The R-46 concept was to launch a very large hydrogen bomb into orbit as a fractional orbital bombardment system (FOBS).

Two of their most notable efforts were the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) and Polyus orbital weapons system.

The fractional orbital bombardment system was phased out in January 1983 in compliance with the SALT II treaty of 1979, which, among other things, prohibited the deployment of systems capable of placing weapons of mass destruction in such a partial orbit.

In 1961, faced with the prospect of development in the United States of an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system to intercept conventional ICBMs, the Soviet Union began development of a fractional orbital bombardment system (FOBS) to defeat these interceptors.