In October of 1962, Russian R-12 and R-14 nuclear missiles were stationed in Cuba, a mere ninety miles away from the Florida coastline. If launched, they could have reached the United States in minutes, killing millions.
Meanwhile, in Italy and Turkey,45 United States PGM-19 Jupiter missiles had their nuclear-armed tips pointed towards Russia. Had the conflict escalated, and both forces discharged their arsenal, human history would likely have ended with a bang in 1962. This was the Cuban Missile Crisis.
It’s been 58 years since the incident occurred. Since then, Russia and the United States have both developed missile technology that makes the arms of the Cold War seem quaint by comparison. While, thankfully, the US and Russia are not currently at war, it begs the question: Who today has superior missile technology?
And would this give them an edge if conflict were ever to reignite?
Today we’re going to discuss the respective arsenals of the two countries – including their air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and the infamous inter-continental ballistic missiles - and see who comes out on top.
Firstly,
their air-to-air capabilities. To be clear, air-to-air missiles refers to a missile fired from one aircraft with the specific purpose of destroying another. These weapons are most commonly used during Air Combat Maneuvering or ACM. Two such missiles employed by the US Air Force are the AIM-7 Sparrow and the AIM-9 Sidewinder.
The AIM-7 is a medium-range, radar-guided missile with a blast fragmentation warhead, designed for all-weather and altitudes. It was used heavily by pilots in the Persian Gulf Wars and has an operational range of 43 miles.
The AIM-9 is a supersonic missile with infrared homing technology, allowing it to track the heat of its targets – deployed in its first iteration in 1956, with a current operational range of 22 miles.
However, for the last thirty years, the true backbone of the United States air-to-air missile arsenal has been the AIM-120 AMRAAM. First released in 1991, the AMRAAM is a lighter, faster improvement on the AIM-7, with an operational range of eighty-six miles. It boasts an active radar system and beyond-visual-range capability. This means that the missile has greater independence from the fire-control system of the aircraft that launched it, allowing for greater combat capabilities than previous missile technology.
The two air-to-air missiles at the heart of Russia’s Air Force are the R-77, introduced in 2002, and the incredibly new R-37 – which was only introduced last year. The R-77 is Russia’s response to the American AIM-120, it’s a medium-range missile with active-radar homing capabilities.
But can it beat the AIM-120 on the technical specs?
The R-77M, the latest iteration of the missile, boasts an operational range of approximately one-hundred-and-twenty miles. This surpasses the AIM-120 by a considerable 34 miles. While things are already looking bleak for the US here, it is with the R-37M that the Russians truly begin to surpass their American counterparts. The R-37 not only has the active radar capabilities of the AIM-120 and R-77, but it also has the devastating maximum operational range of almost 250 miles.
It also dominates the AIM-120 in terms of speed, with a shocking 1,500 mph disparity between the two in the R-37’s favour.
When it comes to ACM, Russia takes the win, but maybe not for long.
Even now the US Air Force is constructing storage facilities to securely store the first test batch of AIM-260 missiles, which were fast-tracked in development by Congress in response to advance in Russian- but especially Chinese- missile technology. Very little is known about this new missile, but it is rumoured to have some truly next-generation tech!
Next,
air-to-surface missiles, or ASMs.
These are missiles launched from aircraft onto land or sea targets. The United States military’s primary ASM is the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile or JASSM. This weapon has been in use by the US Air Force since 2009, and – in its latest iterations boasts both anti-jam GPS and infrared target-acquisition technology. It also has a thousand-pound penetrator warhead and an operational range well above 500 miles. Meaning, if you have a JASSM coming at you, you’re seriously out of luck.
The US Navy’s preferred ASM is the AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER or Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response. An older missile, the SLAM-ER has been in service since the year 2000.
It has an operational range of 170 miles but makes up for its lower operational range with vast improvements in control.
As a Cruise Missile, the SLAM-ER utilizes Command Guidance, meaning the missile can be controlled and redirected by ground units towards appropriate targets.
If, for example, its intended target is destroyed, the SLAM-ER can be directed towards another. Russia’s non-Soviet air-to-surface arsenal is considerably thinner on the ground.
