Editing Strategic Rocket Forces (section)

== History ==
{{Further|Russia and weapons of mass destruction}}
The first Soviet rocket study unit was established in June 1946, by redesignating the 92nd [[Katyusha rocket launcher|Guards Mortar]] Regiment at [[Bad Berka]] in [[East Germany]] as the 22nd Brigade for Special Use of the [[Reserve of the Supreme High Command]].<ref>Michael Holm, [http://www.ww2.dk/new/rvsn/24gvmd.htm 24th Guards Rocket Division] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928095100/http://www.ww2.dk/new/rvsn/24gvmd.htm |date=September 28, 2011 }}, accessed December 2013.</ref> On October 18, 1947, the brigade conducted the first launch of the remanufactured former German [[V-2 rocket|A-4]] ballistic missile, or [[R-1 (missile)|R-1]], from the [[Kapustin Yar]] Range.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/agency/rvsn.htm|title=RVSN – Strategic Missile Forces – Russian and Soviet Nuclear Forces|website=fas.org|access-date=April 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710130532/https://fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/agency/rvsn.htm|archive-date=July 10, 2017|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In the early 1950s the 77th and 90th Brigades were formed to operate the R-1 (SS-1a 'Scunner'). The 54th and 56th Brigades were formed to conduct test launches of the [[R-2 (missile)|R-2]] (SS-2 'Sibling') at Kapustin Yar on June 1, 1952.

The 5th Scientific Research Proving Ground was established in 1955 in [[Kzyl-Orda Oblast]] at the town of Zarya later Leninsk, and finally in 1995 [[Baikonur]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ww2.dk/new/rvsn/5niip.htm|title=5th Scientific Research Proving Ground|website=www.ww2.dk}}</ref> Also established that year was the 43rd Independent Scientific Experimental Station ([[Klyuchi]], [[Kamchatka Krai]]) as an outstation of the Baikonur test site. Two years later "Object Angara" was formed at [[Plesetsk]], Arkhangelsk Oblast, which after another name change in 1959 eventually became the [[Plesetsk Cosmodrome|53rd Scientific Research Proving Ground]] in 1963.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ww2.dk/new/rvsn/53niip.htm | title=53rd Scientific Research Proving Ground }}</ref>

From 1959 the Soviets introduced a number of [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s (ICBMs) into service, including the [[R-12 (missile)|R-12]] (SS-4 'Sandal'), the [[R-7 Semyorka|R-7]] (SS-6 'Sapwood'), the [[R-16 (missile)|R-16]] (SS-7 'Saddler'), the [[R-9 Desna|R-9]] (SS-8 'Sasin'), the [[R-26 (missile)|R-26]] (given the NATO reporting name SS-8 'Sasin' due to incorrect identification as the R-9), the [[R-36 (missile)|R-36]] (SS-9 'Scarp'), and the [[RT-21 Temp 2S|RT-21]] (SS-16 'Sinner'), which was possibly never made fully operational.

By 1990 all early types of missiles had been retired from service. In 1990, the Strategic Missile Forces were officially established as a service branch of the Armed Forces under the direct control of the Defense Ministry. The date of its formal foundation, December 17, is celebrated as Strategic Missile Forces Day.

Two rocket armies were formed in 1960. The [[43rd Rocket Army]] and the [[50th Rocket Army]] were formed from the previous 43rd and 50th Air Armies of the [[Long Range Aviation]].

During a test of the [[R-16 (missile)|R-16 ICBM]] on October 24, 1960, the test missile exploded on the pad, killing the first commander of the SRF, [[Chief Marshal]] of Artillery [[Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin]]. This disaster, the details of which were concealed for decades, became known as the [[Nedelin catastrophe]]. He was succeeded by [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]] [[Kirill Moskalenko]] who was in turn quickly succeeded by Marshal [[Sergey Biryuzov]].<ref name=Holm /> Under Marshal Вiryuzov the SRF deployed missiles to Cuba in 1962 as part of [[Operation Anadyr]]. 36 [[R-12 (missile)|R-12]] [[intermediate range ballistic missile]]s were sent to Cuba, initiating the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]]. The 43rd Guards Missile Division of 43rd Rocket Army manned the missiles while in Cuba.<ref>{{Cite web | title=To the Chairman of the Defense Council | publisher=National Security Archive | url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB14/doc18.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808020830/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB14/doc18.htm | archive-date=August 8, 2010 }}</ref>

