Oka 9K714 / SS-23 SPIDER

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 poor accuracy when using conventional warheads. The new 9K714 system featured a reaction time of less than 30 minutes and used the low-maintenance solid-fuel 9M714 missile. The 300 km range of the R-300 (`Scud') was surpassed by the 400 km range of the 9M714/R-400.

In the early 1970s the Warsaw Pact had only a limited ability to strike North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) air bases in Europe. However, by the mid-1980s Soviet forces could strike NATO airfields in all types of weather using tactical ballistic missiles (TBMS) such as the SS-21 and the SS-23. NATO had only limited defense against these weapons, some of which were accurate to within 100 meters. The SS-23 has a range of 310 miles, with speeds of 6,800 miles per hour or Mach 9 that can access most locations in a given theater of war.

The operational-tactical missile 9M714U was developed for the operational-tactical missile complex 9K714U Eye-U [code NATO: SS-23 Spider]. Unlike rockets series 9M714** for OTRK 9K714 Oka, this would have a homing warhead 9N714U, whose flight was after the separation of the warhead from the body of the rocket controlled by the aerodynamics. Controlled flight was thus over the entire path up to the last moment, so the circular deviation from the target was within 30 meters.

The 9K714 "Oka" rocket was single-stage with solid fuel. The autonomous inertial guidance system with correction (after separation of the MS) from the radar homing head, which ensured high accuracy of hitting. The launch of the rocket was carried out with an inclined guide. After launch, the rocket made a turn in the direction of the target. The direction of arrival of the launcher on the target was + -90 degrees, which, when tracking the trajectory, makes it impossible to determine the launch point.

The warhead (the BN) would have been similar to those of rockets of the complex 9K714 Oka, or nuclear (probably with more modern nuclear BN and the conventional high explosive and cluster warhead. A rocket with a conventional warhead had an index of 9K714K, with a nuclear 9M714V (with a yield of 10-50 kt). The change of the head parts is made at the starting position in 15 minutes. On the initial part of the trajectory, it developed a speed of 4 times the speed of sound. The control in the initial part of the trajectory was carried out with the help of lattice aerodynamic rudders in the tail part of the rocket. The highest ballistic trajectory in the highest point reached 120 km.

The 9K714 rocket was installed on a 4-wheeled chassis of the Osnova type 06.6950, with a 400-liter U-shaped UTD25 engine. with. Chassis were made in Bryansk. Serial production of missiles was carried out at the Botkinsky Machine-Building Plant, and launchers - at the Petropavlovsk Heavy Machine-Building Plant (Kazakhstan). PU 9P31 and TZM 9T230 of the same type, made on the self-propelled chassis BAZ-6944. In front of the BAZ-6944 hull there is a control cabin, behind it is the engine compartment, the rest of the hull is occupied by the cargo compartment. Torque from the engine to the wheels is transmitted through a transmission that implements the onboard power distribution scheme. The transmission consists of a five-speed hydromechanical transmission, a two-stage transfer case with an interboard differential, driveshafts, final drives and wheel gears.

The transmission scheme also includes a differential mechanism, which excludes a rigid kinematic connection between the wheels of the front and rear bogies of each side. The vehicle has eight driving wheels with wide-profile tires of variable pressure. All wheel suspension independent torsion bar. The wheels of the first and second pairs are driven. The vehicle is able to overcome water obstacles, for which it is equipped with two jet propulsion.

All launch equipment was located inside the combat vehicles. Communication equipment and topographic location, aiming system and test and starting equipment were serviced by a calculation of 3 people. Readiness for the first shot from the march was less than 5 minutes. Aiming is carried out - in a horizontal position of the rocket, the rocket is raised to a vertical position 20 seconds before launch.

The rocket was transported using the 9T240 transport vehicle in a special container 9Y249 separate from the warhead. For transportation of the warhead used container 9Y251.

OTRK 9K714U Oka-U

In 1987 the launcher of the new OTRK 9K714U “Oka-U” of high accuracy with a wide range of combat equipment was first tested on the BAZ-69481 chassis. BAZ-6948/69481 (1986 - 1989) - a series of experienced non-floating 14-ton chassis with bearing bodies, which were supposed to be used for mounting the SPU and TZM of the Oka-U rocket complex. They were created under the direction of Yu. I. Mosin in accordance with the factory program "Basis 1" and had the military code "Voshchina." Both machines have been designed since 1982 in parallel with the floating chassis of the BAZ-69441, which led to their maximum mutual unification, but the 6948/69481 series was a fundamentally new experimental design direction for creating heavy multi-axle vehicles. Like amphibians, these machines were also equipped with volumetric all-metal displacement hulls, but they were not sealed, which limited the scope of their application only to operation on all types of roads and terrain not allowing to force swimming water obstacles. In terms of overall design, the 6948 land chassis for a TZM did not differ from the floating model 69441 and its predecessor 6944 with open hulls. No wonder the first model, developed in the early 1980s by the leading designer S. N. Shalavasov and built in 1986, was only a refinement of the first version 6944 and wore the designation 6944?20, which was changed to 6948 in the process of tests and modifications. 69481 for the SPU, also created on the 6944 chassis and originally having the index 6944M, differed mainly in the dimensions of the body. All work on this chassis was carried out by the designer V. T. Avershin, and the plant from the North Kazakhstan city of Petropavlovsk was engaged in its completion of the special systems. The first and only sample BAZ-69481 was ready in 1987,

It was planned to use the system as part of a reconnaissance-strike complex with the receipt of information from the means of long-range radar reconnaissance, which made it possible to advance the retargeting of missiles in advance. The guidance system for the "Oka-U" could take commands in flight from the aircraft airborne reconnaissance type "AWACS", the seer and the target and the missile. The control system ensured the defeat of both fixed and moving targets. Radiocommunication position of the nuclear equipment ensured deviation from the target within 30 meters. Some sources, not without reason, say that Oka-U could also be equipped with an optical guidance system, which dramatically increases the effectiveness of non-nuclear combat equipment.

The signing of the Treaty on the Elimination of the INF Information System signed the death sentence in absentia with this complex. Even before the tests were completed, it also had to be “eliminated”, freezing for the time being all the work on the advanced missile system. Together with it, at the end of 1987, the modifications of both chassis of the 6948 series were curtailed, but in 1989, after the completion of state tests, both vehicles were prudently put into service.

The complex of means for overcoming the missile defense system, created under the leadership of I. Kupriyanov at the State Center for Scientific and Technical Information, negated the possibilities of the latest for the American times, the Patriot air defense system to intercept the Oka missile.