Russia launched three submarine-launched ballistic missiles and a land-based missile over the weekend during its most recent exercise in an ongoing series of drills, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 29; Agence France-Presse/Google News, Oct. 12).
(Oct. 14) -
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visits a Topol RS-12M missile on Sunday, the same day a Topol ICBM was tested (Dmitry Astakhov/Getty Images).
"We will strengthen our military capability, we will adopt new types of weapons, but we will continue to test the traditional ballistic missiles we have in service," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said after Sunday’s tests. "Their effectiveness has stood the test of time, and that is very good. It shows that our shield is in order" (Steve Gutterman, Associated Press/Google News, Oct. 13).
"We will of course be introducing new types of forces and means into the military," Medvedev said, without providing details (see GSN, July 15).
This weekend’s activities began with the launch Saturday of a Sineva SLBM northeast of Norway in the Barents Sea; the weapon flew more than 7,145 miles, creating what Medvedev called a new record for distance, AFP reported.
Sunday’s sea-based tests occurred almost simultaneously from submarines in the Barents Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk north of Japan, said Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo. The third launch that day involved a Topol ICBM fired from the Russian base at Plesetsk.
"The missiles hit right on target," Dygalo said.
Experts differed on the intent of the missile launches.
“This was a dry run for a war with the United States," military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said of the tests, which fell under the aegis of the “Stability 2008” military exercises. “These are the biggest strategic war games in more than 20 years. They are on a parallel with those held in the first half of the 1980s. Nothing of the sort has been seen either in Russia or the United States since then” (AFP).
However, others said the tests were intended to shore up political support within Russia and were not aimed at intimidating Western nations.
"The Kremlin staged this showy … PR campaign to distract public attention from the financial crisis and tell the people, ‘Look, we still have achievements in the military sector,’” said analyst Stanislav Belkovsky, head of the National Strategy Institute. "All we saw is technology that is 20 or 25 years old. … Military experts know the real state of things, so you can't fool them by this Soviet-era saber-rattling."
The Topol ICBM and Sineva SLBM used in the tests were each engineered during the Cold War (Reuters, Oct. 13).