendicularly to the attack trajectory." These advance warnings gave them time to move out of the way of the bombers, and, while the bombing runs caused extensive damage, because of the early warnings from 1968 to 1970 they did not kill
3335-776: The Engineer Troops ; the Air Defence Troops of the Ground Forces ; the Chemical Troops; and the Rear of the Ground Forces. In 1955, the Soviet Union established the Warsaw Pact with its Eastern European socialist allies, solidifying military coordination between Soviet forces and their socialist counterparts. The Ground Forces created and directed the Eastern European armies in its image for
3450-835: The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 . In 1958, Soviet troops were withdrawn from Romania . The Central Group of Forces in Czechoslovakia was established after Warsaw Pact intervention against the Prague Spring of 1968. In 1969, in the far east of the Soviet Union, the Sino-Soviet border conflict (1969) prompted establishment of a 16th military district, the Central Asian Military District, at Alma-Ata , Kazakhstan. From 1947 to 1989, Western intelligence agencies estimated that
3565-586: The Libyan Civil War . They have reportedly been used recently in the ongoing Syrian civil war by the Syrian Army . Iraq was the first to use ballistic missiles during the Iran–Iraq War , firing limited numbers of Frog-7 rockets at the towns of Dezful and Ahvaz . On 27 October 1982, Iraq launched its first Scud-Bs at Dezful killing 21 civilians and wounding 100. Scud strikes continued during
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3680-729: The Ministry of Public Security recruit foreigners within high-level diplomatic circles among the Western-allies of the US, under a clandestine program known as "B12,MM" which produced thousands of high-level documents for nearly a decade, including targets of B-52 strikes. In 1975, the SIGINT services had broken information from Western US-allies in Saigon, determining that the US would not intervene to save South Vietnam from collapse. In 1979,
3795-603: The NKVD in suppressing anti-Soviet resistance in Western Ukraine (1941–1955) and the Forest Brothers in the three Baltic states . Soviet troops, including the 39th Army , remained at Port Arthur and Dalian on the northeast Chinese coast until 1955. Control was then handed over to the new Chinese communist government. Within the Soviet Union, the troops and formations of the Ground Forces were divided among
3910-538: The SS-1d Scud-C in 1965, both of which could carry either a conventional high-explosive, a 5- to 80-kiloton thermonuclear , or a chemical (thickened VX ) warhead. The SS-1e Scud-D variant developed in the 1980s can deliver a terminally guided warhead capable of greater precision. All models are 11.35 m (37.2 ft) long (except Scud-A, which is 1 m (3 ft 3 in) shorter) and 0.88 m (2 ft 11 in) in diameter. They are propelled by
4025-458: The Shahab-2 , and to Syria, where it is manufactured under license with Chinese assistance. Also, according to SIPRI , 150 Scud-C were exported to Syria in 1991–96, 5 to Libya in 1999, 45 to Yemen in 2001–02. The Nodong (also referred as RoDong, Hwasong-7), was the first North Korean missile to feature important modifications from the Scud design. Development began in 1988, and the first missile
4140-682: The Soviet Armed Forces were reduced from about 11.3 million to about 2.8 million men, a demobilisation controlled first, by increasing the number of military districts to 33, then reduced to 21 in 1946. The personnel strength of the Ground Forces was reduced from 9.8 million to 2.4 million. To establish and secure the USSR's eastern European geopolitical interests, Red Army troops who liberated eastern Europe from Nazi rule in 1945 remained in place to secure pro-Soviet régimes in Eastern Europe and to protect against attack from Europe. Elsewhere, they may have assisted
4255-464: The Suez canal . Seven Israeli soldiers were killed. Libya responded to U.S. airstrikes in 1986 by firing two Scud missiles at a U.S. Coast Guard navigation station on the nearby Italian island of Lampedusa , which missed their target. Scud missiles were used in several regional conflicts that included use by Soviet and Afghan Communist forces in Afghanistan, and Iranians and Iraqis against one another in
4370-539: The Taliban arrived in power in 1996, they captured a few of the remaining Scuds, but lack of maintenance had reduced the state of the missile force to such an extent that there were only five Scud firings, until 2001. After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan , the last four surviving Scud launchers were destroyed in 2005. At the outbreak of the Gulf War , Iraq had an effective, if limited, ballistic missile force. Besides