Marshal [[Nikolay Ivanovich Krylov|Nikolai Krylov]] took over in March 1963 and served until February 1972. During this time French President [[Charles de Gaulle]] visited the Strategic Missile Forces in 1966. Together with NI Krylov, he visited a missile division in Novosibirsk, and then at the invitation of Leonid Brezhnev participated in a demonstration missile launch at the [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]] in the [[Kazakh SSR]]. Chief Marshal of Artillery Vladimir Fedorovich Tolubko commanded the SRF from April 12, 1972, to July 10, 1985. Tolubko emphasised raising the physical fitness standards within the SRF and in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Strategic Rocket Forces began to field the new UR-100 (SS-11 'Sego') and UR-100N (SS-19 'Stilleto') ICBMs beginning with the [[43rd Rocket Army]] in the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]], providing them with longer range and more accurate missiles. He was succeeded by General of the Army Yury Pavlovich Maksimov, who was in command from July 10, 1985, to August 19, 1992.

According to a 1980 [[TIME Magazine]] article citing analysts from [[RAND Corporation]], [[Demographics of the Soviet Union|Soviet non-Slavs]] were generally barred from joining the Strategic Missile Forces because of suspicions about the loyalty of ethnic minorities to the state.<ref>Machine The U.S.S.R.: Moscow's Military Machine, ''[[TIME Magazine]]'', June 23, 1980</ref> Those who served in the Strategic Rocket Forces had better quality of living, food and also higher salaries than the ones paid to those serving in the [[Soviet Army]]. The majority of new recruits has, since its inception, consisted of mainly college and university graduates.

In 1989 the Strategic Missile Forces had over 1,400 ICBMs, 300 launch control centers, and twenty-eight missile bases.<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+su0469) Library of Congress Soviet Union Country Study] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018221737/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+su0469%29 |date=October 18, 2015}}, 1989</ref> The SMT operated [[RSD-10 Pioneer|RSD-10]] (SS-20 'Saber') intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) and [[R-12 Dvina|R-12]] (SS-4 'Sandal') medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs). Two-thirds of the road-mobile Soviet RSD-10 force was based in the western Soviet Union and was aimed at Western Europe.

One-third of the force was located east of the Ural Mountains and was targeted primarily against China. Older R-12 missiles were deployed at fixed sites in the western Soviet Union. The [[Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty]], signed in December 1987, called for the elimination of all 553 Soviet RSD-10 and R-12 missiles within three years. As of mid-1989, over 50% of RSD-10 and R-12 missiles had been eliminated.

By 1990 the Soviet Union had seven types of operational ICBMs. About 50% were heavy [[R-36M]] (SS-18 'Satan') and [[UR-100N]] (SS-19 'Stiletto') ICBMs, which carried 80% of the country's land-based ICBM warheads. By this time it was producing new mobile, and hence survivable ICBMs, the [[RT-23 Molodets|RT-23]] (SS-24 'Scalpel') and [[RT-2PM Topol|RT-2PM]] (SS-25 'Sickle').<ref name="ReferenceA">IISS Military Balance 1990–91, p.34</ref>

In 1990, with the R-12 apparently fully retired, the IISS reported that there were 350 [[UR-100]]s (SS-11 'Sego,' Mod 2/3), 60 [[RT-2]]s (SS-13 'Savage') still in service in one missile field, 75 [[UR-100MR]]s (SS-17 'Spanker,' Mod 3, with 4 MIRV), 308 R-36Ms (mostly Mod 4 with 10 MIRV), 320 UR-100Ns (mostly Mod 3 with 6 MIRV), some 60 RT-23s (silo and rail-mobile), and some 225 RT-2PMs (mobile).<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

