Belarusian Missile Crews Test S-300 in Southern Russia
August 10, 2006 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
This morning, Belarusian missile crews took part in a military exercise at the Ashuluk range in southern Russia that included tests of the S-300 air/missile defense system, reports the Belarusian news agency Belapan. During the operational and tactical exercise, crews from the 115th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade used S-300 systems to engage 15 target simulators imitating an attack by cruise missiles, short-range ballistic missiles, and supersonic aircraft. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Former Soviet Republics, Russia, Russian Missile Defenses, Testing - Foreign
» Missile system details for: S-300P (SA-10 Grumble), S-300V (SA-12A Gladiator, SA-12B Giant)
Russian Arms Exporter Calls Sanctions for Proliferation “Unfriendly”
August 9, 2006 :: AFP :: News
The Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said on Monday, August 7, that U.S. sanctions against it were an “unfriendly act” aimed at undermining Russia’s defense industry, reports the AFP. On August 4, Washington announced that it had placed sanctions on Rosoboronexport and jetmaker Sukhoi for providing Iran with equipment that could be used to develop missile systems or weapons of mass destruction. Rosoboronexport replied in an official statement that “the introduction of sanctions should be seen as nothing other than an unfriendly act against the Russian state and an attempt at destabilizing its defense cooperation with foreign countries.” It continued: “Our cooperation with Iran … is carried out strictly in accordance with international agreements and is limited exclusively to supplies of defensive armament … Such deliveries of arms and military technology to Iran are made by many foreign companies, including by partner countries of the United States in NATO.” The sanctions could “have a negative effect on US-Russian partnership in countering illegal shipments of counterfeit Russian arms, particularly to Iraq and Afghanistan,” it added. In addition to the official statement, Rosoboronexport’s director Sergei Chemezov was quoted by Interfax as saying, “It’s a purely political move, an example of unfair competition.” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov also weighed in: “These sanctions don’t have the slightest relation to non-proliferation,” he said, according to Interfax. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Iran, Proliferation, Russia
Jane’s on Russian Defense Industry Capabilities
August 8, 2006 :: Jane's Information Group :: News
Russia’s defense industry could have a hard time meeting its export commitments, reports the September 1 issue of Jane’s Defence Industry. Defense agreements with Venezuela alone could reach $3 billion, a sum equivalent to almost 50 percent of Moscow’s total military exports in 2005. Venezuela is also considering additional purchases, including Tor M-1 and Osa-10 air-defense missile systems. Yet Russia already has significant commitments to other key customers, including China and India, which accounted for 70 percent of its defense exports in 2005. In addition, Moscow recently reached a defense accord with Algeria valued at $7.5 billion, in which it agreed to supply Algeria with eight battalions of S-300 PMU2 surface-to-air missile systems among other things. Further agreements with Algeria worth between $2 billion and $3 billion are expected. Jane’s questions whether Moscow will be able to keep these ambitious commitments, as its defense industry remains tied to “old-fashioned management practices and organizational structures at odds with free-market principles,” and has thus fallen into “poor health.” (Link)
» More stories on: Industry, Proliferation, Russia
» Missile system details for: S-300P (SA-10 Grumble)
U.S. Sanctions Russian Companies for Selling Missile Technology to Iran
August 7, 2006 :: Financial Times :: News
The U.S. State Department has imposed sanctions on two Russian companies for selling missile technology to Iran. The state-controlled weapons exporter Rosoboronexport and the aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi had been exporting material that could contribute to the development of weapons of mass destruction by Iran or a cruise or ballistic missile system, said the State Department.
The two companies will be barred from engaging in business with the U.S. government and will be denied new export licenses for two years. Earlier this year, the Pentagon raised the problem of the Kremlin’s arms sales to countries that “compromise the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of other states.” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had also said he was concerned that Russia was supplying arms to Iran and Syria.
