| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Russia to deploy regiment of RS-24 ballistic missiles in late 2009 |
| 2009-05-07 |
| Russia will put the first regiment of new-generation RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles into service in late 2009, the Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) commander said on Thursday. "We plan to put the first regiment of mobile [RS-24] missile systems equipped with multiple re-entry vehicle warheads into service by the end of this year," Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov said. The RS-24 ICBM, which will replace the older SS-18 and SS-19 missiles by 2050, is expected to greatly strengthen the SMF's strike capability, as well as that of its allies until the mid-21st century, Solovtsov said. The missile will be deployed both in silos and on mobile platforms, and together with the Topol-M single-warhead ICBM will constitute the core of Russia's SMF in the future, he added. He also said the SMF would conduct at least 14 missile test launches, including space launches, in 2009. "We are planning 14 launches for various purposes, including the testing of missile components and warheads, the extension of missiles' service life, and space launches," Solovtsov said. The SMF reportedly has a total of 538 ICBMs, including 306 SS-25 Sickle (Topol) missiles, 88 SS-18 Satan (Voyevoda) and 56 SS-27 Stalin (Topol-M) missiles. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #6 Their old nukes work just fine. No need to spend badly needed rubles on brand new ones when the ground forces are falling apart. They just have this bizarre fantasy about a big war where they get to go to the Strategic Rocket Forces to win, totally forgetting about MAD, second strike, etc. And 14 tests? Come on, the Russians just like to shoot off their toys. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-05-07 20:03 |
| #5 Not if we have an effective Ballistic Missile Defense like the one Teh One just cut funding for.... damn *we're so screwed* |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-05-07 19:24 |
| #4 The Russians just have this ridiculous obsession with huge nukes. It's not ridiculous. It's the only thing that makes them relevant. Who would gives a rat's ass what Russia thought about anything if they weren't bristling with nukes? Also, nukes are a great deal cheaper than world class ground, sea and air forces. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2009-05-07 19:17 |
| #3 Leaving aside the strategic considerations the Russians to build excellent and very reliable launch vehicles. An outfit I used to work for used Protons (along with the Chinese Long March and Boeing's Delta V) to launch a bunch of satellites. A friend who went to Baikonur as part of the launch team described a successful launch during a thunderstorm with lots of lightning and fairly severe upper-level winds which would far more than have scrubbed a Delta launch. Despite taking that sort of risk at the time the Proton was more reliable than the Delta V. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2009-05-07 12:30 |
| #2 I say let 'em waste it. They have totally backward and incompetent land forces, as the invasion of Georgia demonstrated. A cunning adversary would have ripped them a new one. |
| Posted by: Mizzou Mafia 2009-05-07 12:17 |
| #1 The Russians just have this ridiculous obsession with huge nukes. They are utterly useless and the money spent would better be used somewhere else...anywhere else. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-05-07 10:39 |