R-12 missile (SS-4 Sandal)

Development

The R-12 was a liquid-fuelled, single-stage medium-range ballistic missile developed by Mikhail Yangel's OKB-586 at Dnipropetrovsk. It was the first Soviet strategic missile to use storable propellants and a fully autonomous inertial guidance system, powered by the four-chamber RD-214 engine built by Valentin Glushko's OKB-456 and burning the nitric-acid oxidizer AK-27I with the hydrocarbon fuel TM-185. The date of approval differs between sources: the official Yuzhnoye history gives 13 February 1953, while another account reports 13 August 1955. The first test launch took place at Kapustin Yar on 22 June 1957 and continued through December 1958. Western intelligence believed an initial operational capability was reached in late 1958, while Russian sources date introduction into the inventory to 4 March 1959.

Deployment and the Cuban Crisis

The first five regiments with surface-based R-12s went on alert on 15-16 May 1960, and the silo-launched R-12U (8K63U) was accepted for service on 15 July 1963. The R-12 and R-12U reached their maximum operational launcher inventory of 608 in 1964-1966. During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, three R-12 regiments were deployed to Cuba under Operation Anadyr, while the R-14 missiles were never delivered because of the United States blockade. From the late 1970s the type began to be phased out and replaced by the mobile ground-launched RSD-10 Pioneer.

Elimination

Under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed on 8 December 1987 and entered into force on 1 June 1988, the R-12 became subject to elimination. At the Lesnaya facility in Belarus, 149 missiles were destroyed, the last of them in May 1990. Separately, the R-12 served as the first stage of the Kosmos 63S1 and 11K63 space launch vehicles, which placed Kosmos 1 into orbit on 16 March 1962.