KY-14 [SS-20 Dead Hand]
In the early 1980s, changes in U.S. nuclear strike options were made to target Soviet leadersthemselves. Washington’s objective was to enhance deterrence by convincing theKremlin that its regime could not survive a nuclear exchange with the United States. The United States was also planning to deploy Pershing II nuclear-armed ballistic missiles to Europe in response to the Soviet Union’s decision to field comparable SS-20 missiles.
Consequently they considered an option, known as the Dead Hand, that would enable anuclear retaliatory strike in the event that all senior political decision makers and the military command structure were incapacitated. Dead Hand envisioned computers receiving nuclear attack warning data, riding out any attack and then, if they failed to receive any instructions, ordering an automated nuclear retaliatory strike.
The concept shared much with the “Doomsday Machine” depicted in the motion picture “Dr.Strangelove". Herman Kahn reportedly outlined the idea of a “Doomsday Machine” in the 1950s. The machine would have a computer linked to an arsenal of nuclear weapons. In the event of a nuclear attack, sensors would pass the information to the computer, which would be programmed to order all the doomsday weapons to detonat. The doomsday machine could be seen as the ultimate deterrent to an attack, since the computer would automatically issue the order to detonate without human intervention.
Fortunately “only” a modified version of the system was fielded. That system, known as Perimeter, was tested in November 1984 and became operationala few months later. Soviet policy called for ballistic missiles placed in super-hardened silos to be launched quickly upon alert of an attack by staff officers in a deeply buried military command center. These missiles would give the order to all remaining Sovietmissiles to launch their attack on the United States. Oddly, the Soviets neverinformed the Americans about Perimeter, even though its purpose was primarily to deter a U.S. nuclear attack, and the movie had Dr.Strangelove himself berate the Soviets : "the whole point of the doomsday machine is lost if you keep it a secret! Why didn't you tell the world?".
The "Soviet Mobile Missile Activity - 1 October-31 December 1984 Summary Report 26" indicated that " the KY-14 is assessed to be a standard SS-20 booster that carries a communications-related payload instead of a weapons related payload. ..." The report noted that "Significant developments and observations at Kapustin Yar during the period included the following: ... three KY-14 launches were conducted, including a dual launch (for a total of six during 1984)..." The report noted that two of the three KY-14 launches during the quarter were the first dual KY-14 launch. The missiles were launched three minutes apart, at 1505 Zulu and 1508 Zulu.
Furthermore, "... pre-launch activity was observed at site 1C, when two cdmouflaged TELs with missile canisters and nine MSVs were at launch position 1C-3 near the five-bay garage. One of the TELs was at the Hshaped launch-associated position near the type B single-bay garage, and the other was in a launch line with three MSVs south of the five-bay garage. DEFSMAC rpported the launch of a KY-14 from Kapustin Yar at 2242Z on [date redacted] DEFSMAC K/DQ/1437-84 [TSZ]). On [date redacted] no camouflaged vehicles or equipment and no evidence of the lc1unch (burn marks, blast effects, or self-eject launch technique [SELT] rings) were identified. However, an additional expended SS-20 canister had been placed in open storage at launch position 1C-2."
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