Russia Scraps Rail Launcher, Eighth This Year
October 10, 2005 :: Interfax :: News
Russia is destroying another railway-based mobile missile launcher, the eighth rail launch pad destroyed this year, reports Interfax. The scrapping of the launcher is taking place this week at the Strategic Missile Troops’ central workshop in Bryansk. Colonel-General Nikolay Solovtsov was quoted by Interfax-Military News Agency as saying that all rail launchers would be destroyed: “We cannot prolong service lives indefinitely. So, to our regret, we have to say goodbye to the rail-based missile launchpad.” A ninth launcher is set to be destroyed later this year. (Article, Link)
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Russia Tests SS-N-23 SLBM
October 8, 2005 :: Itar-Tass :: News
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that it tested on early Saturday morning another submarine-launched nuclear ballistic missile, identified by Itar Tass as a RSM-54 “Volna” missile. The RSM-54 designation refers to what is known as SS-N-23 in Western classification. R-29RM is another designation for the same missile.
The test is the third within eleven days. The missile was fired from the submerged Borisoglebsk submarine in the Barents Sea, which is in the Arctic Ocean near Norway and Northern Russia. The missile’s warhead traveled eastward some 6,000 miles to the Kura testing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The Defense Ministry said that the test “is the sixth sea-based ICBM launch this year,” and added that another land-based silo test launch will take place later this month from the Baikonur cosmodrome. (Article, Link)
» RIA Novosti on RSM-54 test
» Xinhua on missile test
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-X-14
Baluyevsky: Bulava Intended for Land and Sea Basing
October 7, 2005 :: Itar-Tass :: News
The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Yuri Baluyevsky, said today in Kaliningrad that the SS-N-30 Bulava ballistic missile, recently tested on September 27, is intended to ultimately be interoperable, capable of being launched from either sea or land, reports Itar-Tass. Previously, the Bulava has only been discussed as a sea-launched system—specifically, the sea-launched version of the SS-27 Topol-M missile. Excerpt from Itar Tass:
“The intention is that the state-of-the-art Bulava missile system should eventually be standardized, capable of being used either at sea or on land,” Baluyevsky said. The army general did specify how many systems would come into service in the near future. “Of course, we in the military—both ground forces and the navy—would like to have many up-to-date weapons. But we appreciate that the country also has other problems which require large financial resources,” Baluyevsky noted.
At the same time the CGS emphasized that in the new state defense program which “is being drafted and will be submitted to the president in the first half of 2006, procurement of armaments and military hardware is, effectively, being increased by 50 per cent.” “The state defense order for 2006 is the start of our progress towards the formation of this new state program,” Baluyevsky stressed.
(Article, Link)
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» Missile details: SS-26
Technical Data on Bulava Released; Differs from Topol-M
October 7, 2005 :: News
A site maintained by Pavel Podvig, author of Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces, has acquired hitherto unreleased technical data on the new Bulava ballistic missile, and has compared it side by side with the Topol-M missile. Russian sources had previously said the two missiles were quite similar, that the Bulava was the sea-launched version of the Topol-M. The information released, which comes from START exchange data, suggests that they are a bit more different. As noted by Russianforces.org, “In reality [the Bulava] is about a third shorter and quite a bit ‘stockier.’ …The missile, which was designated RSM-56 for the purposes of the [START] treaty, is quite compact—its launch weight is about 37 tonnes, its length is about 12 meters.” (Article, Link)
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» Missile details: SS-26
Russia Tests RSM-50 (SS-N-18) SLBM; Second Test in Four Days
September 30, 2005 :: Itar-Tass :: News
Russia today conducted a test launch of a submarine-launched ballistic missile from the St. George the Victorious nuclear submarine. The missile was launched from the Sea of Okhotsk and the warheads traveled to their targets at the Chizh range near the White Sea.
The Sea of Ohtotsk is in the Pacific Ocean, near the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. The targets are said to have traveled to cape Kanin Nos, on the island of Kanin. The White Sea is in the far north, almost directly due north of Moscow.
“The RSM-50 submarine-based missile was launched from submerged position from a depth of about 30 meters,” a Defense Ministry source is quoted by Itar Tass as saying, adding that “This is the first launch of an inter-continental ballistic missile by Russia’s Pacific Fleet this year. The previous missile launch from the same submarine was carried out on November 2, 2004.”
