W-350 Burja

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The Burja cruise missile before take-off at the Kapustin Yar test site

W-350 Burja ( German  Sturm , Russian В-350 Буря ; also: Ла-350 (La-350), Ла-Х (La-Ch), "Изделие 350" (product 350)) was an intercontinental cruise missile for supersonic speeds, which was designed in the mid-1950s by NPO SA Lavochkin (then OKB -301). The first flight took place on September 1, 1957.

Development and testing

The Burja was the result of a development order from the Soviet Ministry of Defense from 1954. As part of this order, Myasishchev developed another missile called the M-40 Buran (not to be confused with the later Soviet space shuttle of the same name). The aerodynamic layout was developed by ZAGI . Burja should reach a constant speed of Mach 3.1-3.3 at altitudes of over 20 km and its range should be 6500 km. The RDS-37 thermonuclear warhead with an explosive force of 3 megatons was intended as the warhead. The construction was very modern for the state of the art at the time. Burja was the world's first supersonic cruise missile and the first cruise missile with the ability to fly over Mach 3 in the atmosphere for an extended period of time (over two hours).

A total of 18 test flights were completed between September 1, 1957 and December 16, 1960. Top speeds of 3700 km / h as well as a peak height of 25 km and a range of 6500 km were achieved. The project was abandoned in favor of the R-7 ballistic ICBM , as it was more difficult to combat by the enemy air defense.

description

Crack drawing

The burya was a two-stage rocket. The first stage was formed by two boosters with liquid rocket engines. The second stage - the actual cruise missile - consisted of a ramjet , the astroinertial navigation system and the warhead. The cruise missile was between the boosters. It had delta wings with a wingspan of 7.75 m. The first stage was fired for about 70 seconds, which brought the missile to 17.5 to 18 km altitude and accelerated to approximately 2.85 to 2.9 Mach. Then the ramjet engine was put into operation, the cruise missile was detached and the flight was carried out separately to its destination.

Analogies

There were two projects with similar objectives - the Soviet M-40 Buran and the American SM-64 Navaho . Buran and Navaho, however, had higher dead weights and thus more take-off weight than Burja (Navaho 135 t, Buran up to 175 t, Burja 95 t) and a slightly lower marching speed. Navaho remained an unsuccessful attempt to fly, as it did not achieve the planned or desired flight characteristics. Their maximum range was only 2000 kilometers and the speed was around 2500 km / h. The M-40 draft was built in Myasishchev's office and was already scheduled for testing, but never flew before the project was discontinued.

Others

The name Burja was also used for the anti-ship missile Ch-22 .

Technical specifications

  • Levels: 2
  • Take-off weight with the two boosters: 94,860 kg
  • Weight of the cruise missile with the warhead and fuel: approx. 33,000 kg
  • Range: up to 8500 km
  • Explosive force: 1 × 3 Mt
  • Accuracy ( CEP ): 8-10 km
  • Walking speed: Mach 3.1-3.3
  • Top speed: Mach 3.5 (3700 km / h)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Burya and Buran (Secrets of Soviet Equipment: Burja and Buran)