inserted in the silo. The container doubles as a mortar barrel – it has a "piston" at its bottom, beneath the missile. The drum-like "piston" is filled with a slow-burning, gas pressure-generating charge that pushes, mortar-like, the missile from the container. Only when several meters above the silo with the now empty container the "piston" is pushed sideways by a small rocket motor to avoid being accelerated towards the silo by the ignition of the missile's main engine. Thus the silo is a) spared the burning-out by the main engine flames, and so b) the empty container could be quickly removed and a new container with missile could be inserted by a ready transporter/erector into the intact silo, allowing for a second salvo before the adversary's warheads arrive. This feature was a deep concern for the US side during the SALT/START negotiations, as it gave Soviet Union the possibility to strike US targets again after the first missile exchange was concluded. R-36M2 Voevoda (SS-18 Mod 6) The flight tests of the R-36M2 missile carrying a single warhead with a yield of 20 Mt were completed in September 1989 and deployment began in August 1991. Ten missiles were deployed. One intended use of these large warheads was high altitude detonation to incapacitate electronics and communications through a very large electromagnetic pulse, however, the most likely use would be against missile launch control centers as the stated purpose for which the R-36MUTTKh warheads were designed. These missiles were all decommissioned by late 2009. Derivatives A proposal has been advanced to modify Voyevoda R-36M2 Satan heavy ICBMs to destroy incoming asteroids of up to 100 m, similar to the Chelyabinsk asteroid. Operators The Strategic Missile Troops are the only operator of the R-36. As of January 2020, 46 silo-based missiles are deployed at: 13th Red Banner Rocket Division at Yasny, Orenburg Oblast 62nd Rocket Division at Uzhur, Krasnoyarsk Krai Former operators See also RS-24 Yars RS-26 Rubezh RS-28 Sarmat UR-100N RT-2PM Topol RT-2PM2 Topol-M LGM-30 Minuteman LGM-25C Titan II Agni-V DF-5 DF-41 Hwasong-14 (uses same engine) References Podvig, Pavel (January 30, 2004). Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. External links CSIS Missile Threat – SS-18 (Satan) Strategic Missile Troops R-36 missile Tour to the museum that houses Ukraine's nuclear past R-036 R-036 Intercontinental ballistic missiles of Ukraine MIRV capable missiles Military equipment introduced in the 1960s