As of July 2009, the Russian strategic forces included
608 strategic delivery platforms,
which can carry up to 2683
nuclear warheads. The Strategic Rocket Forces
have 367 operational missile systems of four types that can carry 1248 warheads.
The strategic fleet includes 13 strategic missile
submarines. Their 165 missiles can carry 591 nuclear warheads.
Strategic aviation bomber force consists
of 76 bombers that can carry up to 844 long-range cruise missiles.
In October 2009 the space-based tier of the early
warning system included five satellites that appear operational--three on highly
elliptical orbits and two on a geostationary orbit.
On February 5, 2010 President of Russia formally approved the new military doctrine, whose text is now available, and a document called "Basic principles of state's policy in the area of nuclear deterrence through 2020", which appears to be classified....
On January 28, 2010 Space Forces successfully launched a Proton-M rocket from the launch pad No. 24 of the launch complex No. 81 of the Baykonur launch site. The launch took place at 03:18 MSK (00:18 UTC). The rocket and...
On January 22, 2009, the Zvezdochka shipyard formally handed over the K-18 Karelia submarine to the Northern Fleet. The Project 667BDRM/Dleta IV class submarine had been in overhaul since August 2004. It is now equipped with Sineva modification of the...
It looks like the deployment of RS-24 is delayed for more than a month or two. The Vedomosti newspaper quotes a source in the Ministry of Defense as saying that the deployment will begin in 2011, after one or two...
The next flight test of the Bulava missile will not take place until summer of 2010, according to the Russian media, who quote a source in the Russian Navy. The plan is to conduct two more tests of the missile...
When it came to excess and waste, the Soviet Union was hard to beat - its defense industry produced military equipment in inordinate numbers. For some reason sea-launched ballistic missiles were particularly popular. Each SLBM launcher had more than three...
The Rocket Forces announced the plan to add two regiments to the Topol-M force in 2010 - a regiment of silo-based missiles in Tatishchevo and a regiment of mobile missiles in Teykovo. A regiment of silo-based missiles includes ten missiles...
Amid the flurry of Russian end-of-year news (it is a traditionally very busy time, with everybody rushing to finish things by the end of year) one news was conspicuously absent - that of deployment of the RS-24 missile. Earlier this...
On December 24, 2009 the Strategic Rocket Forces performed a successful test launch of a R-36M2 missile (RS-20V, SS-18). The missile was launched at 9:30 MSK (5:30 UTC) from on of the silos of the missile division in Dombarovsky (Yasnyy)...
The Voronezh-class early-warning radar in Lekhtusi has been officially accepted for combat service on December 23, 2009. The radar first began operations in December 2005 and has been working in "experimental combat" mode, with the military crews and representatives of...
The book
