R-9 Desna

The R-9 Desna, known to Western analysts as the SS-8 Sasin, was a two-stage Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile burning kerosene with liquid oxygen. It was designed by the OKB-1 bureau under Sergei Korolev, whose proposal for a lighter ICBM with a launch weight near 100 tons went to the Soviet government in April 1958 and was approved a little over a year later. It carried a single warhead in the megaton class, and the GlobalSecurity account gives a maximum range of about 6,000 nautical miles for a 3,500 pound reentry vehicle. Flight tests began at Baikonur and later moved to the Desna-N complex, with 54 tests in all, of which 15 of the first 32 ended in engine failure. Three launch complexes were built: the Desna-N and Valley ground sites and the Desna-V silo site, the Valley design allowing a launch within 20 minutes of the missile leaving its depot. Deployment began on 21 July 1965, soft-site phase out started in 1971, and the R-9A had been withdrawn entirely by 1976. The page does not describe any combat use.