The book

Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces
edited by Pavel Podvig
with contributions from Oleg Bukharin, Timur Kadyshev, Eugene Miasnikov, Pavel Podvig, Igor Sutyagin, Maxim Tarasenko, and Boris Zhelezov
The MIT Press
7x9, xxii, 693 pages, 57 illustrations
ISBN 0-262-16202-4 hardcover
ISBN 0-262-66181-0 paperback

“A veritable treasure trove of information for all students of Russian nuclear weapons and strategic policy questions.”

— Sidney D. Drell, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University

“No previous volume matches this book in comprehensive detail not only on the Russian nuclear forces themselves but also on the course of their development and the development of their supporting infrastructure.”

— Celeste A. Wallander, Director and Senior Fellow
Russia and Eurasia Program,  Center for Strategic and International Studies

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The book "Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces" is part of the Russian Nuclear Forces Project of the Center for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. It provides comprehensive data about Soviet and Russian strategic weapons, payloads, and delivery systems and on the nuclear complex that supports them. The data are drawn from open, primarily Russian, sources, and all the information is presented chronologically, arranged by individual systems and facilities, and is not available elsewhere in a single volume.

Following an overview of the history of the Soviet strategic forces, the book discusses the structure of the political and military leadership in the Soviet Union and Russia, the structure of the Russian military and military industry, nuclear planning procedures and the structure of the command and control system. It describes the nuclear warhead production complex and the Soviet nuclear weapon development program. It then focuses on the individual services that constitute the so-called strategic triad—land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, the strategic submarine fleet, and strategic aviation. It presents an overview of Soviet strategic defense, including air-defense systems, the Moscow missile defense system, the radar and space-based early warning networks, and the space-surveillance system. The book also includes a description of the Soviet nuclear testing program, including information on test sites and on all Soviet nuclear tests and peaceful nuclear explosions. It concludes with a look at the future of strategic nuclear weapons in Russia.

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Authors of the book are Russian researchers from the Center for Arms Control Studies at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the U.S. and Canada Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Princeton University.

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The book is part of a research project carried by the Center for Arms Control Studies at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. The project has been made possible due to generous support of the Ploughshares Fund, the W. Alton Jones Foundation, and the John Merck Fund. The English edition of the book was supported by the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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