Russia to Conduct Topol Exercises in Mid-October
October 9, 2006 :: Interfax :: News
Interfax reports that the Russian Strategic Missile Troops will conduct major exercises in mid-October. Colonel-General Nikolay Solovtsov, commander of the Strategic Missile Troops, will lead a four-day command-post exercise of the Omsk missile formation, which is armed with SS-25 “Sickle” (RS-12M Topol) and SS-18 “Satan” (RS-20 Voyevoda) intercontinental ballistic missiles. According to a spokesman for the Strategic Missile Troops, regiment subunits will practice the deployment of mobile SS-25 missile systems and perform simulated missile launches. The exercises will involve over 2,000 troops and more than 400 pieces of hardware. In addition, the Barnaul and the Novosibirsk missile formations will conduct an exercise of reserve reconnaissance and security units. (Article, Link)
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» Missile details: SS-N-5, SS-20
Popovkin on Russian Military Space Revival
October 5, 2006 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
In today’s RIA Novosti, Colonel General Vladimir Popovkin, commander of the Russian Space Troops, describes his vision for Russia’s military space revivial. Up to this point, he acknowledges, the Space Troops have spent their time “averting a potential crisis in military space and space missile defenses, stopping the quantitative and qualitative degradation of the orbital constellation and its ground infrastructure, and creating the preconditions for its revival so that it can fulfill its tasks effectively.” Beginning next year, however, the Space Troops will start launching “new types of military spacecraft under test and deployment programs.” Popovkin expounds upon Russia’s reasons for doing so, taking a not-so-subtle swipe at perceived U.S. space ambitions:
Space infrastructure is now increasing its role throughout the world in boosting both the military might and social and economic prosperity of the leading world states. In military matters, space-based systems are the key to information supremacy. They provide more accurate and prompt information about the situation to all troops and weapons systems. Space resources have therefore become a matter of vital interest for the state economically, politically and militarily.
The drive to possess these resources and control their use may in the foreseeable future expand the sphere of military operations and move them to outer space. Russia is against this scenario in principle, and is making every effort to prevent its realization. But we, like most of the space powers, are considering methods of protecting our orbital constellations of spacecraft and space resources against possible discriminatory and restrictive moves. If foreign states develop and deploy space-strike infrastructure, Russia must be ready to take adequate defensive and offensive measures.
(Article, Link)
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Russia’s Lavrov Discusses U.S. Missile Defense Site with Poland
October 5, 2006 :: AP :: News
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Poland’s decision about whether to host a U.S. missile defense site should be “transparent and understandable.” Lavrov spoke to reporters following a meeting with his Polish counterpart, Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga. “We will naturally take [Poland’s actions] into account while planning our own steps in the context of strategic stability and of Russia’s own security,” Lavrov stated. On Tuesday, October 3, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin warned that a U.S. missile defense site in Poland would undermine security and stability, and warned of unspecified measures in response. (Article, Link)
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Russia Warns Poland Against Hosting U.S. or NATO Missile Defense Site
October 3, 2006 :: Interfax :: News
Russia today warned Poland against hosting a U.S. or NATO missile defense site on its territory, reports Interfax. Speaking before the start of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s official visit to Poland, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin was quoted as saying, “We regard negatively U.S. plans to deploy anti-missile defense system in Europe, and we believe that with the possible deployment of the European NATO missile defense system it would have a negative impact on strategic stability, regional security and intergovernmental relations.” Kamynin added that “a new situation like this one will objectively require us to take appropriate measures because we cannot rely in such matters solely on statements that the missile defense systems of the U.S. and NATO in Europe ‘are not aimed’ against Russia.” Kamynin did not say what measures Russia might take in response, but the military chief of staff, Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, warned in a Polish newspaper last month that “deploying the large-scale U.S. anti-missile shield threatens to spark a new arms race.” U.S. officials have said that the site would be designed to defend Europe against intercontinental-range ballistic missiles launched by rogue states such as Iran or North Korea. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia, European Missile Defenses, Allies
Russia Concerned U.S. May Deploy Space-Based Assets
September 26, 2006 :: Defense Daily International :: News
Russian leaders are concerned that the U.S. may deploy space-based missile defense assets, reports Defense Daily International. At a recent symposium hosted by the Henry L. Stimson Center, a Washington DC think tank, analysts noted that Russia could respond by detonating a nuclear weapon in space to create a radiation belt that would render U.S. space-based defenses useless. Such a move would also annihilate functioning of Russian satellites, although Russia has far less to lose. According to retired Russian General Vladimir Dworkin, now senior researcher with the Center for International Security at the Institute for World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Science, Russia’s concerns about lasers in space do not apply to existing components of the multi-layered U.S. missile defense system, such as the Airborne Laser. “We’ve gotten used to it,” Dworkin said. “But if you’re talking about reviving … Star Wars,” perhaps by resurrecting Brilliant Pebbles or developing a laser BMD system, then that “would be a shock” to Russians that they would not easily get used to. The more the U.S. pushes to develop a space-based BMD system, the more sharply Russia would be likely to respond, Dworkin warned. (Link)
