1 956 March1day, the presidium of the Soviet Central Committee made a resolution to develop the long-range missile -7, and strived to complete the missile development work one year before the end of the year. The whole development work was carried out by Sabrov, Ustinov, Calm Chev, Fortsov, Neshenko? With Layabikov? The Committee is responsible for. Soon after, on March 20, resolution 379-243 on P-7 missiles was adopted. The resolution requires that the factory installation and debugging of the equipment be completed before May 10; Complete the launch pad test at the end of July; Complete all missile components and their tests before the end of September; The launch time of the first missile was 1 1 month or 65438+February of that year.

In the following months, the first batch of missile components were produced in the experimental plant of the 88th Research Institute, and launch tests were started. The Yun -5 experimental missile that increased the flight distance was also launched at the same time.

For the first time, the P-7 missile is bound by the first and second-stage engine groups, and the oil discharge synchronous combat system is adopted. In order to improve the shooting accuracy of missiles, a radar yaw correction system is adopted. The yaw radar measuring instrument can control the yaw and speed of the missile, so as to correct the engine group. 1953 started the development of missile control system, and then produced missile engines, a large number of random equipment and ground tracking stations.

1956 June 5438+00, missile parts arrived at the launch base in batches. The assembled missile is about 30 meters long, with a maximum width of 10 meter, a weight of 300 tons and a maximum thrust of 486 tons. This was the largest missile in the world at that time. March 1957, the missile entered the technical position. 15 In May, the Soviet Union conducted the first intercontinental missile P-7(8K7 1) test, but after flying for 103 seconds, the missile gave an emergency stop order because of firepower, and the missile fell 300 kilometers away from the launch point. But after all, the missile flew! Subsequent launches in June 10 and July 12 also failed due to control system failure and missile burning during launch. After three consecutive failures, chief designer Korolev felt pain, hesitation and anxiety.

After accident analysis, the first intercontinental missile P-7 test was finally successfully carried out at Baikonur shooting range on August 2 1 day of the same year. The warhead weight model flew 5600 kilometers and arrived at Kamchatka shooting range. After that, 16 pieces were specially produced for launch test, and four of them reached Kamchatka shooting range, but the overall deviation was great. 1959 A nuclear warhead missile test was conducted on July 30th. According to the test results, the longitudinal deviation is 1.75km and the lateral deviation is 0.75km. ..

In the political environment of the Cold War at that time, the P-7 missile, as the first intercontinental missile in the world, undoubtedly brought a major breakthrough to the Soviet Union's national defense and foreign strategy.

The Soviet Union successfully launched intercontinental missiles before the United States (six months ahead of schedule), which means that the military strength of the two camps of the East and the West has undergone earth-shaking changes, and the Eastern Group has developed and grown. Although the missile has many design defects, in order to launch before the Americans, the missile design deliberately simplifies the procedures and avoids technical problems. Khrushchev later admitted that the P-7 was not a practical combat weapon, but a symbol against the American threat. In order to meet the needs of the Cold War, the Soviet Union broke the old tradition of keeping military technical secrets. 1On August 27th, 957, the Tass news agency issued a sensational announcement: "On August 27th, 2/kloc-0, the world's first multi-stage long-range ballistic rocket was successfully launched into the Pacific Ocean. The rocket test is progressing smoothly and can be launched to any part of the earth. In contrast, strategic bombers are far behind. "

This kind of report obviously implies that the Soviet Union has surpassed the United States in nuclear weapons delivery vehicles, and the Soviet Union has the ability to launch nuclear weapons to the United States. Thereafter, 19571At 22: 28: 34 on October 4, the Soviet Union modified the launch vehicle "Satellite" with a P-7 missile (87 1) and sent the Soviet Union and the world's first artificial satellite "Satellite I" (-1) into low-earth orbit. On this day, space observatories all over the world are watching a small black dot in the starry sky, and thousands of radios are playing its beep signal on a plane. The successful test launch of the first intercontinental missile two months ago did not cause an uproar in the western world. This time, the whole western world was scared to death by the 83 kg metal ball that circled the earth this cycle.

