Ukrainian intercontinental ballistic missile. Yuzhnoye solid-propellant ICBM designed for mass production to counter US 'Star Wars' programme. Two built before break-up of Soviet Union. Some design features incorporated into all-Russian Topol-M.
Universal was a Yuzhnoye solid-propellant ICBM designed to be produced cheaply in mass quantities in order to overwhelm planned American Strategic Defense Initiative anti-ballistic missile systems. Work began on a crash basis in the late 1980's and the first missile was delivered to Plesetsk for flight tests on 30 December 1991. The project was cancelled on the break-up of the USSR. The two completed missiles were handed over to MIT for design of an all-Russian counterpart, the Topol-M.
Status: Cancelled 1991.
Gross mass: 45,000 kg (99,000 lb).
More... - Chronology...
Associated Countries
See also
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missile Guided self-propelled military weapon (as opposed to rocket, an unguided self-propelled weapon). More...
Associated Manufacturers and Agencies
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Yuzhnoye Ukrainian manufacturer of rockets, spacecraft, and rocket engines. Yangel Design Bureau, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. More...
Bibliography
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Pervov, Mikhail, Raketnoye Oruzhiye RVSN, Violanta, Moscow, 1999..
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Karpenko, A V, Utkin, A F and Popov,A D, Otechestvenniye strategischeskiye raketnoye kompleks, Sankt-Peterburg: Nevskii bastion; Gangut 1999..
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