Translated material
Evil eye
In uniform
Evil eye
October 26, 2006 Alexander Golts
And Vladimir Vladimirovich also has a bad eye. Yesterday, answering the question of a brave naval sailor, who asked the president to tell about the combat missions of the Baltic Fleet, Putin mentioned the underwater missile carriers “Vladimir Monomakh” and “Alexander Nevsky”. And on the same day it turned out that they could be left without missiles. The test of the latest sea rocket "Bulava" for the second time in a row ended in failure.
Meanwhile, we are talking about a program that is of particular importance for the Kremlin. A month and a half ago, immediately after the first unsuccessful test, Minister of Defense Sergey Ivanov gathered a meeting of the military-industrial commission. And even then, in the words of the minister, who, speaking to the television cameras, carefully chooses the expressions, was heard a hidden threat: “At the meeting that I carried out this year ... I already expressed concern for the work of the work. Testing“ Bulava ”, carried out the day before, showed that in a number of directions it should be taken to be guaranteed to create these submarines on the directive time.” Participants in the meeting with their Soviet experience do not need to explain twice what the euphemisms “take measures” mean - it is at best about removing.
The same, Sergei Ivanov was angry because unsuccessful trials put Russian leaders in a rather stupid position. Both Ivanov himself and President Vladimir Putin for the last year about and without a reason, every time remembered the Bulava missile system, which, according to them, being put on combat duty, should ensure the preservation of nuclear parity with the United States.
I must say that the preservation of parity and the ability to cause unacceptable damage to the United States in the Kremlin is considered the most important problem of security and foreign policy. Not at all because Moscow is seriously considering the possibility of war with the United States, especially the nuclear war. It’s just that Russian leaders are sure: the nuclear potential comparable to the American will always provide our country with a “worthy” place in the international arena.
However, in recent years, a serious threat hung over the nuclear inheritance from the USSR: nuclear weapons are rapidly aging. Already now, the service life of Russian “heavy” missiles with separating head parts has almost doubled the initial warranty period. And it is not possible to replace those who have served their missiles with new rockets - too expensive. The armed forces can afford to purchase no more than six to seven new Topol-M missiles. Roughly speaking, that one new rocket regiment is put on combat duty annually, and a whole division has to be disbanded. It should also be borne in mind that missiles carrying 10-12 warheads are removed from the combat composition, and at best, three can be installed on the “poplar-m”. It turned out that by the end of 2011, Russia could not save 1700-2200 warheads, as much as it allows you to have an agreement on strategic offensive potentials and as much as the United States will have by that time.
Therefore, Russian leaders, as usual, trusted the one who promised them a miracle. After the tests of the Bark's Marine Rocket, the director of the Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering, ended up three times in a row, Yuri Solomonov, the clerk, undertook to create a unified sea and ground missile based on Topol -M. To reduce the development of the missile system, it was decided to conduct tests not at the ground training ground, but immediately launch them from the sides of the submarines. At first it seemed that the risk justifies itself. It was reported that four tests in a row out of the planned ten were successful. And just then Yuri Solomonov announced to reporters that by 2011 Russia would, contrary to adverse circumstances, have a strategic potential of two thousand nuclear ammunition. But a miracle, as we see, does not work. A tightening of tests creates even greater problems.
The Bulava has already expired those very “directive terms” that Ivanov spoke about. “Yuri Dolgoruky” - the first submarine of the new series, which the president spoke about yesterday, has been being built in Severodvinsk for 10 years. Initially, it was created for the Bark missiles, which were three times more and heavier than Bulava. Then the submarine was redone under the "mace" even before this rocket itself was put into service. Now that in 2007 this submarine will enter into operation, it, like the other two submarines of this series, will be without weapons at all. It turns out that billions of dollars (and half of the money allocated for the purchase of weapons is spent on missile weapons) is wasted.
Alexander Golts
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