4485-660: The US State Department , the missile was actually an Iranian Qiam 1. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Culture and Information also supplied the Associated Press with pictures from a military briefing of what it claimed were components from the intercepted missile bearing Iranian markings matching those on other pictures of the Qiam 1. The Golan missiles are Syrian modernization and licensed production of Scud missiles (versions B, C and D). The Golan-1 missile
4600-443: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian Federation officials acknowledged that the Soviet Union had stationed up to 3,000 troops in Vietnam during the war. Some Russian sources give more specific numbers: Between 1953 and 1991, the hardware donated by the Soviet Union included 2,000 tanks, 1,700 APCs , 7,000 artillery guns, over 5,000 anti-aircraft guns, 158 surface-to-air missile launchers, and 120 helicopters. During
4715-437: The signals intelligence (SIGINT) capabilities of the North Vietnamese, through an operation known as Vostok (also known as Phương Đông, meaning "Orient" and named after the Vostok 1 ). The Vostok program was a counterintelligence and espionage program. These programs were pivotal in detecting and defeating CIA and South Vietnamese commando teams sent into North Vietnam, as they were detected and captured. The Soviets helped
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4830-416: The 125 factory at Pyongyang , a research and development institute at Sanum-dong and the Musudan-ri Launch Facility. The first prototypes were completed in 1984, and designated Hwasong-5. They were exact replicas of the R-17Es obtained from Egypt. The first test flights occurred in April 1984, but the first version saw only limited production, and no operational deployment, as its purpose was only to validate
4945-547: The 1990s. Unlike previous Scud versions, the 9K720 had a warhead that separated from the missile's body, and was fitted with its own terminal guidance system. With a TV camera fitted in the nose, the system could compare the target area with data from an onboard computer library ( DSMAC ). In this way, it was thought to attain a circular error probable (CEP) of 50 m. North Korea obtained its first Scud-Bs from Egypt in 1979 or 1980. These missiles were reverse engineered , and reproduced using North Korean infrastructure, including
5060-445: The 19–21 August 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt to depose President Gorbachev. Commanders despatched tanks into Moscow, yet the coup failed. On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia , Belarus , and Ukraine formally dissolved the USSR, and then constituted the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Soviet President Gorbachev resigned on 25 December 1991; the next day, the Supreme Soviet dissolved itself, officially dissolving
5175-429: The Al-Hussein type, of which 135 landed in Tehran, 23 in Qom , 22 in Isfahan , four in Tabriz , three in Shiraz and two in Karaj . During this episode, Iraq's missiles killed 2,000 Iranians, injured 6,000, and caused a quarter of Tehran's population of ten million to flee the city. The Iranian response included launching 75 to 77 Hwasong-5s, a North Korean Scud variant, at targets in Iraq, mostly in Baghdad. Prior to
5290-549: The Ground Forces contained about 210 divisions . About three-quarters were motor rifle divisions and the remainder tank divisions. There were also a large number of artillery divisions, separate artillery brigades, engineer formations, and other combat support formations. However, only relatively few formations were fully war ready. By 1983, Soviet divisions were divided into either "Ready" or "Not Ready" categories, each with three subcategories. The internal military districts usually contained only one or two fully Ready divisions, with
5405-465: The Ground Forces. Nonetheless, Soviet forces possessed too few theater-level nuclear weapons to fulfill war-plan requirements until the mid-1980s. The General Staff maintained plans to invade Western Europe whose massive scale was only made publicly available after German researchers gained access to files of the East German National People's Army following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Red Army advanced into northern Korea in 1945 after
5520-427: The Hwasong-9 reportedly began in 1991 and production started in 1994. Deployment began in 2003, intelligence imagery first observed it in 2005, and it was only first revealed publicly in 2007. Reports suggest Syria received Scud-ER missiles in 2000, giving them the ability to target all of Israel and southeastern Turkey , including Ankara . Syria reportedly converted its own Hwasong-6 production line in order to make
5635-424: The Iranian Qiam 1/Scud-C, Iranian Shahab-2/Scud-C , or Scud-D missile. Pictures indicate a "baby bottle" re-entry vehicle , like the Shahab-3 and Qiam 1 missiles. The missile's exact range is unknown, but is greater than 800 kilometres (500 mi). It has been launched in July 2017, and a second launch was claimed on 4 November 2017, with the missile shot down over the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh . According to
