The Buran cruise missile

Cruise missile

A cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...

, designation RSS-40, was a Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 intercontinental cruise missile capable of carrying a 3,500 kg nuclear warhead. The project was canceled before flight tests began.

Development

The project was authorized on 20 May 1954, parallel to the development of the Burya

Burya

The Burya was a trisonic, intercontinental cruise missile developed by the Lavochkin design bureau , based on a request for proposal issued by the Soviet government in 1954. The purpose of the design competition was to develop a cruise missile capable of delivering a nuclear payload to the United...

 missile. The development however, began in April 1953 as a rocket-aircraft system by Myasishchev

Myasishchev

V. M. Myasishchev Experimental Design Bureau or OKB-23, founded in 1951 by Vladimir Myasishchev) was one of the chief Soviet aerospace design bureaus until its dissolution in 1960. Vladimir Myasishchev went on to head TsAGI...

 OKB with internal designation M-40. The project was canceled in November 1957, when two prototypes were just ready for flight testing, in favor of the R-7 Semyorka

R-7 Semyorka

The R-7 was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961, but was never deployed operationally. A derivative, the R-7A, was deployed from 1960 to 1968...

 since ICBMs were unstoppable. Like the Burya, the Buran consisted of two stages, the booster rocket

Booster rocket

A booster rocket is either the first stage of a multi-stage launch vehicle, or else a strap-on rocket used to augment the core launch vehicle's takeoff thrust and payload capability. Boosters are generally necessary to launch spacecraft into Earth orbit or beyond...

s designated M-41, and the cruise missile stage designated M-42.

General characteristics

• Function: Nuclear cruise missile
• Launch mass: 125000 kg
• Total length: 24.0 m
• Launch platform: Launch pad
• Status: Canceled before first flight tests

Launch vehicle (M-41)

• Engine: 4× RD-213
• Thrust: 4× 55 t
• Length: 19.1 m
• Diameter: 1.20 m
• Oxidizer: Liquid oxygen
  Liquid oxygen
  Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...
  
  
• Combustible: Kerosene
  Kerosene
  Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
  
  

Cruise missile (M-42)

• Engine: 1× RD-020 ramjet
• Speed : Mach 3.1-3.2
• Range: 8,500 km
• Flight altitude: 18–20 km
• Warhead: thermonuclear
  Nuclear fusion
  Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
  
  , 3500 kg
• Length: 23.3 m
• Diameter: 2.40 m
• Wing span: 11.6 m
• Wing area: 98 m²