274 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1958 
It is no secret that the Russian Navy is today capable of towing 
huge ballistic rockets in their submersible containers to any coastline 
that it desires. With only part of its fleet of 800 submarines assigned 
to such a mission, it could position offshore in close proximity to any 
target within the United States. Furthermore, a mission of this type 
does not require ICBM’s nor necessarily IRBM’s. Most target areas 
could probably be reached with the Soviet Navy’s Comet I and 
Comet II missiles reputed to have a range of 100 and 700 miles, 
respectively. 
Dr. Walter Dornberger, former Peenemiinde commandant, has 
said be believes the Russian “emphasis on underwater vessels indicates 
a plan to use submarines offensively, in American waters, quite possi- 
bly as tow vessels for missile launchers.” 
Completing the military arsenal are Russia’s ICBM and antipodal 
bomber programs. The Russian ICBM designated as the T-3 (M- 
104) is reported to be a two-stage vehicle approximately 100 to 160 
feet in length, and 100 to 150 tons in weight. The first stage is said 
to be powered by two T-2 motors (254,000 pounds of thrust each), 
and the second stage by a single T-1 motor (77,000 pounds of thrust). 
The hypersonic antipodal (skip-glide) bomber has been reported in 
a number of journals as weighing 100 tons, with the boost stage en- 
gines delivering between 800,000 and 1,000,000 pounds thrust and 
having an attack capability at approximately 10,000 miles per hour. 
The last family of vehicles in the surface-to-surface category and 
certainly one of the most interesting is the scientific research vehicle. 
Two vehicles of particular current interest are the satellite-launching 
vehicle and the lunar vehicle. 
Since the Russians launched their first earth satellite, they have 
not as yet officially released information regarding the satellite- 
launching vehicle. This silence on the part of the Russian scientists 
and engineers has resulted in many irresponsible press releases from 
responsible quarters in the United States regarding the Soviet capa- 
bility. However, cooler heads have prevailed, and, today, there seems 
to be a consensus regarding this vehicle’s configuration as well as the 
over-all Russian missile capability. 
It is most generally agreed that the Russian satellite-launching 
vehicle is basically a modification of the T-3 intercontinental ballistic 
missile, and that it was assembled adapting existing hardware such 
as the T-1 and Wasserfall engines. The vehicle is described as being 
approximately 100 feet long, 7 to 8 feet in diameter, and having a 
takeoff gross weight of 150,000 pounds. It is a three-stage vehicle 
using the same propellants in all stages, namely, liquid oxygen and 
kerosene. The first-stage propulsion system is the 254,000-pound- 
thrust T-2 engine; the second stage is the T-1, 77,000-pound-thrust 