5750-415: The Jordanian border, where the Scuds were fired at Israel, and southern Iraq, where they were aimed at Saudi Arabia. A-10 strike aircraft flew over these zones during the day, and F-15Es fitted with LANTIRN pods and synthetic aperture radars patrolled at night. However, the infrared signatures and radar signatures of the Iraqi TELSs were almost impossible to distinguish from ordinary trucks and from
5865-404: The Scud missile, that became known as the Al Hussein . In the meantime, both sides quickly ran out of missiles, and had to contact their international partners for resupply. In 1986, Iraq ordered 300 Scud-Bs from the Soviet Union, while Iran turned to North Korea for missile deliveries and for assistance in developing a domestic missile industry. By 1988 the fighting along the border had reached
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#17327795193835980-485: The Scud was used as an area bombing weapon, and its effect was psychological as well as physical: the missiles would explode without warning, as they travelled faster than the sound they produced in-flight. At the time, reports indicated that Scud attacks had devastating consequences on the morale of the Afghan rebels, who eventually learned that by applying guerilla tactics, and keeping their forces dispersed and hidden, they could minimize casualties from Scud attacks. The Scud
6095-412: The Soviet Ground Forces' strength remained c. 2.8 million to c. 5.3 million men. In 1989 the Ground Forces had two million men. To maintain those numbers, Soviet law required a three-year military service obligation from every able man of military age, until 1967, when the Ground Forces reduced it to a two-year draft obligation. By the 1970s, the change to a two-year system seems to have created
6210-524: The Soviet Union in 1991, a considerable number of weapons were transferred to the national forces of emerging states on the periphery of the former Soviet Union, such as Armenia , Azerbaijan and Tajikistan . Similarly, weapons and other military equipment were also left behind in the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989. Some of these items were sold on the black market or through weapons merchants, whereof, in turn, some ended up in terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda . A 1999 book argued that
6325-407: The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up its puppet government, provoking a 10-year Afghan mujahideen guerrilla resistance. Between 850,000 and 1.5 million civilians were killed and millions of Afghans fled the country as refugees, mostly to Pakistan and Iran . Prior to the arrival of Soviet troops, the pro-Soviet Nur Mohammad Taraki government took power in a 1978 coup and initiated
6440-423: The Soviet Union and from 2 million to 1.5 million in Europe. Four years later the Main Command was disbanded, an organisational gap that "probably was associated in some manner with the Korean War ". The Main Command was reformed in 1955. On February 24, 1964, the Defense Council of the Soviet Union decided to disband the Ground Forces Main Command, with almost the same wording as in 1950 (the corresponding order of
6555-551: The Soviet Union to support Korea's growth directly. When northern Korea eventually wished to invade South Korea in 1950, Kim Il Sung traveled to Moscow to gain approval from Stalin. It was granted with full support, leading to the full-scale invasion of South Korea on June 25. Soviet ships in the South China Sea gave vital early warnings to PAVN/VC forces in South Vietnam. The Soviet intelligence ships would pick up American B-52 bombers flying from Okinawa and Guam . Their airspeed and direction would be noted and then relayed to
6670-414: The Soviet government under leader Leonid Brezhnev first sent covert troops to advise and support the Afghan government, but, on December 24, 1979, began the first deployment of the 40th Army . Arriving in the capital Kabul on December 27, they staged a coup , killing the president Hafizullah Amin , and installing a rival socialist Babrak Karmal , who was viewed as more moderate and fit to lead
6785-538: The Soviet official newspaper of record . First, the combined arms formations, divisions and armies, would be reorganised, and as a result division numbers would be reduced almost by half; second, tank regiments would be removed from all the motor rifle (mechanised infantry) divisions in East Germany and Czechoslovakia, and tank divisions would also lose a tank regiment; air assault and river crossing units would be removed from both Eastern Germany and Czechoslovakia; fourth, defensive systems and units would rise in number under