The St. George is identified by the Moscow News as a Delta-III-class submarine equipped to carry 16 R-29R nuclear-tipped missiles. The missile fired today, however, was identified as an RS-50, both of which designations refer to versions of the SS-N-18 SLBM.
The test follows upon the September 27 test of Russia’s new submarine-launched SS-NX-30, or Bulava, missile. (Article, Link)
» Sep. 30, 2005: Moscow News on SLBM launch
» Itar Tass on missile test
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-N-20, SS-N-23, SS-NX-30
Russia Tests Bulava SS-NX-30 SLBM For First Time
September 27, 2005 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
Russia today conducted the much anticipated first flight test of its new Bulava SS-NX-30 intercontinental ballistic missile. The missile was successfully launched from the Dmitry Donskoy Typhoon-class submarine of the Northern Fleet from the White Sea, and it traveled to its designated target at the Kura testing range on the Kamchatka peninsula.
The Bulava had undergone surface and underwater “pop-up” tests in September 2004 to test the submarine release mechanism, but it did not involve the firing of any missile engines.
The test comes a day after President Putin affirmed that Russia continues to develop hypersonic maneuverable warheads for its new missile systems which are capable of evading the sort of midcourse missile defenses being deployed by the United States. The Bulava is the sea-based variant of the Topol-M missile, said to carry such warheads.
Russian Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo told Itar Tass that the Borey-class nuclear submarines will be equipped with the Bulava missiles; two such submarines are being constructed at the Sevmash plant in Severodvinsk in the Arkhangelsk region. The first submarine, the Yury Dolgoruky, will be commissioned in 2006 and the second, the Alexander Nevsky, in 2007. (Article, Link)
» September 26: Putin reaffirms development of maneuverable hypersonic vehicles
» September 23, 2004: Russia conducts “pop-up” test of Bulava
» Sep. 27: Itar Tass on Bulava launch
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-26
Putin Reaffirms Plans for Hypersonic Maneuverable Warheads
September 27, 2005 :: RIA-Novosti :: Writings
In a question-and-answer session with members of the Russian public broadcast live by Russian RTR television, President Putin spoke of Russia’s plans to rearm its military forces with advanced new weapons, including strategic missiles capable of penetrating foreign defenses. Putin discussed in particular hypersonic strategic systems capable of maneuvering both in course and altitude which are capable of evading ballistic missile defenses such as those being developed by “partner countries”—a probable reference to the midcourse defenses gradually being fielded by the United States. Putin has spoken of these maneuverable systems on several occasions. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov referred to them as well in a recent television interview.
Excerpt of Putin response from Russian television and print media:
There is a lot going on from the point of view of re-equipping our army. This goes for state-of-the-art tanks. For the first time, large batches of new tanks for the army will be procured. We are moving towards the trials of upgraded new missiles that will be employed both on sea and on land. We are beginning to procure new ballistic missiles, including mobile systems.
We are continuing to develop precision-guided weapons in the testing of which I recently took part, as you probably have seen. It was a long-range, precision-guided weapon [possible reference to SS-N-23 launch on August 16, or to the test of a new cruise missile]. We shall be developing—indeed we are developing and will be bringing into service—new precision-guided strategic systems. I have already spoken about it. They are the kind that no-one in the world has obtained or is likely to obtain before we do. They are systems that will operate at hypersonic speeds and will be able to change direction in terms of heading and altitude. They are virtually unassailable systems, unassailable for anything including the missile defenses that are being developed in some of our partner countries.
Whereas only a few years ago Russia bought very little for the army, Putin said, “A great deal has been done in the past few years to restore the defense industry’s financial health. Xinhua cited Putin as saying that some 5 billion US dollars worth of Russian arms were exported in 2004. Putin said that expansion to foreign markets was a way to support Russia’s defense sector financially. “If our specialists make it to foreign markets and uphold our interests there, it will be a very good job,” the president said.
In a curious follow-up story published by RIA Novosti, however, an anonymous “air defense expert” is cited as saying that Putin, “must have meant state-of-the-art air defense systems when he said that Russia would deploy new hypersonic missile systems, virtually invulnerable to enemy defenses.” The air defense expert quoted by RIA Novosti added that specialists and researchers had been working on these weapons for a long time, and that the new system would (allegedly) combine the functions of air defense, missile defense and space defense.
