Russian press quotes Vladimir Degtyar, the director of the Makeyev Design Bureau, as saying that his bureau is working on a new ballistic missile. Apparently the contract announcement has been posted at zakupki.gov.ru, but I cannot find it at the moment. In any event, Degtyar's words suggest that its a new missile, different from Sarmat:
Today, we work on several contracts for the defense ministry, developing land-based and sea-based ballistic missiles. It's the new heavy ballistic missile Sarmat [...] and development [опытно-конструкторские разработки] of a new prospective machine [=ballistic missile]
The Izvestia author speculates that this might be a new SLBM, but the evidence he gives is extremely thin, so it's in the "not confirmed" category for the moment. However, it is quite likely that it is indeed a new SLBM - there is hardly a place for another land-based missile. Moreover, I would not be surprised at all if Makeyev works on a new liquid-fuel SLBM. I hope we will find out.
The book
Comments
This is particularly interesting Pavel, a liquid fueled SLBM would make a great deal of sense given the poor reliability of Bulava and the fact that Sineva/Liner is too long to fit in the Borei. Bulava is clearly the Borei's weakest link, which for obvious reasons is a very significant problem that -given the current political climate- needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
Its logical that a new class of SSBN will have a new SLBM , it takes around 15 years for new class of SSBN from drawing board to commissioning and around equal time for new SLBM to be developed. This is more like a long term project like USN SSBNx
Gentlemen:
Is it even possible to retro-fit a new liquid-fueled missile in the Borey 955-class in place of the solid Bulava? Just can’t see this as a future update for the aging Delta IVs. If not, this must indicate a new missile for a new class of Russian strategic boats in the future, right?
Frank Shuler
USA