AKA: 123;DP;Tu-123DP. Status: Study 1957. Payload: 3,000 kg (6,600 lb). Gross mass: 35,000 kg (77,000 lb). Height: 24.80 m (81.30 ft). Diameter: 1.70 m (5.50 ft). Span: 8.50 m (27.80 ft).
The Tu-123 was an exotic missile design using an airbreathing kerosene/nuclear mixed propulsion engine. It was proposed as an alternative upper stage on the 'DP' winged rocket system in place of the Tu-130 hypersonic glider. The engine would have given the missile a range in excess of 4000 km (perhaps essentially unlimited, as the American SLAM/Project Pluto) at a speed of 3000 km/hr. Other sources assign the Tu-123 designation to the conventional missile also known as Tu-133.
Number Standard Warheads: 1. Standard warhead: 205. Boost Propulsion: Kerosene/Nuclear. Maximum speed: 3,000 kph (1,800 mph). Minimum range: 4,000 km (2,400 mi).
Tu-123 cruise vehicle Nuclear/Air propellant rocket stage. Turbojet using mixed propulsion, either burning kerosene or heating air directly with a nuclear reactor. |