RSD-10 Pioneer

RSD-10 Pioneer SS-20 Saber
Type	Intermediate-range ballistic missile
Place of origin	USSR
Service history
In service	1976 – 1988
Used by	Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces
Production history
Designer	Alexander Nadiradze (Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology)
Manufacturer	Votkinsk Machine Building Plant
Specifications
Weight	37,100 kg (81,800 lb)
Length	16.5 m (54 ft)
Diameter	1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)
Warhead	Three 150 kt MIRVs
Engine	Two-stage Solid-fuel rocket
Operational range	5,500 km (3,400 mi)
Guidance system	Inertial
Accuracy	150-450 m CEP
Launch platform	Road-mobile TEL

The RSD-10 Pioneer (Russian: ракета средней дальности (РСД) «Пионер» tr.: Raketa Sredney Dalnosti (RSD) "Pioner"; English: Medium-Range Missile "Pioneer") was an intermediate-range ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead deployed by the Soviet Union from 1976 to 1988. It carried GRAU designation 15Zh45. Its NATO reporting name was SS-20 Saber.

Its deployment was a major cause of the NATO's 'Double-Track Decision', which led to the deployment of more medium-range nuclear weapons in Western Europe. The RSD-10 was withdrawn from service under the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

The missile was 16.5 metres (54 ft) high, 1.9 metres (6.2 ft) in diameter and weighed 37.1 tons. It was based on two solid-fuel fibre-glass clad stages of the RT-21 Temp 2S (SS-16 Sinner) so it was also known as the RT-21M Pioneer. The missile's range was from 600 to 5,000 kilometres (370 to 3,110 mi) initially; the final model had a maximum range of possibly 7,500 kilometres (4,700 mi). Initially the missile was fitted with a single 1 Mt, 1.6 ton warhead, later models could take one warhead or two and from 1980 three MIRV'd 150 kt devices (Pioneer UTTH). The CEP was also reduced from 550 metres (1,800 ft) to 150 to 450 metres (490 to 1,480 ft). The missile was the first Soviet missile equipped with solid fuel instead of liquid fuel, which meant that it could be launched once the order had been given instead of wasting hours doing the dangerous work of pumping the missile with liquid fuel.

The missile used a MAZ-547A/MAZ-7916 transporter erector launcher produced in the Belarusian SSR by the Minsk Automobile Plant. The TEL was originally designed for the RT-21 Temp 2S intercontinental ballistic missile.