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Russia successfully tested facilities for the future American missile defense system in Eastern Europe
Yesterday can, without exaggeration, be considered a milestone in the history of the Russian armed forces - two major events occurred at once. And if one of them - tests at the Kapustin Yar (Znamensk) training ground in the Astrakhan region of the Iskander operational-tactical complex, this time equipped with a cruise missile, was trumpeted by all the media the day before, then the second, much more significant, was reported by the “tops” didn't say a word. We are talking about the launch of a prototype of the new RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from the state test site Plesetsk. A common NATO name for this product has not yet been invented. Thus, Russia directly responded to US plans to deploy missile defense in the Czech Republic and Poland , because the missile defense system is precisely aimed against intercontinental ballistic missiles.This was confirmed by First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov: “Russia has a new operational-tactical complex and a strategic complex that are capable of overcoming any existing and future missile defense systems. Therefore, from the point of view of defense and security, the Russians can look at it calmly.”
The new ICBM has a separating warhead of individual guidance and will replace the obsolete, no matter how long the service life is extended, heavy missiles that most frighten the United States, the RS-20 Voevoda (SS-18 Satan) and RS-18 (SS-19 Stilet), capable carry six and ten warheads.
“At the appointed time,” as the rocket scientists say, the launched units fell on the battlefields of the Kamchatka Kura training ground. This immediately put an end to the sluggish arguments that, supposedly, the base for the production of heavy missiles remained at the Ukrainian Yuzhmash in Dnepropetrovsk, and the Russian treasury would not be able to support the resumption of production of this miracle weapon. However, she pulled. There was also enough money for a specially converted mobile launcher from Topol, from which the new rocket was launched. During its flight, experimental data were obtained confirming the correctness of the technical solution when developing the product (there is a lot of “Topol” in it - this will reduce the time for creating the product and the costs of it), the characteristics of systems and assemblies were determined.
The RS-24 was developed at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering under the leadership of Academician Yuri Solomonov - the same place where both Topol and Bulava were born, which, by the way, was not even mentioned yesterday. The RS-24 cannot even cause formal discontent among our strategic partners from the United States, since it fully meets the requirements of the current START-1 (offensive arms reduction) and SNP (offensive capabilities reduction) treaties. Sergei Ivanov did not rule out that Russia would put into service such “longer-range” missiles. However, he has not yet given specific figures characterizing this range.
The military has already stated that the new product will “strengthen the combat capabilities of the Strategic Missile Forces strike group to overcome missile defense systems.” Perhaps this phrase is the reason for the appearance of a new element in the arsenal of our nuclear shield. In the future, the RS-24, together with the already on duty monoblock Topol-M (RS-12M2), will form the basis of the strike force of the Strategic Missile Forces.
The new product launched at 14.20 Moscow time, and exactly three minutes later, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, at the other end of the country, announced the opening of a visiting meeting of the Military-Industrial Commission under the Russian government. It was dedicated, as Sergei Borisovich defined it, to the creation of promising models of missile weapons for the ground forces. Naturally, we are primarily talking about the Iskander-M operational-tactical complex, that is, the modernized one. It is produced at the Kolomna Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau (KBM), which is also famous throughout the world for man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems. Iskander is designed to strike small and targeted targets with a missile made using Stealth technology.
Yesterday, the military especially and appropriately emphasized that the Iskander-M complex is capable of hitting air and missile defense systems with high efficiency.
The complex’s missile can carry a cluster bomb (of 54 combat elements) weighing 480 kg, a penetrating bomb, a high-explosive fragmentation bomb, and in the future “other warheads.” Sergei Ivanov spoke softly about the “variability” of these same missile warheads. If we continue the above list, then logically the next one should be the nuclear warhead. It is known that the predecessor of the Iskander, the Oka, which unfairly came under the knife under the terms of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, was intended specifically for the delivery of a nuclear warhead. The creator of Oka, Sergei Nepobedimy, told Vremya Novostey about this.
Sergei Ivanov also spoke about “variability in missile types.” In other words, from the same mobile Iskander launcher from which a classic ballistic missile is launched, you can try to launch a cruise missile. And then the Iskander, modernized in this sense, which is already a high-precision modern weapon, will rise one step higher. Let us recall that this operational-tactical complex can receive target designations from space reconnaissance assets, interact with drones, that is, operate in real time. The complex has a unique missile guidance and control system throughout the entire flight path. In total, Iskander has two missiles capable of launching at intervals of one minute.
The firing range of the complex is from 50 to 280 km. But it is clear that with a cruise missile it can jump to a thousand or more kilometers. That is, to fly to Poland and the Czech Republic, where it is planned to deploy the echelon of the American missile defense system. Accuracy will also increase, although it seems that there is nowhere to go - the Iskander-M missile does not deviate from the target by more than 2 meters. Its cruise missile with a radar or optical homing head will be able to compete with the formidable American Tomahawk, which “distinguished itself” in Iraq and Yugoslavia.
It is curious that yesterday, at a meeting of the military-industrial commission in Znamensk, Sergei Ivanov first recalled that the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) is not working and this could harm Russia’s national security interests, and only then moved on to the agenda -- “on the degree of readiness of the comprehensive target program for the development of high-precision weapons of the ground forces.” The First Deputy Prime Minister also did not ignore the Soviet-American Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty: Russia’s neighbors are acquiring such missiles, which poses a danger to us. And he immediately demanded that the participants in the meeting of the military-industrial complex “determine the timing of research and development work that will make it possible to obtain weapons.”
Sergei Borisovich did not fail to remind that the choice of the location for the meeting of the military-industrial complex was not accidental: unique experiments are carried out at the training ground, new weapons systems are tested, missiles are launched in the interests of all types of armed forces and branches of the military. Basically, what's special about this is just a demonstration of capabilities. This is customary in all armies of the world.
As you know, Russia initiated a conference in mid-June on the aforementioned CFE Treaty, which the Europeans do not want to ratify. And although NATO does not comment on yesterday’s “military” events in Russia, they will probably have to be more accommodating at the conference.
Tests of the new R-500 high-precision cruise missile with an increased range for the Iskander at the Kapustin Yar test site were also completed successfully. Based on them, the military-industrial commission on the spot adopted a program for the development of high-precision weapons of the ground forces. Its essence is the equipment of the Iskander in various combat versions. Cruise missiles for it will go into production as early as 2009 - much earlier than the Americans are going to deploy elements of their missile defense in Europe.