Russia Tests Kh-555 Cruise Missile
May 27, 2005 :: Interfax :: News
Interfax reports that Russia has successfully tested the air-launched, precision-guided, long-range Kh-555 cruise missile. According to Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Rakhmanov, deputy chief of the Russian armed forces’ arms procurement directorate, the missile hit a target at a range of 2,000 km. The Kh-555 is reported to be the conventional version of the nuclear-armed Kh-55/AS-15, and is apparently part of Russia’s plan to convert strategic bombers to handle conventional missions. Sources indicate that the Kh-555 was first tested in 1999, and again in June 2004. (Article, Link)
» Ukraine said to have exported Kh-55, Kh-55M
» June 29, 2004: Russia Test Fires Kh-55
» Podvig on today’s test of Kh-555
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
Russia to Field New Set of Topol-M
May 17, 2005 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
RIA Novosti reports that Russia plans to arm a Strategic Missile Forces regiment in the Ivanovo Region with the mobile version of the SS-27 Topol-M missile system. The intercontinental-range solid-propellant Topol-M is said by RIA Novosti to be capable of avoiding space reconnaissance satellites and AWACS aircraft. In December 2004, the Topol-M underwent its fourth test launch. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia
» Missile details: SS-N-6
Russian A-135 System to Receive Upgrades
May 10, 2005 :: Itar-Tass :: News
Itar Tass reports that Russia’s missile defenses which protect central Russia will be increased in size and capacity in the coming year. Lieutenant General Sergey Kurushkin, a commander of the Russian Space Troops, told the Russian news agency that “measures to improve a number of components in the A-135 system, which provides antimissile defense for the central region of Russia, will soon be completed.” “Last year tests were completed on the modernized active parts of the system—the interceptor missiles, and the training-combat launch of one of these was successfully carried out at the southern Sary Shagan range,” he is quoted as saying, as well as that Russia has “in prospect the deployment of promising radar equipment in the system for warning of a missile attack, and also the acquisition of new specialized equipment for monitoring space…We are talking about new technology and high-quality features which rival the best foreign models.”
A-135 is the name for the missile defense system which still surrounds Moscow. The recent test at Sary Shagan to which Kurushkin referred may have been the November 29, 2004 test of the Gazelle interceptor, which was successful. (Article, Link)
» Nov. 29, 2004: Russian test of Gazelle interceptor successful
» More stories on: Russia, Russian Missile Defenses
» Missile system details for: System A-135, Gazelle (SH-08/ABM-3)
Russia “Categorically” Against Weapons in Space
April 13, 2005 :: News
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has said that Russia is “categorically against the deployment of weapons in space,” reports Interfax. His remarks come days after a related comment by Missile Defense Agency Director Henry Obering, that the U.S. should consider experimental testing space-based missile defenses.
Obering had (correctly) noted that “Emerging threats round the world indicate the need for developing a space-based layer of defensive systems.”
Although Russia has nominally opposed the deployment of American space-based defenses—significant for the capabilities to destroy missiles much earlier in their trajectory—in fact their own policies clearly emphasize the importance of a military presence in space. And Ivanov, even while opposing American deployment, indicated in the same press conference that such a presence remains a priority for Russia. “There are currently about 100 spacecraft in our space military group, and the role of space will only go on increasing,” ITAR-TASS quoted Ivanov as saying. The strategic high ground of space makes it only reasonable that Russia would desire such basing—as well as that the U.S. should pursue space-based defenses. (Article, Link)
» Sergei Ivanov emphasizes importance of Russian space presence
» More stories on: Russia, Space-Based Systems
Russia Can Quickly Produce Missiles Banned by INF Treaty
March 17, 2005 :: Interfax :: News
The Russian defense industry could with short notice begin production of intermediate range ballistic missiles currently banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, reports Interfax, quoting an unnamed Russian defense source. The source is quoted at length: “All the necessary technical and production prerequisite are in place. For instance, the achievements in research and technology gained in the development of the Skorost missile system in the 1980s may become a basis for manufacturing medium-range missiles…The Skorost system was developed in response to the deployment of US Pershing-2 missiles in Europe. In its characteristics, it was not inferior to its foreign counterpart…The [Skorost] missile was capable of carrying a more powerful warhead than Pershing-2.”
