The K-84 Ekaterinburg submarine of the Project 667BDRM/Delta IV class caught fire on December 29, 2011. The submarine was undergoing repairs in the PD-50 floating dry dock in Roslyakovo, near Severomorsk, where it was moved earlier this month. The fire reportedly began at about 16:20 MSK at the wooden scaffolding and later moved to the outer hull of the submarine. Firefighters had to submerge the submarine to extinguish the fire. According to an official report, the fire was put out by 16:00 MSK on December 30, 2011.

The submarine reactors were shut down and various sources in the military insisted that ballistic missiles had been removed from the submarine. The fire damaged the outer hull of the submarine, so it might take a year or longer before the submarine could return to service.

UPDATE: The submarine will return to service no earlier than summer of 2014.

According to the commander of the Long-Range Aviation, Major-General Anatoly Zhikharev, his service formulated a set of technical requirements for a new strategic bomber, known as a PAK DA - "Advanced Aviation Complex for the Long-Range Aviation." The work on the new aircraft will be carried out at the Tupolev Design Bureau. The general expects that the preliminary draft will be completed in 2012 and a flying prototype will be ready in 2020, so the new bomber could begin service in 2025.

The Tupolev Design Bureau has been reportedly working on the preliminary design since about 2009, when the Ministry of Defense placed its first R&D order.

The Rocket Forces reported that the second regiment of RS-24 Yars missiles began combat duty at the Teykovo division (the first one with 9 RS-24 missiles assumed combat duty in August 2011). The regiment is not complete yet - at this point it includes 6 missiles, even though the Rocket Forces promised a few days ago that they will bring the number of deployed RS-24 to 18.

On December 27, 2011, at 16:00 MSK (12:00 UTC) the Strategic Rocket Forces successfully launched a UR-100NUTTH/SS-19 missile from a silo launcher at the Baykonur test site. The ministry of defense reported that the launch was used to confirm the current 32 years service life of the missile and to consider extending it to 33 years (I should note that the Rocket Forces already reported extending service life of UR-100NUTTH to 33 years in 2008). The missile was manufactured in 1978 and was deployed in 1979-2009 in Tatishchevo and then in Kozelsk. It was withdrawn from service in 2009.

The report also says that the launch was used "to test the new combat equipment developed to counter missile defense." Accordingly, representatives of the NPO Mashinostoryeniya took part in the launch.

This is not the first time the industry and the Rocket Forces use missile defense as a pretext for developing new systems. No details about the new anti-missile defense system have been released, but it is probably the famous "hypersonic maneuverable warhead" that made quite a bit of news about five years ago, after first reported to be tested in 2004. Development of this warhead apparently continued without much fanfare after that. I know that a test of this system was supposed to happen around October 20-22, 2011, but was cancelled at the last moment because of a problem with the missile. This time the missile seemed to have worked.

It might be something else, though - some reports quote an unnamed source in the General Staff as saying that this kind of new warhead was first successfully tested in 2010 (probably referring to the Topol launch from Kapustin Yar in December 2010). I would doubt that this is the same warhead - the "hypersonic" one seem to be too large for Topol.

On December 23, 2011 at 16:08 MSK (12:08 UTC), the Space Forces crews carried out a launch of a Souyz-2.1b launcher. Equipped with a Fregat boost stage, it was carrying a Meridian communication satellite. The launcher failed to deliver the satellite into the orbit due to a failure of the third stage motor at the 421st second of the flight.

This was the fifth launch of Meridian-type satellites. All previous launches, including the fourth one in May 2011, have been successful.

On December 23, 2011 Yuri Dolgorukiy submarine of the Project 955 class conducted a successful salvo launch of two Bulava missiles. According to the Ministry of Defense spokesman, the missiles were launched from a submerged submarine deployed in the White Sea toward the Kura test site in Kamchatka. All warheads were reported to have successfully reached their targets.

These are the 18th and the 19th launch in the Bulava development program. The missile will most likely be accepted for service in 2012. In February 2011, the Ministry of Defense expected that Bulava program would require from four to five launches before the missile could enter service.

On December 20, 2011, the Strategic Rocket Forces and the Air and Space Defense Forces conducted a successful test launch of the 53T6 (Gazelle) interceptor of the A-135 missile defense system, which is currently deployed around Moscow. The test launch took place at 12:01 MSK (08:01 UTC) at the Sary-Shagan test site in Kazakhstan. The last time the 53T6 interceptor was tested in October 2009.

The K-51 Verkhoturie submarine of the Project 667BDRM/Delta IV class, which began overhaul in August 2010, will not return to active service until the end of 2012.

The Rocket Forces added a new battalion of three RS-24 Yars missiles to the missile division in Teykovo. Together with the first full RS-24 regiment that began combat duty in August 2011, this brings the total number of RS-24 missiles to 12 missiles. One more battalion is expected to be deployed in the remaining days of 2011, which means that by the end of the year Russia will have 15 operational RS-24 missiles.

According to the Rocket Forces, deployment of the second RS-24 regiment in Teykovo will be completed in 2012 (so, the number of RS-24 missiles there will reach 18). Also, the Rocket Forces will begin deployment of mobile RS-24 in Novosibirsk and silo-based RS-24 missiles in Kozelsk.

The information about new missile deployment in Kozelsk was first made public in August 2011 (the decision to keep the division was made much earlier, in 2008; an option of silo-based RS-24 was also mentioned at the time). Now it is confirmed that the Kozelsk division will have multiple-warhead RS-24.

In the same report, the Rocket Forces confirmed that deployment of single-warhead Topol-M missiles will be completed in 2012, after the sixth regiment in Tatishchevo is fully equipped. Four missiles will be added to the 52 silo-based Topol-Ms deployed there by the end of 2011 and four more - by the end of 2012. Deployment of road-mobile Topol-M missiles was discontinued in 2010.

The Strategic Rocket Forces will begin deployment of a "fourth-generation" command and control system in 2012, according to the commander of the Rocket Forces, Sergey Karakayev.

The new system will apparently replace the "third-generation" command and control system that was reported to be completed in 2008.