Nuclear payload and final stage of an SS-20 Saber intermediate range nuclear ballistic missile, made and deployed by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). On display in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Known in the USSR as the RSD-10 Pioneer, the SS-20 was its NATO designation. It was deployed by the Soviet Union from 1976 to 1988. It was withdrawn from service under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty of 1988.

The Soviet Union had previously deployed the liquid-fueled SS-4 Sandal (R-12 Dvina) in 1958 and the SS-5 Skean (R-14 Chusovaya) in 1961. But it took hours to fuel these rockets with their highly toxic, highly unstable fuels. A solid-fuel rocket, which could launch on a moment's notice, was needed.

That's because Soviet generals wanted a first-strike capability. But rocket designers wanted a first-strike, second-strike, third-strike, theater tacitcal, and a host of other weapons. Essentially, this gave them more work, and varied kinds of work to do. Essentially, the decision to build and the deploy the SS-20 was taken out of the hands of the generals and put into the hands of contractors -- a classic example of the military-industrial complex at work.

Work began on the SS-20 in 1966. test flights occured in 1974 and it was deployed on March 11, 1976. A single missile could be launched from a steel tube atop a mobile truck. There were 48 launch vehicles, and 405 SS-20s capable of being launched.

The SS-20 was 54 feet high and 6.2 feet in diameter. Its first and second stages were based on the SS-16 Sinner (RT-21 Temp 2S), and made of fiberglass. Initially, it had a range of 0.37 to 3.1 miles, but the maximum range was extended to 4.7 miles over time. When first deployed, it carried a single nuclear warhead. It later could take two warheads. After 1980, it could take three warheads -- each with three "multiple, independent re-entry vehicles" nuclear weapons. Its accuracy was 1,800 feet at first, but this was improved to 500 feet after 1980.

The Warsaw Pact countries had a tremendous conventional advantage over NATO forces. The USSR assume that NATO would "go nuclear" immediately to destroy these conventional forces. The SS-20 gave the Soviet Union the ability to "go nuclear" immediately as well, and destroy NATO bases with almost no warning. NATO decided to deploy the Pershing II nuclear missile and the Tomahawk cruise missile in Western Europe in attempt to counter the SS-20.