At the beginning of 2008 the Russian strategic forces included
682 strategic delivery platforms,
which can carry up to 3100
nuclear warheads. The Strategic Rocket Forces
have 430 operational missile systems of four types that can carry 1605 warheads.
The strategic fleet includes 14 strategic missile
submarines. Their 173 missiles can carry 611 nuclear warheads.
Strategic aviation bomber force consists
of 79 bombers that can carry up to 884 long-range cruise missiles.
The space-based tier of the early
warning system included three satellites that appear operational--two on highly
elliptical orbits and one on a geostationary orbit.
Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as President of Russia and assumed responsibilities of the Supreme Commander of the Russian armed forces. In a separate ceremony in Kremlin he was handed over the so-called "nuclear suitcase" - a "Kazbek" terminal that...
Russia and the United States signed an agreement on nuclear cooperation, usually referred to as a 123 agreement. The document was signed by the head of Rosatom Sergei Kiriyenko and U.S. ambassador to Moscow William Burns. The agreement has a...
In a ceremony at the Gorbunov Aviation Plant in Kazan, Russian strategic aviation received a new Tu-160 bomber, which then flew to its permanent base in Engels. The aircraft, named after Vitaly Kopylov, joined the 121st Guards Hevay Bomber Regiment...
Here is an interesting data point for the discussion of the status of the Russian strategic submarine fleet. According to the most recent overview of Russia's nuclear forces published by Stan Norris and Hans Kristensen in the Bulletin of...
Sean O'Connor published analysis of a Tatishchevo image in his excellent IMINT & Analysis blog. The blog is a must read for everyone interested in satellite imagery....
According to a report by Bellona, one of the three plutonium production reactors that are still operating in Russia, ADE-4 in Seversk/Tomsk-7, will be shut down on Sunday, April 20, 2008. Another reactor in Seversk, ADE-5, is expected to be...
In theory, the idea of providing fuel for new nuclear power plants seems like a good way to stem weapons proliferation. But then there are the practicalities.
I just returned from the American Physical Society meeting in St. Louis. I was there to receive the Leo Szilard Lectureship Award for 2008, which APS awarded this year "to Anatoli Diakov and Pavel Podvig," "For establishing a center for...
At the last Bush-Putin presidential summit that took place in Sochi, the presidents signed a "U.S.-Russia Strategic Framework Declaration." Both sides did their best to downplay expectations ahead of the meeting and as we can see now for a good...
START treaty data that were publicly released a few days ago provide an update of the numbers of nuclear launchers and warheads that Russia had in its arsenal in January 2008. According to these data, the Russian strategic forces in January 2008 included 682 strategic launchers that can carry 3100 warheads. This is about 60 launchers and 180 warheads fewer than a year ago, in January 2007.
The book
