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SS-N-21

RK-55 Relief
(NATO reporting name: SSC-X-4 'Slingshot')
S-10 Granat (SS-N-21 'Sampson')
SS-C-4 Slingshot.JPEG
RK-55 Transporter-Erector-Launcher
Type surface/sub-launched nuclear cruise missile
Place of origin Soviet Union
Service history
In service since 1984
Used by Soviet Union / Russia
Production history
Designer L. V. Lyulev
Designed 1975
Manufacturer Novator
Produced 1976
Specifications
Weight 1,700 kg (3,750 lb)
Length 809 cm (26 ft 7 in)
Diameter 51 cm (20.1 in)
Warhead Conventional
Nuclear
Blast yield Nuclear 200kt

Engine Solid-propellant rocket booster + R-95-300 turbofan
450 kgf
Wingspan 310 cm (122.0 in)
Operational
range
3,000 km (1,600 nmi)
Speed 720 km/h (447.4 mph)
Guidance
system
Sprut inertial guidance plus TERCOM
Launch
platform
Akula-class submarine, Sierra II, Victor III, Yankee Notch, Yasen-class submarine, TEL

The Novator RK-55 Relief (Russian: РК-55 Рельеф 'Relief'; NATO: SSC-X-4 'Slingshot'; GRAU: 3K12) is a Soviet land-based cruise missile with a nuclear warhead. It was about to enter service in 1987 when such weapons were banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. A version launched from submarine torpedo tubes, the S-10 Granat (SS-N-21 'Sampson'; GRAU: 3K10), has apparently been converted to carry conventional warheads and continues in service to this day. Russian Federation deployed SSC-X-8 in March 14 2017.

The RK-55 is very similar to the air-launched Kh-55 (AS-15 'Kent') but the Kh-55 has a drop-down turbofan engine and was designed by MKB Raduga. Both have formed the basis of post-Cold-War missiles, in particular the Sizzler which has a supersonic approach phase.

In the late 1960s, the "Ekho" study conducted by the GosNIIAS institute concluded that it would be more effective to deploy lots of small, subsonic cruise missiles than the much more expensive supersonic missiles then in favour. In 1971 Raduga began working on the air-launched Kh-55, which first flew in 1976. That same year, RK-55 first flew.NPO Novator would work on the submarine- and ground-launched versions. In 1993 Novator exhibited the Sizzler series weapons, which appears to be based on the RK-55. It is a two-stage design, which goes supersonic during its final approach to the target.

Six RK-55 missiles are carried on an eight-wheeled transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) based on the MAZ 543 launcher of the R-17 (SS-1 'Scud B').

The S-10 is launched through 533 mm torpedo tubes.

Fewer than 100 SS-N-21s had been deployed by the end of 1988. The new Akula-class submarine, launched in September 1986, was the first class to receive the new missile. It was later fitted to the Sierra I/II class and eight Victor III's and the new Yasen-class submarines.


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