6900-407: The Soviet troops stay"; the forces pulled out in the bitter winter cold of January–February 1989. The cost for the military due to the war is estimated to have been roughly 15 billion rubles in 1989. The combat casualties estimates at 30,000–35,000. During 1984–1985, more than 300 aircraft were lost, and thus a significant military cost of the war is attributed to air operations. Since the first year,
7015-458: The Soviet-made Scud-B missiles the Houthi forces took control of in 2015. Missiles shot down mid-flight in October 2016 and July 2017 were claimed to target the holy city of Mecca by Saudi Arabia, while the Houthis claimed the targets were airports in the region. The Houthi forces in Yemen unveiled the Burkan 2-H (also spelled as Borkan H2 and Burqan 2H ) when it was launched at Saudi Arabia on 22 July 2017. Analysts identify it as based on
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#17327795193837130-443: The USSR Minister of Defense on disbandment was signed on March 7, 1964). Its functions were transferred to the General Staff, while the chiefs of the combat arms and specialised forces came under the direct command of the Minister of Defence . The Main Command was then recreated again in November 1967. Army General Ivan Pavlovsky was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Ground Forces with effect from 5 November 1967. From 1945 to 1948,
7245-479: The USSR on 26 December 1991. During the next 18 months, inter-republican political efforts to transform the Army of the Soviet Union into the CIS Armed Forces failed; eventually, the forces stationed in the republics formally became the militaries of the respective republican governments. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union , the Ground Forces dissolved and the fifteen Soviet successor states divided their assets among themselves. The divide mostly occurred along
7360-440: The advent of more modern types in the same category, such as the TR-1 Temp (SS-12 Scaleboard), made the Scud-C redundant, and it apparently did not enter service with the Soviet armed forces. The R-17 VTO (SS-1e Scud-D) project was an attempt to enhance the accuracy of the R-17. The Central Scientific Research Institute for Automation and Hydraulics (TsNIAAG) began work on the project in 1967, using an optical guidance system where
7475-535: The battlefield. For many nations, tactical missiles represent the upper limit of their land-based military equipment. They can provide a powerful weapon for a very economical price, and in some cases are sought to help level the playing field against opponents who are superior in other areas of military technology. Currently, tactical ballistic missile technology remains within reach for nations that may face difficulties in obtaining other advanced military technologies. Ballistic missiles are still difficult to defeat on
7590-472: The battlefield. Newer air defense systems have improved ability to intercept tactical missiles, but still can not reliably protect assets against ballistic missile threats. This allows a moderate force of missiles to threaten a superior enemy by penetrating their air defenses better than with conventional aircraft, while providing a deeper strike than conventional artillery. Early large rockets and missiles were propelled by liquid-propellant rocket engines , as
7705-444: The changes implicit in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty began to create more disruption. The withdrawals became extremely chaotic; there was significant hardship for officers and their families, and "large numbers of weapons and vast stocks of equipment simply disappeared through theft, misappropriation and the black market." In February 1989, Defence Minister Dmitri Yazov outlined five major planned changes in Izvestiya ,
7820-419: The coalition deaths outside Iraq and Kuwait. Of a total 88 Scud missiles, 46 were fired into Saudi Arabia and 42 into Israel. Twenty-eight members of the Pennsylvania National Guard were killed when a Scud struck a United States Army barracks in Dhahran , Saudi Arabia. The United States Air Force organized air patrols over areas where Scud launchers were suspected to operate, namely western Iraq near
7935-400: The dimensions are identical to the original Scud. Due to difficulties in procuring MAZ-543 TELs, the North Koreans had to produce a local copy. By 1999, North Korea was estimated to have produced 600 to 1,000 Hwasong-6 missiles, of which 25 served for testing, 300 to 500 were exported, and 300 to 600 are used by the Korean People's Army . The Hwasong-6 was exported to Iran where it is known as
8050-430: The end of World War II , with the intention of aiding in the process of rebuilding the country. Marshals Kirill Meretskov and Terentii Shtykov explained to Joseph Stalin the necessity of Soviet help in building infrastructure and industry in northern Korea. Additionally, the Soviets aided in the creation of the North Korean People's Army and Korean People's Air Force . The Soviets believed it would be strategic to
