The RT-23 Molodets (, lit. "brave man" or "fine fellow"; NATO reporting name: SS-24 Scalpel) was a cold-launched, three-stage, solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile developed and produced before 1991 by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Dnipro, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union). It came in silo- and rail-based variants, and was armed with 10 MIRV warheads (GRAU index: 15Ф444) of 550 kt yield. All missiles were decommissioned by 2005 in accordance with the START II. History The missile and rail-based missile complex – or BZhRK (, lit. "Combat Rail-based Missile Complex") – were developed by the brothers Vladimir and Alexei Utkin as chief engineers in Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and Design Bureau for Special Machine-Building respectively. It was the culmination of a major Soviet effort to develop a solid-propellant ICBM with multiple basing modes which was initiated in 1969. As addition to the silo- and rail-based versions, a road-mobile version was considered but eventually rejected. The new missile was to replace the older liquid-fueled UR-100N which were entirely silo-based. Its United States counterpart was the Peacekeeper Rail Garrison, which was never deployed. The missile was tested through the 1980s and was deployed in 1987. A typical BZhRK consisted of three modified M62-class locomotives (designated DM62; were not different in appearance) and seventeen railcars: a camouflaged tank with diesel fuel and lubricants reserve, three 3-car autonomous launching modules (a launch support systems car, a car with an erectable RT-23 launcher and a launcher command post car), a regiment command post car, a communications systems car, a main diesel generator car, a provision storage car with refrigerators and water tanks, a dining car and two separate living compartment cars for officers and enlisted personnel. All the railcars were camouflaged as either refrigerated vans or passenger cars. The lead locomotive was driven by three Railway Troops officers with good knowledge of a patrolling route, while the two others were operated by enlisted personnel. The train was able to cruise at speed of and launch the missiles at any point of the route on any Soviet rail line, which was made possible by implementation of the special mechanism for short-circuiting and diverting the overhead line (). Shortly after ejection by the powder pressure accumulator, at a height of 20–30 m, the missile would incline itself, so that the first-stage exhaust would not damage or overturn the railcar launcher, and then ignite the first-stage engine. The