In January 2016 Russia was estimated to have 525 strategic launchers with about 1800 nuclear warheads. The Strategic Rocket Forces
are estimated to have 299 operational missile systems of six types that carry 902 warheads.
The strategic fleet includes 10 strategic missile
submarines with SLBMs on board. The operationally deployed 160 SLBMs can carry 704 nuclear warheads.
Strategic aviation bomber force consists
of 66 bombers that have about 200 weapons assigned to them.
In November 2015, Russia launched the first satellite of the new-generation early warning system.
On May 25, 2017 at 09:33:41 MSK (06:33:41 UTC), the Air and Space Forces successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1b launcher from the launch pad No. 4 of the launch complex No. 43 of the Plesetsk site. Press reports quote official...
What exactly was the name of the first Soviet nuclear test? As it turns out, it is not a simple question. In the United States, the test was designated Joe-1, but its actual name was not known for quite a...
It is probably time for a quick update on the status of the Russian strategic bomber modernization program. Russia seems to have quite a big plan. Two years ago, in May 2015, the air force announced that it wants to...
The U.S. State Department released aggregate New START numbers from the 1 March 2017 data exchange. Russia declared 1765 deployed warheads, 523 deployed launchers, and 816 total launchers. In September 2016 the numbers were 1796, 508, and 847 respectively. The...
One of the three remaining Project 667BDR submarines, Ryazan, has returned to its base in Vilyuchinsk after an overhaul at the Zvezda plant in Vladivostok. The submarine was transferred to the Pacific from the Northern Fleet in 2008. It began...
The on-and-off rail-mobile ICBM program seems to be going forward after all, although rather slowly. Although it was said to be suspended in April 2016, it showed signs of life that culminated in what is said to be an ejection...
The Sarmat program that is expected to produce a new "heavy" ICBM, appears to have hit some kind of a bump. Of course, it's hard to know it for certain--these things don't get a lot of coverage--but there are a...
On January 16, 2017, the Strategic Rocket Forces carried out a successful flight test of a silo-based Topol-M (SS-27) missile. The missile was launched from a silo at the Plesetsk test site, the warhead was said to have reached its...
According to the Russian defense minister, three new early-warning radars will begin combat operations in 2017 - Orsk, Barnaul, and Yeniseisk. In addition, three radars--Baranovichi, Murmansk, and Pechora--have been "upgraded." The radar in Orsk is of the Voronezh-M type. Barnaul...
On December 23, 2016 the Sevmash ship-building plant started construction of the eighth Project 955 Borey ballistic missile submarine (or, rather, starting from the fourth submarine, Project 955A Borey A). As was reported earlier, the submarine was named Knyaz...
The book