However, in 2018, ten MiG-31s supersonic Russian interceptor aircraft were released on an experimental basis carrying new Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missiles.
Due to being such recent additions to the battlefield, there’s less concrete information about the Kinzhal. However, it has been reported that the Kinzhal has a high-explosive warhead 100 pounds greater than the American JASSM. What’s more, there have also been reports that the Kinzhal can sustain nuclear capabilities, hugely increasing its potential lethality.
Russian state media has also released claims that the most advanced iteration of the Kinzhal has an almost two-thousand-mile operational range.
However, it’s worth noting that many American spectators have suggested these claims are
vastly exaggerated for propaganda purposes. In light of this, the more tried-and-tested American missiles take the win.
Next,
surface-to-surface missiles.
This refers to missiles launched from a ground source, such as a shoulder or vehicle-mounted launcher, intending to eliminate a ground target. Thanks to America’s long history of participating in ground warfare, there are numerous strong contenders in this area. In terms of man-portable artillery, you can’t go wrong with the FGM-148 Javelin. This is one of the US Infantry’s most popular missiles, being introduced in 1996 and having over 5,000 recorded firings by January of last year.
The Javelin is a powerful anti-tank missile that destroys targets with its High-Explosive-Anti-Tank (or HEAT) warhead. The Javelin has also proven highly effective against enemy fortifications during ground combat.
Since the 1970s, American Infantrymen have also made liberal use of the BGM-71 TOW.
This is a heavier anti-tank missile, fired from a portable tripod rather than a shoulder-mounted launcher. It’s been utilised in almost every American conflict since the Vietnam war and is used heavily today by American troops in the Syrian Civil War. US infantry also uses the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System or ATACMS.
These tactical ballistic missiles can be blasted out of Multiple Rocket Launchers to eliminate short-range ground targets. These missiles were particularly popular during the Iraq War of 2003, with over 450 ATACMS being fired during the conflict. However, by far the deadliest US military ground missile is the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile.
The Tomahawk is a devastating, long-range cruise missile employed by the US Navy since 1983. It’s capable of striking land targets within an eight-hundred-mile range. The Tomahawk also boasts a thousand-pound high-explosive warhead, and in the past has even been equipped with nuclear capabilities.
If a Naval ship armed with a Tomahawk wants you dead, you don’t really have much say in the matter.
While a grand majority of Russia’s surface-to-surface missiles are essentially Soviet hand-me-downs, Russia does have one missile that functions as an answer to the Tomahawk: The 3M-54 Kalibr, first introduced in 1994. This cruise missile’s high-explosive warhead is over a hundred pounds heavier than its American counterpart, has an almost three-thousand-mile
operational range, and reaches supersonic speeds.
The Kalibr is designed mainly as an anti-ship missile but has proven to be extremely effective in eliminating ground targets in conflicts like the Syrian Civil War.
While the United States surface-to-surface arsenal is more versatile, no missile in their collection has quite the calibre of the Kalibr. Russia takes the win.
Next,
surface-to-air missiles.
largely defensive, ground-or-ship-launched missiles designed to take out enemy aircraft and cruise missiles. The three tentpoles of the US surface-to-air arsenal are The RIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile (or ERAM), the Avenger Air Defense System, and the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System, or NASAMS. Each serves a highly specific function.
The RIM-174, a long-range ship-launch missile, takes out high-speed air targets over land and sea. The Avenger Air Defense System uses short-range FIM-92 Stinger missiles to take out low-flying targets. And the NASAMS utilizes medium-ranged SLAMRAAM missiles – a surface-launched variant of the AIM-120 we discussed earlier – to protect Washington DC, and other high-priority targets.
The Russian equivalent to these systems is the 2K11 Krug, the 2K12 Kub, and the 2K22 Tunguska.
