Miscellaneous Military Aerospace Stuff
 

Russia Releases Incredibly Detailed Views Of Its Massive ‘Satan’ Missile
The R-36M2, also known as the SS-18 Satan, is a giant ICBM that is still in frontline service with Russian strategic forces. - NOV 21, 2022

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...e-satan-missile

Why the Russians have decided to publicly show off these details about the R-36M2 is unclear. While these missiles are set to be replaced entirely, it's not known exactly when their successor, the RS-28 Sarmat, which the West calls the SS-X-30 Satan 2, will actually begin to enter service. The original plan was for those new ICBMs to start being loaded into silos last year, something that obviously did not come to pass.

The bus can carry up to 14 warheads, in two rows of 7. There is disagreement about the approximate yield of these warheads, with many sources saying they are in the 550-750 kiloton range, while some others suggest they could be more powerful, between 750 kilotons and one megaton.

Here's the MIRV bus and what are probably penetration aids (decoys). That's not an aerospike on the nose: "Kornev says that this protrusion on the Russian missile is actually part of the system for removing the nose cone from the rest of the payload bus so the warheads and penetration aids can be released."

https://www.thedrive.com/uploads/20...sile-russia.jpg

The protrusion:

https://www.thedrive.com/uploads/20...motor-close.jpg

Rear of MIRV bus:

https://www.thedrive.com/uploads/20...m2-bus-rear.jpg

US adversary ICBMs:

https://www.thedrive.com/uploads/20...cbm-graphic.jpg

Russian Intercontinental ballistic missile SS-18 Satan R36M2 Voevoda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypqL7kM2wZU

SS-18 Satan nuclear missile launch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxHOp2bBmsM

Top Gear - James May attempts to ignite a SS-18 Satan nuclear missile with a lighter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MgSmh3vXaQ

View the Unveiling of the B-21 Raider Live

In partnership with the U.S. Air Force, we will unveil the B-21 Raider tomorrow, December 2, 2022. Watch it live here beginning at 4:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. ET.

https://www.northropgrumman.com/wha...ir/b-21-raider/

Since that link mentions something about Flash(!) which reached end of life support in 2020, here's a YouTube supposedly live coverage link:

B21 Raider Rollout Livestream
Edwards Air Force Base channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chJlJgrvfBY

Extensive analysis. I've still only seen head-on photos, which is less than satisfying.

This Is The B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber (Updated)
The B-21 isn’t just America’s next stealth bomber, it’s the most advanced aircraft ever built and we’re finally allowed to see it. - DEC 2, 2022

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...-stealth-bomber

Red, White & Greenland: Stephen Cold-Bear is Lost in Space Force

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHBu-Xa7It4

Red, White & Greenland: A Tour of Thule Air Base

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByKxOiKwb4A

I post this because I just noticed that this is a modern solid propellant motor with control vanes in the exhaust:

9K720 Iskander

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K720_Iskander

The 9K720 Iskander (NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) is a mobile short-range ballistic missile system produced and deployed by the Russian military. The missile systems are to replace the obsolete OTR-21 Tochka systems, still in use by the Russian armed forces, by 2020. The Iskander has several different conventional warheads, including a cluster munitions warhead, a fuel–air explosive enhanced-blast warhead, a high-explosive fragmentation warhead, an earth penetrator for bunker busting and an electromagnetic pulse device for anti-radar missions. The missile can also carry nuclear warheads. In September 2017, the KB Mashinostroyeniya (KBM) general designer Valery M. Kashin said that there were at least seven types of missiles (and "perhaps more") for Iskander, including one cruise missile.

In service: 2006–present
Engine: Single-stage solid propellant
Operational range: 400–500 km (250–310 mi) for Iskander-M
Maximum speed: 2,000 m/s (Mach 5.9) burn-out velocity (hypersonic)
Guidance system: Inertial guidance, optical DSMAC (Iskander-M), TERCOM (Iskander-K), use of GPS / GLONASS in addition to the inertial guidance system and optical DSMAC terminal homing
Accuracy: 1–30 m (9K720), 5–7 m (Iskander-M)

Those cylindrical ports next to the nozzle are decoy dispensers. Photos of the decoys here:

Russia’s Use Of Iskander Ballistic Missiles In Ukraine Exposes Secret Decoy Capability
The novel decoy, ejected from the base of the missile, is designed to confuse hostile radar and interceptor missiles. - MAR 15, 2022

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...ecoy-capability

Satellite bombs, gliders, or ICBMs? Krafft Ehricke and early thinking on long-range strategic weapons
December 19, 2022

https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4500/1

During recent historical research at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) Archives, I located a document as part of the Krafft Ehricke Papers titled “Basic Analysis of Global Weapon Systems & Space Weapon Systems” from 1957.[1] At that time, ICBMs were still under development and satellites had not yet flown. There were questions on how to achieve the best deterrence to protect the United States. There were even questions regarding whether and how to position nuclear bombs in orbit. This newly discovered memo provides an interesting perspective on these issues.

The secret payloads of Russia’s Glonass navigation satellites
December 19, 2022

https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4502/1

Aside from their primary mission, Russia’s Glonass navigation satellites are being used for a number of little publicized secondary objectives. Instruments to detect nuclear explosions have been flown on Glonass satellites since early this century and two new payloads are expected to be introduced on the next generation of satellites in 2023. One will help locate and rescue military personnel in distress and the other likely is part of a signals intelligence system that will provide targeting data for sea-launched cruise missiles. Despite the secretive nature of these payloads, a significant amount of information on them can be gathered from publicly available sources.

F-117 Nighthawk and F-22 Raptor Details by Test Pilot Who Flew Both
 

This guy flew as test pilot on both. Wonderfully tech-detailed talk. The best I've seen.

F-117 Nighthawk and F-22 Raptor with Jim "JB" Brown President & CEO National Test Pilot School

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lltMfkj1yPU

Impressive cold launch and pitch-over sequence!

P-800 "Oniks" supersonic cruise missile / SS-N-26 "Strobile"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGeYQznZhpc

P-800 Oniks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-800_Oniks



The "nose fairing" is actually the orientation and pitch-over rockets section:





Launches with actual audio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-22myhg_nE&t=10s

Some friends and I in front of a Satan missile outside the Ukrainian plant where it was designed and built, Youzhnoye/Youzmash, in Dnipro (formerly Dnipropetrovsk), Ukraine 2016.

This plant is more commonly known in the west as the Yangel Design Bureau. It's where they designed and built the missiles of the Cuban Missile crisis as well as the later Scuds. Youzhnoye serviced the post-soviet Russian Satans until Russia cut them off.

My understanding is that some artillery has recently hit the plant but I am unsure how much overall damage the plant has sustained

In post-soviet times the plant has manufactured the Zenits used for Sea Launch, as well as a variety of other non-military rockets.

Very, very storied place.

And the Satan, up close, is a VERY impressive missile.