8165-414: The end of 1946, another 193 rifle divisions ceased to exist. Five or more rifle divisions disbanded contributed to the formation of NKVD convoy divisions, some used for escorting Japanese prisoners of war . The Tank Corps of the late war period were converted to tank divisions, and from 1957 the rifle divisions were converted to motor rifle divisions (MRDs). MRDs had three motorized rifle regiments and
8280-517: The end of 1992, most remnants of the Soviet Army in former Soviet Republics had disbanded or dispersed. Forces garrisoned in Eastern Europe (including the Baltic states ) gradually returned home between 1992 and 1994. This list of Soviet Army divisions sketches some of the fates of the individual parts of the Ground Forces. In mid-March 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin appointed himself as
8395-662: The first of the new High Commands, for the Far East, was created at Ulan-Ude in Buryatia under Army General Vasily Petrov . In September 1984, three more were established to control multi-Front operations in Europe (the Western and South-Western Strategic Directions) and at Baku to supervise three southern military districts. Western analysts expected these new headquarters to control multiple Fronts in time of war, and usually
8510-563: The first types developed. These were replaced as soon as possible by solid fuel rocket motors . Liquid propellants involve cryogenic ( liquid oxygen ) or corrosive ( nitric acid ) oxidisers . These must be loaded before launch, delaying the rocket's time into action. This delay was a problem for large strategic missiles, but especially so for tactical. Missiles, particularly in the Soviet Union, switched to using storable liquid propellants such as IRFNA , inhibited nitric acid. These were still hazardous to handle, but could be stored pre-loaded in
8625-470: The following years, intensifying sharply in 1985, with more than 100 missiles falling inside Iran. In response, the Iranians searched for a source of ballistic weapons, finally meeting success in 1985, when they obtained a small number of Scud-Bs from Libya and Syria: in addition to supplying these missiles, Syria also taught Iran the technology to produce them. These weapons were assigned to a special unit,
8740-484: The forces in Mongolia (totaling five divisions and 75,000 troops) were to be reduced, but the remainder was to come from units inside the Soviet Union. There were major problems encountered in trying to organise the return of 500,000 personnel into civilian life, including where the returned soldiers were to live, housing, jobs, and training assistance. Then the developing withdrawals from Czechoslovakia and Hungary and
8855-406: The gap between conventional rocket artillery and longer-range short-range ballistic missiles . Tactical missiles can carry heavy payloads deep behind enemy lines in comparison to rockets or gun artillery , while having better mobility and less expense than the more strategic theatre missiles. Additionally, due to their mobility, tactical missiles are better suited to responding to developments on
8970-423: The government spend roughly 2.5–3.0% of the yearly military budget on funding the war in Afghanistan, increasing steadily in cost until its peak in 1986. The Soviet Army also suffered from deep losses in morale and public approval due to the conflict and its failure. Many injured and disabled veterans of the war returned to the Soviet Union facing public scrutiny and difficulty re-entering civilian society, creating
9085-516: The greatest opportunity for terrorist organizations to procure weapons was in the former Soviet Union. In 2007, the World Bank estimated that out of the 500 million total firearms available worldwide, 100 million were of the Kalashnikov family , and 75 million were AKMs . However, only about 5 million of these were manufactured in the former USSR. In 1990 and 1991,
9200-534: The guidance system would rely on a digitized image ( DSMAC ). This also made it possible to reassign targets from the missile warhead's computer library. The warhead was tested on an Su-17 in 1975 and the first test launch was conducted on 29 September 1979, where the missile hit within a few meters of the target. Development continued through the 1980s, and the design was modified to have a separating warhead and to have it make terminal corrections before impact . The first two test launches of this version in 1984 failed;
9315-731: The guidance system. In 1985, Iran acquired 90 to 100 Hwasong-5 missiles from North Korea. A production line was also established in Iran, where the Hwasong-5 was produced as the Shahab-1 . The Hwasong-6 was first test-flown in June 1990, and entered full-scale production the same year, or in 1991, until it was superseded by the Rodong-1. It features an improved guidance system, a range of 500 km, but had its payload reduced to 770 kg, though