The Russian defense source also added that the development of new missiles with a range of 500-600 km based on existing Iskander-E tactical missile systems was also possibile. (Article, Link)
» BBC Monitoring text of Interfax report
» Text of 1987 INF Treaty
» Description of cancelled Skorost missile program
» More stories on: Russia
Russia Tests Tochka-U in Siberia
March 7, 2005 :: Itar-Tass :: News
The Russian military successfully carried out a test launch of the short range Tochka-U (SS-21) ballistic missile on March 5, in the Siberian Military District, as part of a military exercise, reports press spokesman Colonel Valeriy Shcheblanin, reports Itar Tass. The missile is said to have hit its target “with utmost precision.”
Tochka-U, which is offered for export, is a version of the SS-21 (“Scarab B”) missile with a composite fuel, and an extended range of 120 km. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Russia, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: SS-24, SS-25
Russian Radar in Ajerbaijan Profiled
February 28, 2005 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
Russian Channel One TV profiled the Russian radar station in Azerbaijan on 26 February. The radar station is described as being similar to that at Pechora, in Russia, and having the capability of seeing anything larger than a football in space. Text of the profile: (More »»»)
» More stories on: Detection and Tracking, Russia
Plans for S-400 Testing in 2005
February 10, 2005 :: RIA-Novosti :: News
Later this year, Russian aircraft will participate for the first time in air defense exercises held jointly with other former Soviet republics. The tests will include the latest S-400 air and missile defense system, reports RIA Novosti, citing a press conference by Lieutenant General Aitech Bizhev, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force.
Bizhev is quoted as saying that “We plan to conduct a command-and-staff training exercise at the Central Command Post in April 2005. During the exercise, we will deploy for the first time strategic aviation aircraft as test targets.” Armenia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Belarus are each said to have requested participation in the exercise, to take place in Kazakhstan, for the purpose of testing “the full range of capabilities of the S-400 air defense complex,” said Bizhev.
Russia has recently announced its own plans to deploy the S-400 in its own territory in 2005. The joint tests of the system would seem to indicate plans to distribute the system on a much wider basis. (Article, Link)
» Feb. 9, 2004: Syria wants to acquire S-400
» More stories on: Former Soviet Republics, Russia, Russian Missile Defenses
» Missile system details for: S-400 (SA-20 Triumf)
Ambassador: European-Based BMD No Threat to Russian Missiles
February 9, 2005 :: Interfax :: News
In an interview with the Russian Interfax news agency, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow tried to put the country at ease with the prospect of European-based missile defense interceptors, which are primarily aimed at the growing threat from Iran. Vershbow stressed that any such defense would be limited, that it would be no match for Russia’s massive strategic arsenal, and that moreover geography would make it practically irrelevant to stopping a nuclear attack by Russia on the United States, the capability for which Russia thinks it requires:
If you simply look at the globe, you can see that geographically, any systems that would ultimately be in Europe would be oriented towards threats from the south, the southwest—countries like Iran—and would have no logic vis-a-vis Russian systems, which of course go north, not west.
To say that Russian missiles “go north, not west” is a diplomatic way of saying that Russian missiles still target the United States. The question remains, of course, whether it is the right policy for the United States to deliberately avoid missile defenses capable of providing a strategic defense, a defense against the launch of Russian ICBMs—whether “accidental, unauthorized, or deliberate,” to quote the words of the 1999 National Missile Defense Act—that is, to continue to give Russian missiles “a free ride” to U.S. territory. To avoid such a strategic defense, to avoid defenses against Chinese and Russian missiles (space-based interceptors, for example), needlessly perpetuates the regime of assured destruction, of mutual vulnerability, which the U.S. should have abandoned with the expiration of the 1972 ABM Treaty. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Allies, Russia
Syria Wants Russian S-400
February 9, 2005 :: News
Syria is negotiating the purchase of the Russian S-400 air and missile defense system, said to be comparable or superior to U.S. Patriot PAC-3 interceptors. Middle East Newsline quotes “Russian industry sources” as saying that Syrian President Bashar Assad sought to acquire the system during his recent visit to Moscow. “Assad is very interested in the S-400 and apparently Syria has the money to buy this,” an industry source is quoted as saying.
Recent news reports have confirmed that Russia will be deploying the S-400 for its own defenses in 2005. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Israel, Russia, Syria
» Missile system details for: S-400 (SA-20 Triumf)
