Missile A-135 Amur

The A-135 Amur is an anti-ballistic missile system defending Moscow and the surrounding region against incoming warheads. It was designed in the Soviet Union as the successor to the A-35 and its ABM-1 Galosh interceptor, within the limits set by the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. A 1985 Soviet planning memo specified completion in 1987 against a strike of one to two modern ICBMs and up to 35 Pershing II-class intermediate-range missiles. The system reached alert status on 17 February 1995.

The A-135 pairs the Don-2N battle management radar with two interceptor types. Don-2N is a phased array radar with 360-degree coverage; it receives tracking data through the national command centre, which draws on the wider early-warning network of Daryal bistatic phased array radars, Dnepr and Dnestr space surveillance radars, Voronezh phased array radars, and the US-KMO, US-K and EKS early-warning satellites. Software upgrades were tested on the prototype Don-2NP at Sary Shagan in 2007.

NATO gave each interceptor its own reporting name. The 53T6 (ABM-3 Gazelle, earlier SH-08) is the endoatmospheric round and the only one still on alert; the specification table on this page describes it. It is a two-stage solid-propellant missile designed in 1978 and in service since 1995, guided by radio command from Don-2N and carrying an AA-84 nuclear warhead. Each round sits in a silo launch container whose cover is blown clear immediately before firing. Published figures put its burnout speed near 5.5 km/s and its engagement envelope between 5 and 30 km of altitude.

The 51T6 (ABM-4 Gorgon) was the exoatmospheric round, a two-stage solid-fuel missile about 19.8 m long and 2.57 m in diameter, with a launch weight between 33 and 45 tonnes, a stated reach of 350 to 900 km and a nuclear warhead. It was deactivated in February 2007 and its launchers remain at two sites in retired condition. The system as a whole is frequently listed under the Gorgon reporting name.

Russia operates the system through the 9th Division of Anti-Missile Defence, under the Air Defence and Missile Defence Command of the Aerospace Forces. Active 53T6 launchers are spread across five sites around Moscow, and an operational test version of the system stands at the Sary Shagan range in Kazakhstan, where rounds are fired roughly annually. A test in November 2017 engaged a target travelling at up to 3 km/s, with the interceptor pulling 100 g under acceleration and 210 g in pre-intercept manoeuvring.

Replacement is under way with the road-mobile A-235 Nudol (PL-19). Long-range rounds are expected to keep nuclear warheads while shorter-range interceptors use kinetic kill vehicles. The A-235 was planned around three echelons: a long-range missile derived from the A-925, the 58R6 medium-range complex, and the PRS-1M (45T6) — a modernised 53T6 able to take a nuclear or a conventional warhead, credited with reaching targets at 350 km and 50 km of altitude, and intended for the vacated 51T6 silos. Testing began in August 2014, with firings at Plesetsk Cosmodrome on 15 April 2020 and a further test on 2 December 2022. On 15 November 2021 a Nudol missile destroyed the Kosmos 1408 satellite, generating debris that forced the International Space Station crew to shelter.