All three of these technologies were first invented by the Soviets, before modernization for use by the Russian Federation. The Tunguska is Russia’s answer to the Avenger Air Defense System – taking on low-flying targets with short-range 9M311 missiles. The Kub functions on the low-to-medium air target range, utilising 3M9 missiles. And the Krug is Russia’s medium-to-long range air defence missile system, utilising heavy 9M8 missiles with 330-pound high-explosive warheads to blast planes and cruise missiles to kingdom come. On this front, the United States takes the win, for their significantly more modern and advanced surface-to-air defence systems. Finally, the Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles, or ICBMs. These are the missiles to end all missiles with unparalleled speed, range, and raw destructive power.
While the previous missiles can also be useful assets in conventional warfare, ICBMs can turn the tide, or end a conflict altogether. Before we discuss the United States’ and Russia’s ICBM technology, let’s first quickly explain how ICBMs work. An ICBM is a land-launched missile with an operational range of three-and-a-half-thousand miles, at minimum. They carry conventional or nuclear payloads into low earth orbit, travelling at incredible speeds. When positioned above its intended target, the missile fractures, dropping the nose cone which contains the deadly warhead down onto the target.
From this point, the target is mere minutes away from being struck often to utterly devastating results. Some ICBMs are even capable of holding multiple warheads, giving them unmatched destructive power compared to any weapon ever invented by human beings.
The quintessential United States ICBM is the LGM-30 Minuteman, which comprises the “land”
a portion of the US Nuclear Triad. The first iteration of the Minuteman entered service in 1962 the same year as the Cuban missile crisis and has undergone substantial technological improvements since then.
It offers an operational range above 80000 miles, travels at approximately 17,508 miles per hour, and is accurate to mere eight-hundred feet.
The current iteration The Minuteman III is equipped with W78 and W87 thermonuclear warheads.
America’s current ICBM arsenal consists of approximately four-hundred-and fifty-Minutemen, stationed across Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota.
However, the Russian ICBM arsenal is both larger and considerably more diverse.
For starters, due to massively overproducing ICBMs during the Cold War, the modern Russian Federation has a stockpile of “legacy” missiles from their Soviet predecessors. These missiles - many of which are still in use today - include 20 silo-based RS-18As, 46 silo-based R-36s, and 45 road-mobile RT-2PM Topol.
But, of far greater interest in Russia’s modern ICBM stockpile, which falls into three main categories. First, the RT-2PM2 Topol-M. This missile has an operational range of 6800 miles, a speed of 16,400 miles per hour, and is accurate to approximately 660 feet.
Russia currently operates eighteen mobile and sixty silo-based Topol-Ms. Secondly, the RS-24 Yars, an improvement on the Topol-M. This boasts a maximum operational range of seven-thousand-five-hundred miles, a speed of 15,220 miles per hour, and is accurate to an insane four-hundred-and-ninety-two feet. Russia has 14 silo-based and 135 road-mobile RS-24s. Finally, Russia’s latest ICBM, the RS-28 Sarmat - or Satan 2, according to NATO codenames.
This terrifyingly-named weapon was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, and concludes its final testing phases this year, with 46 of the missiles expected to be produced by the end of 2021.
With testing still underway, the full capabilities of the Sarmat are not yet fully clear, and the Russian military is playing its cards close to its chest.
The missile’s operational range is expected to be more than six-thousand miles, but considering the Sarmat’s development history is marred with delays, the weapon is still surrounded in uncertainty. The question of whether the United States or Russia has a superior arsenal of ICBMs is still up for debate. Russia does indeed have a larger and more diverse force of missiles in this area.
However, even the most technologically advanced Russian ICBM currently available can’t match the technological capabilities of the modernized Minuteman III.
Though it goes without saying that if either country ever deployed its ICBM stockpile there would be truly devastating results. Even more so than during the Cuban Missile Crisis, America and Russia, individually possess the nuclear capabilities to end all human life.
They have two of the largest arsenals in the world, with only China rising to meet them. It’s worth revisiting our initial question one more time: Who has the better missile technology, overall?
By the metrics of this blog, they’re about even, with their strengths and advancements resting in different areas.
One thing we can be grimly sure about, though: If America and Russia ever entered another full-scale war, whoever came out on top, nobody would win. Enjoyed learning about how the United States’ and Russia’s missile technology measure up?
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