9430-453: The hazing practice known as dedovshchina , "rule of the grandfathers", which destroyed the status of most NCOs. Instead the Soviet system relied very heavily on junior officers. Soviet Armed Forces life could be "grim and dangerous": a Western researcher talking to former Soviet officers was told, in effect that this was because they did not "value human life". By the middle of the 1980s,
9545-461: The headquarters of Islamic leader Jamil al-Rahman , and killed a number of his followers. In all, between October 1988 and February 1992, with 1,700 to 2,000 Scud launches, Afghanistan saw the greatest concentration of ballistic weapons fired since World War II. After January 1992, the Soviet advisors were withdrawn, reducing the Afghan army's ability to use their ballistic missiles. On 24 April 1992,
9660-655: The launcher to a hidden location immediately after it had fired, while the launch sequence that usually took 90 minutes was reduced to half an hour. This enabled them to preserve their forces, despite optimistic claims by the coalition. A post-war Pentagon study concluded that relatively few launchers had been destroyed by coalition aircraft. Ground-based special forces from the United Kingdom were covertly inserted into Iraq to locate and destroy Scud launchers, either by directing airstrikes or in some cases attacking them directly with MILAN man-portable missiles. An example
9775-493: The longer-range Hwasong-9. Scud-ER/Hwasong-9 demonstrated range of 1,000 km with 500 kg payload. South Korean and United States intelligence made assessment that missile can travel over 1,000 km, Japan previously rated its range at 1,000 km in 2015 white paper and considers to increase range estimate in 2016's white paper. The UN confirmed North Korea assisted Syria in development of manoeuvrable vehicle for Hwasong-9/Scud-ER since 2008. The UN also confirmed that
9890-839: The military districts. There were 32 of them in 1945. Sixteen districts remained from the mid-1970s to the end of the USSR (see table). Yet, the greatest Soviet Army concentration was in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany , which suppressed the anti-Soviet Uprising of 1953 in East Germany . East European Groups of Forces were the Northern Group of Forces in Poland, and the Southern Group of Forces in Hungary , which put down
10005-607: The missile guidance and electronics were upgraded/improved by the Syrian experts. Iran began development of the indigenous Qiam missile prior to 2010, when it was first publicly tested. It is developed from the Shahab-2/Hwasong-6. The Qiam 1 has a range of 750 km (470 mi) and 10 m (33 ft) (CEP) accuracy. The most noticeable difference from the Shahab-2 is a lack of fins—which could be used to reduce
10120-440: The missile's radar signature during ascent as fins reflect radar. Removing fins from a missile also reduces the structural mass, so the payload weight or missile range can be increased. Without the fins and associated drag, the missile can be more responsive to changes in trajectory. Iranian sources cite an improved guidance system on the missile, and analysts note that adjusting the missile's in-flight trajectory without fins requires
10235-445: The missile. This also allowed the development of single vehicle transporter erector launchers (TEL), rather than the previous convoy of carriers, launchers, fuel vehicles and service vehicles. Western missiles adopted solid propellants instead, which were inherently storable, and later Warsaw Pact missiles followed suit. Tactical missiles are now almost universally solid-fuelled, except for some states using indigenous derivatives of
10350-475: The mujahideen forces of Ahmad Shah Massoud captured the main Scud stockpile at Afshur but members of the 99th Missile Brigade had ditched their uniforms leaving Massoud's men with no way of operating such weapons. As the communist government collapsed, the few remaining Scuds and their TELs were divided among the rival factions fighting for power. Due to the lack of knowledge on such weapons, between April 1992 and 1996, only 44 Scuds were fired in Afghanistan. When
10465-420: The nation. While the Soviet government initially hoped to secure Afghanistan's towns and road networks, stabilize the communist regime, and withdraw from the region within the span of one year, they experienced major difficulties in the region, due to rough terrain and fierce guerrilla resistance. Soviet presence would reach near 115,000 troops by the mid-1980s, and the complications of the war increased, causing
10580-416: The new Russian minister of defence, marking a crucial step in the creation of the new Russian Armed Forces , comprising the bulk of what was left of the Soviet Armed Forces. The last vestiges of the old Soviet command structure were finally dissolved in June 1993, when the paper Commonwealth of Independent States Military Headquarters was reorganized as a staff for facilitating CIS military cooperation. In
