Russian Nuclear Missile Trains Are being Re-Activated

Nope, not yet. They don't have rail-launched SS-24s but are looking to maybe have a smaller version of it rail-mounted in a few years.

But not yet.

This is a very old story, BTW, was news over 3 years ago of the possibility.

Is there any documented source to the picture or date?  At a minimum it looks to me like it would be difficult to accelerate the train without the rocket falling backwards.  I wonder how they handle the guy wires that stabilize the rocket during transit?  Wouldn't firing the rocket damage the carrier car, the track, the roadbed?  I think a trucking system with trailer mounted rockets are far more realistic.

The photo in the original post in from a museum exhibit, looks like the railway museum in St. Petersburg. The SS-24 missiles on those trains were tucked horizontally in the cars, then raised to the vertical for launch.

The USAF planned on putting Peacekeeper ICBMs on trains from FE Warren AFB in Cheyenne, but it never came to pass. The Russians were very happy that never happened, as each Peacekeeper missile has 10 re-entry vehicles, each with a very high yield. The funny part is I read some of the USAF plan and they had intended on painting fake road names and even fake graffiti and rust on those cars so train fans wouldn't notice anything different. Yeah, as if a train buff wouldn't have spotted one of them right away...

p51 posted:

The photo in the original post in from a museum exhibit, looks like the railway museum in St. Petersburg. The SS-24 missiles on those trains were tucked horizontally in the cars, then raised to the vertical for launch.

The USAF planned on putting Peacekeeper ICBMs on trains from FE Warren AFB in Cheyenne, but it never came to pass. The Russians were very happy that never happened, as each Peacekeeper missile has 10 re-entry vehicles, each with a very high yield. The funny part is I read some of the USAF plan and they had intended on painting fake road names and even fake graffiti and rust on those cars so train fans wouldn't notice anything different. Yeah, as if a train buff wouldn't have spotted one of them right away...

Somehow, I don't think plastering Union Pacific or Pennsylvania on the side would've fooled anyone:

Rusty

Rusty Traque posted:

Somehow, I don't think plastering Union Pacific or Pennsylvania on the side would've fooled anyone:

No doubt you're right about that. That said, the USAF was aware of train fans and how the "Peacekeeper Rail Garrison" trains would be spotted by foamers. But this was in a pre-internet era where they weren't too worried because other than phone calls, the word wouldn't have likely gotten too far on where the trains were going.

Mind you, unlike their Russian counterparts, there's no way a real ICBM-loaded train would have taken to the high iron except in the case of a likely launch. Ground Launched Cruise missiles had those rules for departing their hardened shelters and the rules of engagement for the security forces accompanying something like this is very open-ended. Any interaction between civilians and the crews often would've ended in a lot of expended brass on the ground and plenty of bullet holes. In short; if you got in the way of a nuke in transit for combat deployment, even by accident, you were probably going to be ventilated at the hands of someone in BDUs and a dark blue beret.

Pravda has a new article on activation of these trains dated June 2016. Available through Drudge report.

The system is called "Bargusin" and it is indeed new news, although whether or not this is sabre-rattling remains to be seen. Rail missile systems were initially restricted by treaty. As of 2011 this is no longer true.

I wonder if the USAF middle carrier could be weighted down to fit a three axle truck, then one could discuss the car as a Superdome.

Tommy posted:

Pravda has a new article on activation of these trains dated June 2016. Available through Drudge report.

There's a trustworthy souce. 

(As widely reported, the Drudge Report has a history of fabricating or misrepresenting stories.)

Russia has an economy in trouble. Its problems have been compounded greatly by sanctions (due to invasion of Crimea) and lower oil prices. (See report of the World Bank.) Although they have prioritized modernizing their military, they have more pressing military needs (such as production of their new Armada tank), and it seems highly doubtful they would be spending their precious assets on something wild like this right now. The stories about re-activation of train-mounted ICBMs were circulated before Crimea, and before the drop in oil prices. 

If this is pursued, it probably won't begin to happen until 2018 at the very earliest, if then. (see Lee's (P-51) comments above.)

breezinup posted:

Tommy posted:

Pravda has a new article on activation of these trains dated June 2016. Available through Drudge report.

There's a trustworthy souce. 

(As widely reported, the Drudge Report has a history of fabricating or misrepresenting stories.)

You do know that Pravda is a real Russian newspaper? 

No need to prattle politics this is a discussion on trains not on what news sources you like or disagree with. 

Not that it matters much at this point, but the Peacekeeper rail option would have used rails constructed on federal lands (FE Warren; Nevada Test Site; etc.) coupled with inground bunker storage prior to activation.  No use of the "public" rails.  It was always assumed that the launch car and immediate track area would be destroyed at launch, but at that point, would anyone care?

Poppyl

Rule292 posted:

breezinup posted:

Tommy posted:

Pravda has a new article on activation of these trains dated June 2016. Available through Drudge report.

There's a trustworthy souce. 

(As widely reported, the Drudge Report has a history of fabricating or misrepresenting stories.)

You do know that Pravda is a real Russian newspaper? 

 

Which one? The Pravda paper is today run by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, whereas the online Pravda.ru is privately owned and has international editions published in Russian, English, Italian and Portuguese. As to the Commie-run version, obviously the Party has its own agenda when publishing its "news."

Old joke about Russian papers: "As the names of the main Communist newspaper and the main Soviet newspaper, Pravda and Izvestia, meant "the truth" and "the news" respectively, a popular saying was "there's no truth in Pravda and no news in Izvestia"."

The U.S. has had these systems for years and is ready to retaliate.

breezinup posted:

The U.S. has had these systems for years and is ready to retaliate.

Are you threatening to launch that at my exploding ammo dump?

word has it that the USAF is reconsidering placing Minuteman missiles on train cars. the Russians already have several mobile missiles on impressive trucks and they dont really need missile trains --but we will see.

As for damaging the launcher, a cold gas launch system would likely be used

Bob C.

..and the rockets red glare ...

No guy wires

I don't really care about all that anyhow

......as long as they don't launch one of these babies my way

Hi,

Maybe a subscriber to "Aviation Week" could fill us in on what's happening in the world of ICBMs, both foreign and domestic. Any AW readers on our forum?

Take care all,

Dick

HMM. Do you think the Missile and launcher could be fit and disguised as a "supertanker"?

How about one of these?

Maybe a Schnabel design with a "load"

For all that $$, you think that DOD would have consulted with Hollywood designers and /or railroaders before the final product was completed for STEALTH reasons.

And didn't someone tell the "design engineers" that even RR's would not be fooled by consist like these!

a Tanker after the loco is against FRA rules as well as a huge security risk.

hmm.. This one has 4 trucks per launcher.

Kelly Anderson posted:

aussteve posted:

Wouldn't firing the rocket damage the carrier car, the track, the roadbed?  I think a trucking system with trailer mounted rockets are far more realistic.

 

I would think that if we are swapping nukes, within an hour or two, nobody's going to be around to really care if the car or roadbed is damaged from the launch.

The old MAD principle - mutually assured destruction. When I was living in eastern North Carolina, we knew we were toast due to Fort Bragg and Seymour Johnson just down the road.

Recently heard Prof. Stephen Cohen, of Princeton Univ and the Brookings Institute, a political scientist who is an expert on Russia, saying that NATO is conducting exercises near the Russian border with Poland (by some 15 or 20 miles) with 30,000 troops. This is the largest contingent of foreign troops on the Russian border since 1941 ! Perhaps that is what is stimulating Russian talk of activating their missile trains ?