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» Missile system details for: Brilliant Pebbles
Russia Threatens Eastern Europe With Nuclear Strikes
September 22, 2006 :: Czech News Agency :: News
Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons to defeat U.S. missile defenses in Eastern Europe, reports the Russian daily Izvestiya. The article quotes Major-General Vladimir Belous of the Center of International Security, who stated: “By approaching Russia’s borders, the Americans are seeking to achieve their main objective: intercepting our strategic missiles at the early stage of their trajectory, when they are most vulnerable.” Alexandr Pikayev, a defense analyst at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of World Economy and International Relations, went a step further, warning that “security cannot be built in the current world to the detriment of others” and that “the location of defense missiles will necessarily lead to the appearance of programs aimed at them.” He further noted that, “According to our military doctrine, Russia has reserved the right of preventive strikes, including those with the use of tactical nuclear weapons, against the objects that represent a threat to us.” (Article, Link)
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Russia to Dismantle Five Nuclear Submarines by 2010
September 13, 2006 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
Russia will dismantle five nuclear-powered Victor-class (Type 671) submarines from its Pacific Fleet by 2010, reports RIA-Novosti. The vessels are being scrapped under the joint Russian-Japanese Star of Hope Program for Dismantling Decommissioned Nuclear Submarines, which was adopted in 2003 when Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Russia. Deputy Foreign Minister Shintaro Ito told a news conference in Vladivostok yesterday that the dismantling of the first Victor-class submarine will begin at the Zvezda Shipyard, in a suburb of Vladivostok, and will take about 10 months. During the dismantlement process, spent nuclear fuel will be removed from the submarine’s reactors and sent to storage, the hull will be cut into three sections, and the bow and stern sections will be removed and destroyed. The reactor section will be sealed and transferred to storage. Japan has allocated 20 billion yen ($171 million) for the project, according to Ito.
The nuclear-powered Victor-class submarines are believed to have entered service in the Soviet Union around 1967, and were primarily designed to protect Soviet surface fleets and to attack U.S. ballistic missile submarines. Most were armed with torpedoes as well as SS-N-15 or SS-N-21 cruise missiles. (Article, Link)
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Russia Test Fires SLBMs from North Pole, Pacific
September 11, 2006 :: Itar-Tass :: News
On Saturday, September 9, Russia successfully test fired a SS-N-23 (R-29RM) submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from a K-84 nuclear-powered submarine deployed under ice at the North Pole. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, all three warheads hit their targets at a testing range in the Arkhangesk region on the Barents Sea. The test marked the first time in 11 years that Russia test-fired a submarine-borne missile from underwater at the North Pole. The SS-N-23 has a range of 8,300 km and can carry up to four multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) warheads each equipped with a 100 kiloton nuclear yield.
Ivanov added that another submarine, the K-433 Sv. Georgiy Pobedonosets deployed in the Pacific Ocean, test-fired a SS-N-18 (R-29R) SLBM on Sunday, September 10, and that two of its test warheads hit the targeted range. The SS-N-18 has a range of 6,500 km and can carry 7 to 10 MIRV warheads each with a 100 kiloton nuclear yield, although it is unclear how many warheads the test missile carried. Ivanov referred to the tests as part of “serious exercises of the sea-based strategic nuclear forces.” (Article, Link)
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» Missile details: SS-NX-30, SS-X-14
SS-NX-30 Bulava Test Launch Fails
September 7, 2006 :: Itar-Tass :: News
Itar-Tass reports that a flight test of the Russian SS-NX-30 Bulava ended in failure today. According to a representative of the Ministry of Defense, the missile was launched underwater from the Dmitry Donskoy submarine of the Northern Fleet, but “deviated from its trajectory and fell into the sea.” The Bulava is an intercontinental-range, submarine launched, solid propellant ballistic missile. It is a submarine launched version of the SS-27 Topol-M, which was developed shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. Four previous Bulava test launches have been successful. (Article, Link)
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» Missile details: SS-26
Baluyevsky: U.S. Missile Defense Could Spark Arms Race
September 7, 2006 :: AFP :: Analysis
General Yuri Baluyevsky, Russia’s Chief of Staff and First Deputy Defense Minister, has delivered another op-ed column, this time in the Polish daily Dziennik on September 6. Baluyevsky wrote, “Deploying the large-scale U.S. anti-missile shield threatens to spark a new arms race,” adding that Washington’s intention to base some of the anti-missile shield in central Europe was of particular concern. “We are firmly convinced that, if the U.S. project is carried out, it could lead to the deployment near the Russian border of systems which threaten to upset the strategic balance in weapons positioning,” Baluyevsky noted.
Baluyevsky’s previous article in the Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kurier on July 26 criticized the U.S. defensive posture in a similar fashion, claiming that “the world is essentially back to square one—that latter being the situation of America’s nuclear monopoly of the 1940s.” (Article, Link)
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