The sanctions angered the Russian government, which responded that the move was an “illegitimate attempt to make foreign companies work by internal American rules” and that the U.S. was punishing its own companies by making it impossible for them to co-operate with leading Russian corporations. “These sanctions, which the U.S. unilaterally imposes on other countries and their organizations, are an obvious political and legal anachronism,” the Russian Defense Ministry said. The Financial Times notes that the head of Rosoboronexport, Sergei Chemezov, served as a KGB officer with Russian president Vladimir Putin in East Germany in the 1980s and has boasted that their relationship helped his company “get a lot of issues resolved fast.” (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Iran, Proliferation, Russia
Iran to Supply Hezbollah with Russian-Made Surface-to-Air Missiles
August 7, 2006 :: Jane's Information Group :: News
Iran will supply Hezbollah with a number of Russian-made surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems over the coming months, reports the August 9 issue of Jane’s Defence Weekly. The article quotes Western diplomatic sources who claim that Hezbollah has pressured Iran for “an array of more advanced weaponry, including more advanced SAM systems” in preparation “for the next stage in the confrontation.” In late July, Hezbollah representatives allegedly met with senior representatives of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), at which time Iran agreed “at later date, to supply advanced Russian-made SAM systems to Hezbollah” as part of its strategy to “transform Hezbollah, after the current conflict, into a coherent fighting force and a regional strategic arm.” According to Jane’s, Tehran will supply Hezbollah with Russian-produced SAMs, including the Strela-2/2M (SA-7 “Grail”), Strela-3 (SA-14 “Gremlin”) and Igla-1E (SA-16 “Gimlet”) man-portable systems. Iran will also deliver its Mithaq-1 and Mithaq-2 man-portable low-altitude SAM systems, both of which are Iranian copies of the Chinese QW-1 man-portable low-altitude SAM system. (Link)
» More stories on: Iran, Proliferation, Russia, Terrorism
Russia Test Launches SS-25 Topol ICBM
August 3, 2006 :: MosNews :: News
Russia today test launched a road-mobile SS-25 Topol (RS-12M) intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwestern Russia, according to Russian media sources. Major General Vitaly Seliverstov, deputy head of the Strategic Rocket Forces’ armament department, told Interfax that “the missile was test-fired to confirm the stability of its flight and technical characteristics during the extended period of operation.” Itar-Tass reports that the missile was fired from a mobile launcher. It is believed that the launch and flight of the Topol met all necessary standards, and that the missile hit its designated target on the Kamchtaka Peninsula at the scheduled time.
The SS-25 Topol was the first fully road mobile intercontinental ballistic missile commissioned by the Soviet Union. The Topol has a high rate of survivability, as it is difficult to locate and destroy a properly hidden road mobile system. MosNews reports that 300 missiles remained on duty as of 2005. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-N-5
» Missile system details for: Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Russia Has 4,279 Strategic Nuclear Warheads
August 2, 2006 :: Interfax :: News
As of January 1, 2006, Russia had 4,279 strategic nuclear warheads and 927 offensive weapon delivery systems, according to Lieutenant General Nikolai Artyukhin, head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s department for contract compliance control. “The information was received under the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), which is a working instrument in the reduction of strategic offensive weapons,” Artyukhin said at a briefing in Moscow on Monday, July 31. He noted that the U.S. had 5,966 warheads and 1,225 carriers. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Nuclear Weapons, Russia
Baluyevsky Criticizes U.S. Defensive Posture
August 1, 2006 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
General Yuri Baluyevsky, Russia’s Chief of Staff and First Deputy Defense Minister, published a lengthy and important article in the Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kurier on July 26 criticizing steps by the U.S. to move toward a more defensive posture. Balueyvsky criticizes in particular recent discussions about deploying missile defense assets in Eastern Europe. The Chief of Staff accuses Washington of attempting to achieve “absolute supremacy in the military sphere” and condemns its “brute force in dealing with complicated international issues.” Baluyevsky notes that while the U.S. might appear to be deploying missile defenses to protect against strikes from Iran and North Korea, its real enemies are Russia and China, against whom the systems are allegedly designed to defend.
