What I find interesting, if this is true, is the length of the Missile. For quick reference …
RT-2UTTKh – ca 22m
RSM-56 – ca 12m
At two thirds the length of RT-2UTTKh, a Land Bulava should be easy to move around making the life of the driver easier and Putin can have his wish of having new ICBMs paraded in the Red Square. This would make it much more mobile than the already mobile RS 24.
On the down side, a Land Bulava would have low throw weight. An MIRVed Bulava would be restricted to a max of half a dozen 150kt warheads at best. Considering no Nuke test were done since the late 90s (barring sub critical tests) I don’t think there exists new Warhead designs in Russia (or USA) which have been validated to fit 10+ medium yield (~300 kt) in 1.2 mt throw weight (with Bus, penaids …). Improvement in CEP is one thing, but there is no substitute for throw weight. Even if the maneuvering RV is a marvel, the compromise on throw weight is too much.
RS-24 already have short burn time and high acceleration and now this is supposed to improve on that. 😮
Any idea on the length of the new missile, throw weight, propellants etc or it is just what it says, Land Bulava?:confused:
I don’t think Avangard is just the Bulava launched from a TEL. Bulava and Avangard will likely be like the SS-N-20 & SS-24 combo. So the first-midget stage of the SLBM will be exchanged by a much larger first stage better suited for ICBMs. In the end a 2 tn payload (10 warheads from the current 6 of the RS-24) should be expected.
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