10695-517: The new divisional organisation; and finally the troop level in the European part of the USSR would drop by 200,000, and by 60,000 in the southern part of the country. A number of motor-rifle formations would be converted into machine gun and artillery forces intended for defensive purposes only. Three-quarters of the troops in Mongolia would be withdrawn and disbanded, including all the air force units there. The Armed Forces were extensively involved in
10810-513: The next few years, the former Soviet Ground Forces withdrew from central and Eastern Europe (including the Baltic states ), as well as from the newly independent post-Soviet republics of Azerbaijan , Armenia , Uzbekistan , Kazakhstan , Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan . Now- Russian Ground Forces remained in Tajikistan , Georgia and Transnistria (in Moldova ). After the dissolution of
10925-572: The optical lens' inner surface on the missile's nose suffered from dust buildup and this was corrected after redesign work. The system was accepted into initial service as the 9K720 Aerofon in 1989. However, by this time, more advanced weapons were in use, such as the OTR-21 Tochka (SS-21) and the R-400 Oka (SS-23), and the Scud-D was not acquired by the Soviet Armed Forces. Instead it was proposed for export as an upgrade for Scud-B users, in
11040-442: The original Scud platform. [REDACTED] India [REDACTED] Morocco [REDACTED] Serbia [REDACTED] Serbia Soviet Army The Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union (Russian: сухопутные войска , romanized : Sovetskiye sukhoputnye voyska ) was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. In English it
11155-777: The original Scud-B, several local variants had been developed. These included the Al-Hussein, developed during the Iran–Iraq War, the Al-Hijarah, a shortened Al-Hussein, and the Al-Abbas, an extended-range Scud fired from fixed launching sites, that was never used. The Soviet-built MAZ-543 vehicle was the prime launcher, along with a few locally designed TELs , the Al Nida and the Al Waleed. Scuds were responsible for most of
11270-523: The production process. Production of the definitive version began at a slow rate in 1985. The type incorporated several minor improvements over the original Soviet design. The range was increased by 10 to 15 percent and it could carry High Explosive (HE) or cluster chemical warheads. Throughout the production cycle, until it was phased out in favour of the Hwasong-6 in 1989, the DPRK manufacturers are thought to have carried out small enhancements, in particular to
11385-453: The remainder lower strength formations. The Soviet system anticipated a war preparation period which would bring the strength of the Ground Forces up to about three million. Soviet planning for most of the Cold War period would have seen Armies of four to five divisions operating in Fronts made up of around four armies (and roughly equivalent to Western Army Groups ). On 8 February 1979,
11500-710: The remainder of the Cold War, shaping them for a potential confrontation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). After 1956, Nikita Khrushchev , General Secretary of the Communist Party , reduced the Ground Forces to build up the Strategic Rocket Forces , emphasizing the armed forces' nuclear capabilities. He removed Marshal Georgy Zhukov from the Politburo in 1957 for opposing these reductions in
11615-505: The same year. While the initial design was done by Korolev's OKB-1, the program was transferred to Makeev's SKB-385 in August 1955. It became operational in 1959 and was deployed onboard Project 611 and Project 629 (Golf Class) submarines. During its service, 77 launches were conducted, of which 59 were successful. The successor to the R-11, the R-17 (SS-1C Scud-B), renamed R-300 in the 1970s,
11730-750: The so-called " War of the cities " during the Iran–Iraq War . Scuds were used by Iraq during the Gulf War against Israel and coalition targets in Saudi Arabia. More than a dozen Scuds were fired from Afghanistan at targets in Pakistan in 1988, and against targets within Afghanistan in March 1991. There were also a small number of Scud missiles used in the 1994 civil war in Yemen, as well as by Russian forces in Chechnya in 1996 and onwards. The missiles saw some minor use by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in
11845-428: The surrounding electromagnetic clutter . During the war, while patrolling, strike aircraft managed to sight mobile TELs on 42 occasions, but only eight times the aircraft were able to locate the targets well enough to release their ordnance. In addition, the Iraqi missile units dispersed their Scud TELs and hid them in culverts, wadis , or under highway bridges. They also practiced " shoot-and-scoot " tactics, withdrawing
