Tests of Combat Railway Complexes: in Pursuit of the "MX"

In the early 1980s, a collaboration of scientific research and industrial enterprises led by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles on railway platforms for the first time in the world. The missiles created for this purpose matched the latest American MX missiles in tactical and technical characteristics, and the ability to move along the country's railways made them practically invulnerable to technical reconnaissance and weapons of a potential enemy. To test missiles and combat railway missile systems equipped with them in difficult climatic and geographical conditions of the Arkhangelsk region, an experimental test base (technical and launch sites, etc.) and infrastructure facilities (railways, bridges, etc.) were built, test formations were created, and engineering and technical personnel were trained. In 1983-1991, military units of the 53rd Scientific Research Range of the USSR Ministry of Defense conducted tests (flight, transport, climatic, resistance to the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion, etc.) of missiles, as well as combat railway complexes equipped with them in general. During the tests, significant changes were made to the design of the rocket and the complex as a whole. The tests resulted in the approval for service use of the RT-23UTTH combat railway missile system, which has had no counterparts in the world up to the present time. The purpose of this article is to summarize information about the testing of combat missile railway complexes at the 53rd Scientific Research Range of the USSR Ministry of Defense. In addition to official documents and technical literature, the authors used information from the archives of test military units and memoirs of direct participants in the events