From the very moment that the main geopolitical players - the USSR and the USA - had unmanned means of delivery of nuclear weapons, a special phase of the arms race began. Each of the countries sought to possess such technical means that would make it possible to strike with impunity.
This competition had a downside: if a nuclear conflict does begin, the enemy, regardless of the success of his actions, should be punished. This means that even in the event of the destruction of all command and control structures, the death of the General Staff and the government, deadly carriers will be able to take off from underground mines, pass through all lines of missile defense, and bring down a barrage of retaliation on the aggressor’s head.
It is precisely such a task that the Satan missile, which was created in the USSR and has been on alert duty since 1975, is able to fulfill it.
In fact, it is correctly called differently - R-36M, and its complex includes, in addition to the missile itself, many devices, including a protective container and various protective equipment, allowing to maintain combat readiness even in the event of repeated nuclear attack on the deployment area of the launch system. There is also a classification adopted by NATO, according to which all Soviet strategic delivery vehicles are indicated by the letters SS and a double-digit number. According to her, the Satan rocket carries the SS-18 code.
It is not easy to earn such a name. The personification of universal evil inspires infinite horror. To the question "why did the Americans name the R-36M complex so?" You can find the answer if you get acquainted with the characteristics of the specified weapons. At the same time, not the deadly charges in the missile’s warhead (which won’t surprise anyone) deserve more attention, but the qualities that make it practically invulnerable, both on the ground (or rather, underneath), and at all stages of flight.
If peace reigns on the planet, and no one threatens Russia with a nuclear strike, the Satan intercontinental missile (our name is Voevoda) can be in a special storage or on alert duty. In the latter case, it should be fueled, which theoretically reduces the duration of its service. In order for the duration to be as long as possible, the fuel used in the steps is ampouled. Activation of tank contents occurs only after a command to start the engine.
The Satan strategic missile belongs to the heavy class, its mass exceeds two hundred tons. Accordingly, the weight that it can deliver to the target is also considerable - 7.3 tons. Modern nuclear ammunition is relatively light, and even eight charges (and this is provided for by the design) can be easily lifted by a less powerful carrier.
The Satan missile was made large because in its combat compartment, in addition to the main cargo, there are distracting targets intended to mislead the potential missile defense forces. The total impact of equipment elements is capable of oversaturating the computing power of any missile defense system, not only modern, but also promising.
To maintain the combat effectiveness of a weapon, the resistance of its control system to electromagnetic pulses is very important . The Satan missile will maintain the combat course, regardless of the intensity of the created interference, and create its own.
At the negotiations on START-2, the American delegation persistently proposed to exclude the R-36M from the Russian arsenal, which suggests that this complex causes them concern. Nevertheless, at present more than one and a half hundred silo-type launchers from 308 Soviet ones remain on combat duty. As long as the Satan rocket is not outdated (and this will probably happen soon), the Russians can be sure that any aggressor will beware of attacking. However, there is reason to hope that the next generation of strategic weapons will be able to guarantee the reliable protection so needed in today's complex world.