11960-509: The term Scud was in the NATO name SS-1b Scud-A , applied to the R-11 Zemlya ballistic missile. The earlier R-1 missile had carried the NATO name SS-1 Scunner, but was of a very different design, almost directly a copy of the German V-2 rocket . The R-11 used technology gained from the V-2 as well, but was a new design, smaller and differently shaped than the V-2 and R-1 weapons. The R-11
12075-493: The war, the Soviets sent North Vietnam annual arms shipments worth $ 450 million. From July 1965 to the end of 1974, fighting in Vietnam was observed by some 6,500 officers and generals, as well as more than 4,500 soldiers and sergeants of the Soviet Armed Forces. In addition, Soviet military schools and academies began training Vietnamese soldiers—in all more than 10,000 military personnel. The KGB had also helped develop
12190-470: The wide variety of derivative variants developed in other countries based on the Soviet design. Scud missiles have been used in combat since the 1970s, mostly in wars in the Middle East . They became familiar to the Western public during the 1991 Persian Gulf War , when Iraq fired dozens at Saudi Arabia and Israel . In Russian service it is being replaced by the 9K720 Iskander . The first use of
12305-539: The withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989, the USSR agreed to deliver sophisticated weapons to the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA), among which were large quantities of Scud-Bs, and possibly some Scud-Cs as well. The first 500 were transferred during the early months of 1989, and soon proved to be a critical strategic asset for the DRA. Every Scud battery was composed of three TELs, three reloading vehicles,
12420-583: Was against ISIS militants on 18 June 2017. The Burkan 2-H used by the Houthis in Yemen is potentially related, or the Qiam 1 has potentially been used by that group. The Houthi forces in Yemen unveiled the Burkan-1 (also spelled as Borkan 1 and Burqan 1 ) on 2 September 2016 when it was fired toward King Fahd International Airport . The missile's range is 800 kilometres (500 mi), greater than
12535-404: Was also used as a punitive weapon, striking areas that were held by the resistance. In March 1991, shortly after the town of Khost was captured, it was hit by a Scud attack. On 20 April 1991, the marketplace of Asadabad was hit by two Scuds, which killed 300 and wounded 500 inhabitants. Though the exact toll is unknown, these attacks resulted in heavy civilian casualties. The explosions destroyed
12650-548: Was appointed chief designer of the SKB-385 to oversee the program and, in July, the R-11 was formally accepted into military service. The definitive R-11M, designed to carry a nuclear warhead, was accepted officially into service on 1 April 1958. The launch system was placed on an IS-2 chassis and received the GRAU designation 8K11; only 100 Scud-A launchers were built. The R-11M had a maximum range of 270 km, but when carrying
12765-499: Was developed by the Korolyev OKB and entered service in 1957. The most revolutionary innovation in the R-11 was the engine, designed by A. M. Isaev . Far simpler than the V-2's multi-chamber design, and employing an anti-oscillation baffle to prevent chugging , it was a forerunner to the larger engines used in Soviet launch vehicles. Further developed variants were the R-17 (later R-300 ) Elbrus / SS-1c Scud-B in 1961 and
12880-635: Was launched in 1990, but it apparently exploded on its launch pad. A second test was carried out in May 1993 successfully. The main characteristics of the Rodong are a range of 1000 km and a CEP estimated at 2,000–4,000 m, giving the North Koreans the ability to strike Japan. The missile is substantially larger than the Hwasong series, and its Isayev 9D21 engine was upgraded with help from Makeyev OKB. Some assistance came also from China and Ukraine while
12995-649: Was often referred to as the Soviet Army. Until 25 February 1946, it was known as the Red Army . In Russian, the term armiya (army) was often used to cover the Strategic Rocket Forces first in traditional Soviet order of precedence; the Ground Forces, second; the Air Defence Forces , third, the Air Forces , fourth, and the Soviet Navy , fifth, among the branches of the Soviet Armed Forces as
13110-400: Was the 8-man SAS patrol designated Bravo Two Zero , led by " Andy McNab " (a pseudonym). This patrol resulted in the death or capture of all but one of its members, " Chris Ryan ". Tactical ballistic missile A tactical ballistic missile ( TBM ), or battlefield range ballistic missile ( BRBM ), is a ballistic missile designed for short-range battlefield use. Typically, range
13225-460: Was the most prolific of the series, with a production run estimated at 7,000. It served in 32 countries and four countries besides the Soviet Union manufactured copied versions. The first launch was conducted in 1961, and it entered service in 1964. The R-17 was an improved version of the R-11. It could carry nuclear, chemical, conventional or fragmentation weapons. At first, the Scud-B was carried on
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