Some American newspapers exclaimed, "Soviet satellites pass through the United States every 96.2 minutes, and the sky above us collapses!" " American military experts "promptly" reminded people: "The Soviets can send satellites into space with launch vehicles, and they can send nuclear warheads anywhere in the world. "

"Western democracies" did not see the muddy P-7 launch pad and the unresponsive launch operation. 165438+1On October 3, the Soviet Union launched the second artificial earth satellite "Satellite II" (-2) and sent the dog "Lycra" into space.

Shortly after the successful launch of the Soviet satellite program, the United States displayed a "Redstone" short-range ballistic missile in the lobby of Central Station to reassure people and claimed that the technology of the United States was not inferior to that of the Soviet Union. A small hole was opened in the ceiling to accommodate the tip of the missile, which can still be seen today.

In this US-Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile and satellite space race, the Soviet Union came from behind and won in the first round. In fact, by 1957, the United States has at least nine intercontinental missile programs, as well as satellite programs such as Orbit and Pioneer. But these schemes have been competing with each other, wrangling with each other and delaying time. This is as Dulles, then director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said: "In the first decade after the war, we can say that we knew very little about the development of Soviet rockets." Of course, afterwards, some American experts believed that according to the technology at that time, the range of liquid missiles should exceed 8,000 kilometers, and the maximum launch mass should exceed 200 tons; On the contrary, the United States needs to develop relatively advanced missiles. Links-The development of American intercontinental ballistic missiles was carried out almost at the same time as that of the Soviet Union.

1954, Conville? An order was received to develop a long-range ballistic missile, which was later called Atlas. 1956, the United States launched the first Redstone tactical missile with a nuclear warhead, and the medium-range missiles Cupid and Raytheon began test firing. 1958 spring and summer, these two missiles began to be installed. Atlas -B intercontinental missile flew over 9650 kilometers at 1959. 1959 In September, this type of intercontinental missile began to be equipped with the US Air Force.

1960 65438+1October 20th, the P-7 missile entered service, and it was officially installed in the same year165438+1October 20th. The first stage of the missile is equipped with four 6-chamber liquid rocket engines-1 07 with 78 tons of thrust to the ground, and six 8-chamber1vector engines-108 with 7 1 ton of thrust to the ground. The maximum flight distance of the missile is 8000 kilometers, the maximum launch mass is 283 tons, the propellant mass is 250 tons, the warhead weight is 5.5 tons, the maximum speed is 7900 m/s, the nuclear charge power is 3-5 million tons of TNT, and the length of the missile is 3 1.4 meters. Diameter 1 1.2m, shooting accuracy 2.5-5km (limit deviation 10km). The missile can be stored for 30 days after being filled with propellant, and the preparation time for missile launch is 12 hours. Before the decommissioning of 1968, only four such missiles were produced, targeting new york, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The missile combat unit consists of several fixed ground bunkers, including a technical launching position, a warhead detection preparation position and a special position, two radar control stations (located 276 kilometers in front of the missile launching position and 552 kilometers apart), a propellant storage yard and an auxiliary bunker.

Schematic description of P-7 missile

1 warhead; 2 instrument cabins; 3 core layer; 4-core oxidizer tank; 5- Reinforcing hoop of missile bearing; 6-core spherical base; 7- The booster supports the vertebral body; 8-stage separation system inlet (nozzle); 9 covers; 10 core fuel tank; 1 1- booster; 12- pressurized oxidizer tank; 13 straight pipe with oxidant delivery pipe; 14 booster tank; 15 annular core liquid oxygen tank and supercharger; Supercharger core layer and 16 hydrogen peroxide tank; 17 nuclear host; 18 nuclear tourism engine; 19 booster host; 20- Pneumatic rudder; 2 1 supercharged engine.