11. R-36 Missile
R-36 is a series of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the Soviet Union since 1947. Today, the only model produced is the R-36M2 Voevoda.
It is called the intercontinental ballistic missile due to its operational range. It can reach up to 16,000 kilometers and even the earliest models have a minimum operational range of 10,000 kilometers. That is already twice the minimum requirement of ICBM’s range: 5,500 kilometers.
The R-36 current model can carry ten warheads with blast yield of 750 kilotons each. And that is a huge improvement from the first model which could only carry one warhead. It has been developed to reload rapidly with extremely heavy throw weight and large number of re-entry vehicles.
However, since there are so many affecting factors as the missile travels for thousands of kilometers, R-36 has accuracy problem. Therefore, it is only used to attack large target such as cities. Even so, it can generate a large amount of decoys to maximize the damage.
The new version of Russian ICBM is currently being developed to replace this R-36. It is called the RS-28 or Sarmat. But until it is officially tested, R-36 remains on our list of deadliest weapons.
