Engine Model: RD-218. Manufacturer Name: RD-218. Government Designation: 8D712. Other Designations: 11D69. Designer: Glushko. Developed in: 1958-61. Application: R-16 stage 1. Propellants: Nitric acid/UDMH. Thrust(vac): 2,592.000 kN (582,704 lbf). Thrust(sl): 2,220.000 kN (499,070 lbf). Isp: 289 sec. Isp (sea level): 246 sec. Burn time: 90 sec. Mass Engine: 1,960 kg (4,320 lb). Diameter: 2.79 m (9.15 ft). Length: 2.19 m (7.18 ft). Chambers: 6. Chamber Pressure: 73.60 bar. Area Ratio: 18.80. Oxidizer to Fuel Ratio: 2.50. Thrust to Weight Ratio: 135.71. Country: Russia. First Flight: 1960. Last Flight: 1972. Flown: 212. Consisted of three RD-217; had 6 combustion chambers and 3 turbines The RD-218 powered the R-16 ICBM that was referred to by Khrushchev at the UN when he claimed the USSR was producing missiles like sausages. Both the engines and the R-16 were built at Dnepropetrovsk in the Ukraine. The missile was in service until the 1970s. Diameter is per chamber. An earlier version of the engine used in the R-16 had a vacuum thrust of 255,400 kgf.
RD-218 used on Rocket Stages
Bibliography:- Johnson, Nicholas L; and Rodvold, David M, Europe and Asia in Space 1993-1994, USAF Phillips Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, NM 80907, 1995..
- Salmon, Andrew, The Story Of Russian Rocket Engines - Energomash Museum, Commentary by the guide at the Energomash rocket engine museum in Khimki, April 1998 at YSC98..
- Haeseler, Dietrich, Information from NPO Energomash museum exhibit, Nov. 1992 via Dietrich Haeseler.
- Glushko, V P, Albom Konstruktsiy ZhRD, Vol. 1 1968, Vol. 3 & 4 1969 via Dietrich Haeseler.