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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)


R-11 / SS-1B SCUD-A
R-300 9K72 Elbrus / SS-1C SCUD-B

The Scud is a mobile, Russian-made, short-range, tactical ballistic surface-to-surface (hence the nomenclature abbreviation SS) missile system. The SCUD-series guided missiles are single-stage, short-range ballistic missiles using storable liquid propellants. The Scud is derived from the World War II-era German V-2 rocket. Unlike the FROG series of unguided missiles, the SCUDs have movable fins. Warheads can be HE, chemical, or nuclear, and the missile, launched vertically from a small platform, has a range of 300 km. Unsophisticated gyroscopes guided the missile only during powered flight - which lasts about 80 seconds. Once the rocket motor shut down, the entire missile with the warhead attached coasted unguided to the target area. Consequently, Scuds had notoriously poor accuracy, and the farther they flew, the more inaccurate they became. SCUD missiles are found in SSM (SCUD) brigades at front/army level. The SCUD series of missiles gave the Soviet front and army commanders an integral nuclear weapons capability. Non-nuclear variants of the SCUD missiles have been exported to both Warsaw Pact and non-Warsaw Pact nations.

  • The SCUD-A is also known as SS-1B. The SCUD-B replaced the JS-3-mounted SCUD-A, which had been in service since the mid-1950s.
  • The longer range SCUD B, also known as SS-1C, can be distinguished by the one meter greater length of the missile and the presence of two air bottles on the side of the superstructure in place of the single bottle used for the "SCUD A" missile. The SCUD B used unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), a more powerful (and toxic) fuel than the kerosene fueled SCUD A, which required an engine redesign. They were transported originally on a heavy-tracked vehicle based on the JS heavy-tank chassis. This vehicle serves also as an erector and launcher for the missiles. The SCUD-B was introduced on the JS-3 tracked chassis in 1961 and appeared on the MAZ-543 wheeled chassis in 1965. The "SCUD B" missile has appeared on a new transporter-erector-launcher based on the MAZ-543 (8x8) truck. The introduction of this new powerful cross-country wheeled vehicle gave this missile system greater road mobility, reduces the number of support vehicles required, and still preserves a great choice in selecting off-road firing positions. The same basic chassis also has been used for the transporter-erector-launcher for the "SCALEBOARD" surface-to-surface guided missile. In the early 1980s, the SCUD-B was replaced by the SS-23, which has greatly improved range (500 km), increased accuracy, and reduced reaction and refire times.
  • The SCUD-C SS-1D achieved an initial operational capability with Soviet forces around 1965. It had a longer range, though lower accuracy, than the SCUD B, and was deployed in smaller numbers. As of the late 1990s some remained in service in Russian ground forces.
  • The SCUD-D SS-1E 9K72-O (optical) "Aerophon" high precision missiles complex with missile R-17VTO / 8K14-1F. The SS-1E SCUD-D featured an improved guidance system, possibly incorporating active radar terminal homing, and a wider choice of warheads than its predecessors. This missile has a range of about 700 km. Initially developed in the 1980s, it may not have been deployed by former Soviet ground forces.

At launch, a basic Scud contains about 3,500 kilograms (7,700 pounds) of IRFNA and about 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of fuel. Most of the IRFNA and fuel is used within the first 80 seconds of flight when the missile is gaining enough speed to reach its target. When this speed is reached, the Scud is designed to shut off its engine by shutting off the propellant tanks (a fuel tank and an oxidizer tank). The unused propellants-roughly 150 kilograms (330 pounds) of RFNA and 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of fuel-remain on board for the remainder of the flight.

According to various sources, the experimental operation of the single 9K73 complex as part of the 9P115 self-propelled launcher and the Mi-6RVK helicopter continued until the beginning of the 1970s. Despite the relatively long use, the new system was not considered as a possible means of rearming rocket troops and artillery. The prototype of the complex remained in a single copy. After the development of the resource, it was written off as superfluous and disposed of. A unique example of military equipment has not survived.

In the first half of the sixties of the last century, two rocket-and-helicopter complexes were developed in our country that used rockets of existing models. 9K53 Luna-MV and 9K73 systems were tested, and then entered experimental military operation, but they did not reach serial production and full-scale use by the troops. During the inspections it was found out that the original and interesting proposal concerning the transfer of missile systems by helicopters imposes serious limitations on the various characteristics of equipment and its design features and, as a result, does not allow achieving the required results with the current level of technology development.

The 2P19 TEL (Transporter-Erector-Launcher) was a unified ballistic missile system fielded by the Soviet Missile and Artillery Forces during the early 1960s. The system paired an 8K14 R-17 (NATO name “Scud-B”) missile with the 2P19 TEL vehicle; improved version of the earlier 8U218 TEL. The complete missile system entered service in March 1962 as the 8K14 Elbrus (NATO name: “SS-1c Scud B”) but production halted in October of that year when production of the 2P19’s parent heavy tank chassis was halted. The R-17 missile eventually reappeared on the improved 9P117M wheeled MAZ TEL.

In the early 1970s, the Soviet Army sought a replacement for the 9K72 Elbrus (SS-1C `Scud B') system, which had a very slow reaction time [around 90 minutes to prepare and fire] and its poor accuracy when using conventional warheads. The replacement system, codename 9K714 Oka [SS-23 Spider], was developed by KB Mashinostroyenia (Machine Industry Design Bureau) in Kolomna. This system was phased out in compliance with the INF Treaty in the late 1980s. Russia's TBM inventory is limited to thousands of SS-1c/Scud B and SS-21/Scarab SRBMs as a result of the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty, which required the elimination of the FSU's extensive stocks of MRBMs.

A second SCUD follow-on effort began in the form of the SS-26, which apparently entered service by 1999. The SS-26 SRBM is expected to be both a replacement for the SS-1c/Scud B and an export. By the early 1990s, the `Scud' system was unquestionably obsolete and many of the 9P117 launcher vehicles were retired due to age.

Scuds are freshwater crustaceans [not insects] that greatly resemble a tiny shrimp. Many people mistake Scuds for crayfish and shrimp, but Scuds are only distant cousins to these species, and their only true common name is Scud. They look quite a bit like a tiny armadillo, up to two centimeters in some varieties, much smaller in others. Because of their ability to hop, they are frequently confused with fleas and spring tails (Collembola). They are harmless and do not bite. As fishing bait, Scuds are one of the most productive ways of catching trout with a Fly Rod. Some 20% of the trout diet consists of Scuds, making them second in importance only to the midges. Lakes with lots of Scuds produce amazing growth rates in trout. The color of trout flesh comes from an orange pigment in Scuds called carotene, the same pigment that gives carrots their color. A scud is from the order Amphipoda, which is one of the major orders of aquatic insects and arthropods in North America. The body of an amphipod is elongate and more or less compressed. There is no carapace, and seven of the thoracic segments are distinct and bear leglike appendages. The abdominal segments are often more or less fused. Amphipods are crustaceans related to pillbugs (Isopoda) and shrimp. They normally live in association with salt and fresh water, where they scavenge for food on decaying organic material such as dead and decomposing leaves. In fresh water, high populations of fresh-water amphipods can build up in temporary pools and puddles. After rainy periods have ended and these temporary habitats dry up, these amphipods hop about in mass searching for another body of water and often invade nearby homes and other structures where their presence is considered to be a nuisance.




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