Nuclear Artillery - Soviet Nuclear Artillery

Soviet Nuclear Artillery

Soviet nuclear artillery was operated by the Rocket Troops and Artillery Branch of the Soviet Ground Forces. Delivery units were organic to Tank and Motor Rifle Divisions and higher echelons. The control and custody of nuclear weapons was the responsibility of the 12th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense and its special units.

The USSR developed and eventually deployed both rocket and projectile type nuclear artillery systems. The first system developed was the was the SM-54 (2А3) 406 mm gun, nicknamed "Kondensator" (Russian: Конденсатор, "Capacitor"); this was released in 1956. A 420 mm breech-loading smoothbore self-propelled mortar, 2B1 Oka or "Transformator" (Russian: Трансформатор; "Transformer") was produced in 1957. Testing revealed critical operational defects in both systems and they were not put into full production. These purpose-built weapons suffered from the same deficiencies of the American M-65 Nuclear Cannon to which they are analogous; large, unwieldy, and quickly obsolete.

Meanwhile, rocket and missile based delivery systems were concurrently developed. The original systems (the T7 "Scud", the FROG-1 and successors) were first introduced in the late 1950s. Development continued on missile based systems:

• T5 Luna (NATO FROG family) free flight rocket
• T7 (NATO SS-1 Scud) missile
• TR-1 Temp (NATO SS-12 Scaleboard) missile
• OTR-21 Tochka (NATO SS-21 Scarab) missile
• R-400 Oka (NATO SS-23 Spider) missile

After the abortive effort with purpose-built artillery pieces, the Soviet approach to nuclear artillery was that nuclear munitions should be fired by standard guns and howitzers (without modification), in normal artillery units. The first nuclear weapon for use from standard 152 mm artillery, called ZBV3, was finally accepted in 1965. Subsequent weapon designs followed using existing and new technology:

• 152 mm projectile ZBV3 for self-propelled guns 2S19 Msta-S, 2S3 Acacia, 2S5 Giatsint-S, towed gun D-20, 2A36 Giatsint-B, and 2A65 Msta-B. The yield was 1 kiloton, maximum range 17.4 km. The nuclear weapon was designated RFYAC-VNIITF and designed by Academician E. I. Zababakhin in Snezhinsk.
• 180 mm projectile ZBV1 for S-23, MK-3-180 (originally a coast artillery piece), maximum range 45 km.
• 203 mm projectile ZBV2 for self-propelled gun 2S7 Pion, and towed howitzer B-4M, range from 18 km to 30 km.
• 240 mm projectile ZBV4 for mortar M-240 and self-propelled 2S4 Tulip. Normal maximum range 9.5 km, and 18 km with rocket assistance.

At the end of the Cold War, Russia followed the United States lead and deactivated its nuclear artillery units in 1993. By 2000, Russia reported that nearly all nuclear artillery shells and missile warheads had been destroyed.