To suggest that these systems referenced are air defenses would seem to make little sense, however—air defenses (for example Russia’s S-300 and S-400 systems) have no need to penetrate American missile defenses. (Article, Link)
» RIA Novosti: Air defense expert says Putin really meant to say air defenses
» Translation of RTR television broadcast
» Xinhua on Putin comments
» Sep. 6, 2005: Ivanov interview on strategic weapons, Chinese relations
» More stories on: Maneuverable Warheads, Russia
Possible Tochka-U Missile Test
September 15, 2005 :: Interfax :: News
The Interfax-Military News Agency reported on September 14 that a test of the SS-21 Tochka-U ballistic missile was expected as the conclusion of a Russian military exercise at the Luzhskiy artillery firing range in the Leningrad Region. Interfax quoted Major-General Mikhail Akulov, commander of the Leningrad Military District’s missile and artillery forces, as saying that the launch was soon expected.
“The brigade headed by Col Aleksandr Fateyev is taking up marches in columns, changes of firing positions and some other training missions in the course of the exercise, which is going to end with the launch of a Tochka-U tactical missile. Representatives of a state-owned firing range present will assess the readiness of the brigade,” he said.
He pointed out that the brigade had already launched the same type of missile during the tactical exercise at the state-owned firing range in the Volga region. …
The SV 9K79-1 Tochka-U missile system is designed to effectively kill critical targets in enemy’s tactical depth. The solid-propellant single-stage missile with cluster or high-explosive/fragmentation warhead weighs 2,010 kg, and has a range of 120 km.
Update: September 20, 2005:If the tests of the Tochka-U missiles took place, they seem to have not been reported in any publicly available media. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-24, SS-25
Interview: Ivanov on Chinese Relations, New Strategic Weapons
September 6, 2005 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov gave a rare television interview, for the “Vesti Podrobnosti” television program on the RTR network, discussing the recent joint military exercise with China, Russian military doctrine and policy, and long term plans for Russian strategic forces. Comments of particular interest included Ivanov’s discussion of the “geopolitical” significance of Russian military exercises with China: that the exercises represented a certain “certain qualitative shift” in relations, and that China is a “strategic partner.” Ivanov seemed to bristle at suggestions that Russia was out of line to engage in such exercises: “we are, excuse me, a sovereign state and did hold and will hold military exercises with whoever we like.”
But also of interest are his comments about Russia’s strategic nuclear forces. When asked by the interviewer about “new weapons” to be the “object of pride of the Russian armed forces,” Ivanov’s response seemed curious, and perhaps was directed less to the Russian television-watching public and more to the American defense community. Ivanov stressed in particular the importance of remarks made by President Putin “about a year ago” at the Russian launch facility at Plesetsk. The remarks referenced are likely those Putin made at Plesetsk in February 2004, in conjunction with Russia’s own, major, strategic wargames. Putin, Ivanov said, “was absolutely right when he said that every comma, every letter and every word in it had a particular significance. I still cannot expand on the matter but we are seriously working on the development of fundamentally different types of weapons, which will ensure for us reliable and guaranteed security after 60 years, after 70 years, easily.”
If it is this speech by Putin to which Ivanov referred, then he meant to underscore the revolutionary quality of the alleged maneuverable (perhaps hypersonic) warheads which could be launched by ballistic missiles, and which pose a major impediment to any American ballistic missile systems which are designed to intercept in the midcourse phase or later. Only a boost phase defense, which can destroy the launcher before it can release the maneuverable warhead or any decoys and countermeasures, could defend against such a threat. It is likely this ability in which Ivanov resides hope that Russia can maintain its offensive nuclear ability to strike the United States for the next 60 years, if the United States continues its decades-long delay of the deployment of strategic defenses.
Some excerpts from the Ivanov interview: (More »»»)
» February 8, 2005: Update on February 2004 test of maneuverable warhead
» More stories on: Maneuverable Warheads, Russia
» Missile details: SS-N-6, Taep'o-dong 2
Russian Defense Air Defense Spending to Double in 2006
August 23, 2005 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has said that spending on air defense and the Air Force will double in 2006 as compared to 2005, because “the government is giving priority to this area of the military.”
Russia’s 2006 budget will allocate 668.3 billion rubles ($24 billion) for overall national defense, a nearly 22 percent increase over defense spending this year. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia, Russian Missile Defenses
