Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday ordered that the country's nuclear deterrent be augmented over the next 12 years, RIA Novosti reported (see GSN, June 10).
"A guaranteed nuclear deterrent system for various military and political circumstances must be provided by 2020," Medvedev told Russian military officials.
He added: "We must ensure air superiority, precision strikes at land and sea targets, timely deployment of troops. We are planning to launch large-scale production of warships, primarily, nuclear submarines with cruise missiles and multi-purpose attack submarines."
A plan for these moves is due by December (RIA Novosti, Sept. 26).
During the meeting, Medvedev did not discuss the Borei-class submarines that would be armed with the new Bulava ballistic missile, which would have a range of more than 6,200 miles and would carry six warheads, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 19). The missile failed in multiple tests before a successful launch earlier this month.
Russia is building three Borei vessels, with the first due for commissioning this year (Lynn Berry, Associated Press/CNN.com, Sept. 26).
The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff expressed no surprise Friday about the Russian announcement, Agence France-Presse reported.
"When I dealt with my (Russian) counterparts, when I was head of our Navy ... it was very clear to me that their intention was to modernize their strategic forces," Adm. Michael Mullen told reporters (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Sept. 26).
One former senior Russian military official said the plan is a response to the Bush administration intention to deploy U.S. missile defense elements in Europe, Interfax reported.
"I think this decision is connected with the U.S. intention to deploy the first phase of the global missile defense system by 2020. It implies that we will have new missile systems armed in a way that they should be capable of penetrating any missile defense system," said Col. Gen. Viktor Yesin, former chief of staff for the Russian Strategic Missile Forces (Interfax/istockanalyst.com, Sept. 27).