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Missile Warheads

The main parts (combat equipment) of strategic missiles are the weapons of destruction. The combat blocks (BB), combat Head, or Combat Part [BC] is the name of the component of the weapon (missile, bomb or artillery shell), designed to defeat the target. The warhead is the common name of the combat unit (CU), which have thermonuclear combat charge, automatic (detonating) charge and BB casing, which provides delivery to the target, including penetration into the relevant environment, and reliable operation (detonation) of the combat charge. As a rule, modern military vehicles also have means to increase the accuracy of hit in the target, the probability of overcoming missile defense and stealth from the missile strike warning system (twist motors relative to the longitudinal axis, devices and means of reducing or distorting the unmasking signs, etc.):

Depending on the aerodynamic shape and flight trajectory, combat blocks are divided into the following main types:

• uncontrollable (ballistic);
• Managed ballistic (self-guided and maneuvering on the final phase of the flight);
• controlled planning (with aerodynamic quality, used for the most part of the flight path).

The flight control of the BB may be pursued either with the aim of improving the accuracy of the hit (homing BS), or the goal of increasing the capabilities to overcome missile defense, including using special flight trajectories (maneuvering BB), or both of these objectives by combining maneuver with self-guidance. Controlled WBs should have in their composition a control system of the appropriate type and controls ensuring the necessary change of the flight trajectory in the appropriate medium (in airless space, in the atmosphere, etc.).

According to the number of BBs in the combat equipment of missiles, the head parts are divided into single-block and multi-block (divided).

The first samples of both Soviet and American ICBMs used single-block (monoblock) uncontrollable warheads. Then, in connection with the emerging successes in the development of active missile defense systems, the increase in the accuracy of hits and the specific powers of nuclear charges, multi-block (separating) warheads appeared.

Multiple block PC depending on the principle of breeding BB can be divided into the following characteristic groups (in brackets is given the US indexation of GCH):

• multiple-block PM with simple simultaneous breeding ("spread") of unmanaged BBs (MRV type);
• multiple-block PC with sequential aiming of unmanaged BB (MIRV type);
• multiple-block PC with serial or parallel-serial controllable BB (MARV type).

Prior to the mastering of control systems with a computer, multi-unit GCHs were performed in the form of separable (cassette) GFs with simultaneous spread of the BB at the end of the active section of the trajectory (MRV type). Pyrotechnic and spring pushers, inertia forces, etc., were used to spread the BB. By such devices and methods, the combat blocs were given additional velocities in the corresponding direction, which ensured their final dilution, characterized by distances between the points of impact of the BB a few kilometers or the corresponding intervals of following into one aiming point. The head parts of the MRV type were developed for the Soviet ICBMs RSW-10 and R-36, as well as for the American Polaris-based sea-launched missile.

The main type of combat equipment for modern ICBMs is the multi-block PM with sighted sequential expansion of the BB in the general case for various targets (aiming points), separated by tens and hundreds of kilometers (MIRV type). The head parts of this type, which include weapons of destruction (uncontrolled BB), means of overcoming missile defense (false targets of various types, active jamming stations, etc.) and a breeding system (rocket propulsion system with fuel supply, control system, etc.). ), are, in fact, a separate stage of the rocket, so they are often called combat rocket stages. Possible designs of combat stages (MIRV-type MIRV) may differ in the type of propulsion system (LPRE, RDTT),

Thus, the MIRV-type MIRV (combat stage) differs from other types of ICBM headunits with the presence of a control system (uniform for the missile and MIRVs) and a rocket propulsion system with a fuel reserve, which ensure the sequential homing of unguided warheads and the construction of required combat orders from the BB and means of overcoming the enemy's ABM. The guidance of the BB at the given aiming points is realized as a result of controlled spatial correction of the parameters of the motion of the center of mass of the GC (combat stage) on the ascending branch of the base trajectory. The length of the breeding site can be hundreds and thousands of kilometers.

The transition from some variants of MS to others in the process of developing strategic missile armament was determined both by scientific and technical progress in rocket engineering and nuclear technology, which was accompanied in particular by a continuous increase in the accuracy, an increase in the specific power of nuclear charges, the mastering of control systems with the computer, and the expansion of the solved combat tasks (the development of anti-missile defense systems, increasing the security of fixed objects such as silos and missiles, the need to solve the problem of hitting mobile objects of certain classes, etc.).

All the first ICBMs had single-block unguided GORs without special means of overcoming missile defense. Then, in connection with the progress in the development of missile defense, began to provide for measures to improve the effectiveness of overcoming the missile defense system's headunits, one of which is the transition from single-block to divided (multi-block) MS.

The partial transition from single-block GP to GP with a simple separation of the BB (type MRV) pursued, in fact, only one goal - to increase the effectiveness of combat use of ICBMs in the context of anti-missile defense, since in the absence of an antimissile defense of the enemy, such a transfer has no practical meaning. The latter situation is determined primarily by the fact that the replacement of one BB (single-block GP) by several BBs having the same total mass always leads to a significant decrease in the total TNT equivalent of nuclear charges and only at a significant initial total mass of GP (on the order of several tons ) can lead to a slight increase in the effectiveness of a missile hit by an area or point target. Taking into account the need to allocate a part of the payload mass to the corresponding structural elements in the transition to the MRV type MRV, as well as an increase in the cost of a multi-block GP in comparison with a single-block of the same mass, it can be concluded that when the objects of destruction are not protected by missile defenses, replacing single-block MPs with multi-block MRV type is impractical. Such a replacement can increase the effectiveness of combat use of ICBMs only in the context of countering missile defense.

Significantly more meaning and content is the transition from single-block unmanaged CS to multi-block (divided) with the aiming of unmanaged BB (MIRV type), which was practically implemented in new ICBMs of the US and USSR in the 1970s. With such a decision, the total power of nuclear charges is also significantly reduced (and other things being equal), and the total cost of the GP is increased, but the possibility of targeting several BBs at large relative distances makes it possible to substantially increase the efficiency of using payload, especially heavy missiles.

Advantages of the MIRV with the aiming of unmanaged BW are explained, mainly, by the fact that:

• the aiming dilution of the BB allows the best distribution of the available WB by the target objects (between individual targets, large target areas, etc.), increasing the capabilities and providing flexibility in the planning of nuclear missile strikes;
• MIRV-type MIRVs make it possible to form an effective space-time structure of nuclear missile strikes, having broader possibilities for constructing rational combat orders from the BB and elements of the missile defense complex, etc .;
• with the use of MIRV-type MIRVs, the problem of modernizing and universalizing strategic missile armament in relation to various options and conditions for the combat use of ICBMs, etc.,

For these reasons, the development and transition to multi-block PM with targeted expansion of unmanaged warheads can be justified not only if the enemy has an ABM system, but also in the absence of ABM. The expediency of the transition to such GPs increases with the mass of the payload of the rocket. Of particular importance is the transition, subject to restrictions on the total number of ICBMs (launchers) in the weapons system.