FLUG REVUE December 2004: Wolna launcher detailed

VOLNA: THE SUBMARINE-BASED LAUNCHER

By Matthias Gründer

Today the Russian Navy still has twelve strategic nuclear submarines, six in the North Sea and six in the Pacific. Each of the Delta III monsters (type 667BDR) in the Pacific is capable of launching twelve R-29R intercontinental missiles, each of which in turn has three warheads. Even though it bears no relation Volna launcher

to the arsenal that was maintained in the Cold War era, today this remains a formidable destructive force.

Like all nuclear missiles on Russian submarines, the R-29R missile originates from the Makeyev Design Bureau in Miass /Ural. Here there is a wealth of experience in the construction of powerful missile systems which, tailored for the tight space constraints on board ships, have to be small, compact and safe, while at the same time having enormous range and destructive force.

In this area the specialists have achieved some interesting technical solutions. Thus, for example, they designed a “drowned” engine for the second stage which is suspended in the fuel tank of the first stage. Once the latter has burnt out, it is blasted open along the longitudinal weld like a zip fastener. The warhead also swims in the opposite direction to the direction of flight in the second stage tank and is only turned around during the flight path.

But the end of the Cold War put paid to any further orders from the military. In 1996 Makeyev was forced to discontinue production due to lack of orders. What could be more sensible now than to commercially market the knowledge and capabilities of its staff? Suddenly a new satellite launcher appeared on the market: Volna (which means “wave” in Russian), once the backbone of the Russian fleet.

MODIFICATIONS AFTER TWO FAILED LAUNCHES

Collaboration with the Moscow design bureau, Babakin, an offshoot of Lavochkin, proved particularly promising, as the experts there had some experience in the design of spacecraft. On 20 July 2001, the submerged submarine Borisoglebsk fired the first of the modified missiles from underwater, on board the Cosmos-1 solar sail. With the aid of the Re-entry Descent Technology (IRDT) inflatable vehicle, this was supposed to return to earth from an altitude of over 400km for a landing in Kamchatka.

Unfortunately, the experiment did not succeed and, furthermore, the Demonstrator 2 payload, launched on 12 July 2002 from the Ryazan submarine, was also lost. Two failed launches after a track record of 146 successful flights – this was not exactly a recommendation for Makeyev's entry into the satellite transport business. After extensive investigation it turned out that the separation mechanism between the second stage and the top of the payload had failed, damaging the experimental capsule. As a result, the onboard computer had in both cases terminated the flight.

The separation mechanism in turn was one of the components that had been specially developed for the civil Volna. Now that, according to the manufacturer, all the problems have been resolved, a third attempt at demonstrating the commercial use of the missile is planned. Before the end of this year the Volna will once again carry a solar sail up to an altitude of 410km, from where, boosted by a US kick stage, it should be carried out to 850km. Once in orbit, tests will be conducted with the aim of establishing the extent to which propulsion using solar wind is possible and economic.

However, the missile has one drawback: because it is launched from a tube on a narrow submarine, its payload capacity is limited, and, moreover, it is not exactly easy for Western customers to prepare launches on Russian nuclear submarines. For this reason, the Admiralty has said it is prepared to allow more powerful variants of the missile to be launched from the Nyonoksa naval base near Archangelsk. Thus it would appear that there is a future for the former terror of the oceans after all.

From FLUG REVUE 12/2004

Last updated 11 November 2004

FLUG REVUE, Ubierstr. 83, 53173 Bonn, Germany