'''Composition of the Strategic Missile Forces 1960–1991'''<ref>{{cite book 
  | last = Feskov
  | first = V.I.
  |author2=Kalashnikov, K.A. |author3=Golikov, V.I. 
  | title = The Soviet Army in the Years of the Cold War 1945–91
  | publisher= Tomsk University Publishing House
  | year = 2004
  | location = Tomsk
  | page = 132
  | isbn = 5-7511-1819-7}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Formation
!Headquarters Location
!Year formed as Corps
!Year formed as Army
!Year disbanded<ref name=Holm />
!Divisions
|-
|[[27th Guards Rocket Army]]||HQ [[Vladimir, Russia|Vladimir]], [[Moscow Military District]]||Sept. 1, 1959 ||1970 ||Still active ||[[7th Guards Rocket Division]], [[28th Guards Rocket Division]], (32 <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ww2.dk/new/rvsn/32md.htm |title=32nd Missile Division |publisher=Ww2.dk |access-date=2012-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928095554/http://www.ww2.dk/new/rvsn/32md.htm |archive-date=September 28, 2011 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref>), [[54th Guards Rocket Division]], [[60th Rocket Division]]
|-
|[[31st Rocket Army]] ||Orenburg, Urals Military District ||Sept. 5, 1965 || 1970 ||Still active ||[[8th Rocket Division|8th]], [[13th Red Banner Rocket Division|13th]], [[14th Rocket Division|14th]], ([[41st Guards Rocket Division|41st Guards]]), [[42nd Rocket Division|42nd]], 50, [[52nd Rocket Division|52nd]], (55), 59
|-
|[[33rd Guards Rocket Army]] ||[[Omsk]], [[Siberian Military District]] ||  1962 ||1970 ||Still active  ||23, (34), 35th, 36th Guards, 38, 39th Guards, 57, 62 
|-
|[[43rd Rocket Army]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nti.org/db/nisprofs/ukraine/forasst/fundukr.htm |title= Ukraine: Foreign Assistance:The CTR Program in Ukraine|website=www.nti.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101111015232/http://www.nti.org/db/nisprofs/ukraine/forasst/fundukr.htm |archive-date=November 11, 2010}}</ref> ||[[Vinnitsa]], [[Kiev Military District]] || {{center|—}} ||1960 ||May 8, 1996 ||19 ([[Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine|Khmelnitsky]]), 37th Guards ([[Lutsk]]), 43 ([[Kremenchug]]), [[44th Rocket Division|44]] ([[Kolomyia]], Ivano-Frankovsk Oblast, disbanded March 1990; [[46th Rocket Division|46]] ([[Pervomaisk, Mykolaiv Oblast]])
|-
|[[50th Rocket Army]]||[[Smolensk]], [[Belorussian Military District]] || {{center|—}} || 1960 ||June 30, 1990 ||1988:<ref name=Holm /> 7th Guards, 24th Guards ([[Gvardeysk]], Kaliningrad Oblast),<ref>Previously 92 BON, then given the combined-arms designation of 22nd RVGK special-purpose brigade, then 72nd RVGK Engineer Brigade, and in 1960 the 24th Guards Division of the RVSN was formed on its basis. http://www.ww2.dk/new/rvsn/24gvmd.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928095100/http://www.ww2.dk/new/rvsn/24gvmd.htm |date=September 28, 2011 }}</ref> 31st Guards (former 83rd Guards Bryansko-Berlinskaya Aviation (Missile) Division, renumbered July 1, 1960), 32nd (Postavy, Vitebsk Oblast), 40th, [[49th Guards Rocket Division|49th Guards]] ([[Lida]], [[Grodno Region]], 1963 to 1990), 58th (Karmelava, Lithuania) 
|-
|[[53rd Rocket Army]]<ref>Formed Chita in 1970 from the 8th Independent Missile Corps, under Colonel-General Yury Zabegaylov. Included 45th Rocket Division (disbanded 1970).</ref>  ||[[Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai|Chita]], [[Transbaikal Military District]]|| 1962 || June 8, 1970 || Sept. 16, 2002 ||1988:<ref name=Holm /> [[4th Rocket Division]] ([[Drovyanaya]], [[Chita Oblast]]), [[23rd Guards Rocket Division]] ([[Kansk]], assigned 1983–2002), 27th Rocket Division ([[Svobodny Cosmodrome|Svobodnyy]], [[Amur Oblast]]), 29th, 36th Guards, 47th Rocket Division ([[Olovyannaya]], [[Chita Oblast]])<ref>http://www.ww2.dk/new/rvsn/47md.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928095251/http://www.ww2.dk/new/rvsn/47md.htm |date=September 28, 2011 }} 47th Missile Division</ref> 
|}

RSVN training establishments included:<ref>Michael Holm, [https://www.ww2.dk/new/rvsn/rvsnschools.htm RSVN Schools]</ref>
*the [[Peter the Great Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces]] in Moscow;
*the Military Engineering Red Banner Institute imeni A.F. Mozhayskiy (VIKI) in Leningrad; 
*the Kharkov Higher Military Command Engineering School Missile Forces imeni Marshal of the Soviet Union N.I. Krylov
*the Krasnodar Higher Military Command Engineering School Missile Forces (KVVKIU) (1982–1998)
*the [[Perm Higher Military Command Engineering Red Banner School Missile Forces]] ([[:ru:Пермский военный институт ракетных войск]])
*the Riga Higher Military Political Red Banner School imeni Marshal of the Soviet Union S.S. Biryuzov (under the SRF from 1959 to 1993)
*the Rostov Higher Military Command Engineering School Missile Forces (RVVKIU) (1959 onwards)
*the [[Saratov Higher Military Command and Engineering School of Missile Forces]] (1959–2003 & 2024 onwards)
*the Serpukhov Higher Military Command Engineering School Missile Forces imeni Leninskiy Komsomol (SVVKU)