Baluyevsky writes that “the world is essentially back to square one—that latter being the situation of America’s nuclear monopoly of the 1940’s.” The U.S. plan to deploy interceptor missiles and early warning radars in Central and Eastern Europe would “disrupt the existing Russian-American parity in strategic delivery means.” He lists three reasons for Russia’s concern:
First, silos of the ballistic missile defense system may be easily converted for ICBMs that will reach targets in European Russia wherever they are. Effective control over the use of silos is a sheer impossibility. As a matter of fact, any such control is going to be impossible even for central governments of the countries where the silos will be built.
Second, deployment of active components of the American national ballistic missile defense system in European countries may be interpreted as an attempt on the part of the U.S. to leave Europe facing the music i.e. consequences of a conflict where ballistic missiles were used. Europe will essentially become an advanced line of defense of US territory. From the military standpoint, the logic is impeccable—bring the troops (and therefore the hostilities) as close as possible to the positions of the potential enemy and set up several more lines of defense. The world nowadays is so complicated and interdependent, however, it is so exposed to terrorism as to make these advanced outposts or whatever you might want to call them the prime targets for terrorist attacks. Russia cannot be blasé about it because it itself is a part of Europe.
Third, intercept of ballistic missiles carrying weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, germ, chemical) will cause ecological catastrophes in the European countries above whose territories the ICBMs will be killed. Fragments of the missiles and killer missiles may even fall on the territories of neutral countries (or at least the regions that are not involved in the conflict under way). Russia is particularly concerned by vulnerability of the Kaliningrad region to this threat.
Baluyevsky adds, menacingly, that such defensive deployments would “compel Moscow to revise its approach to reduction of these weapons.” He warns that Russia will be ready with “the necessary academic and technological solutions that will at least minimize negative consequences of these actions on Washington’s part.” He reminds his readers that Russia has tested new strategic arms capable of piercing the existing U.S. missile defense systems as well as those other countries may come up with in the near future, a reference to the Topol-M (SS-27) intercontinental ballistic missile.
The audience of this carefully crafted piece would seem to be less Baluyevsky’s fellow Russians, and more Americans and Europeans. Baluyevsky seemingly believes that Americans can be intimidated with cheap threats, and even more that Europeans, in particular the Poles and Czechs with whom missile defense talks continue, can be manipulated to remain themselves defenseless against not only threats from rogue states such as Iran, but also Russia itself.
The complete text from Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kurier: (More »»»)
» More stories on: Allies, Analysis, Nuclear Weapons, Russia
» Missile details: SS-N-6
Russian SS-18 Profiled
July 27, 2006 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
The Russian weekly Argumenty i Fakty recently published a profile of the SS-18 Satan (RS-20 Voyevoda) intercontinental ballistic missile. At 210,000 kg, the SS-18 is the largest of the fourth generation Soviet intercontinental-range missiles and the only “heavy” missile allowed under the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II). The report notes that the SS-18 is “well equipped with 10 powerful warheads,” for each of which “the enemy will have to use 3-10 antimissiles.” In recent weeks, a modified SS-18 known as the Dnepr carrier rocket has been used to launch civilian satellites. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-20
Ivanov Visit May Signal Renewed Submarine Ambitions in Russia
July 23, 2006 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov’s recent visit to a major submarine plant on the White Sea may signal Russia’s intention to modernize its Navy, according to analysis by Russian media sources. The RIA-Novosti and Itar-Tass news agencies report that Ivanov on Friday toured the Sevmash shipyards, in the Severodvinsk region, where the new Borei-class nuclear submarines are being built. The Borei is being manufactured by the St. Petersburg-based corporation Rubin under the moniker “Project 955.” Central to this project is the new D-19M missile system being developed for these submarines, which can carry up to 12 Bulava (SS-NX-30) ballistic missiles. According to Ivanov, the new Borei-class submarines are on schedule to enter service with the Russian Navy in 2007. Three are currently under construction at Sevmash, including the Yuri Dolgoruky, the Aleksandr Nevskiy and the Vladimir Monomakh. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia, Sea-Based Systems
» Missile details: SS-26
