A 'Tochka' missile launch travels during a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade on May 5, 2014. Dmitry Lovetsky/AP
Russia Says It Will Have Radar-Evading Nukes by 2021
A nearly $18 billion upgrade will allow Russia's new nuclear arsenal to evade some missile defenses, official claims. By Global Security Newswire
Russia on Friday said it plans to finish modernizing its nuclear-capable missile forces within several years, ITAR-Tass reports.
"By 2016, the share of new missile systems will reach nearly 60 percent, and by 2021 their share will increase to 98 percent," said Col. Igor Yegorov, a defense ministry spokesman for Russia's Strategic Missile Forces. The project would replace Russia's active-duty, nuclear-ready missiles left over from the Cold War.
Yegorov said the upgrades would include systems designed to circumvent missile-defense technology employed by other countries, as well as improvements to their "troop- and weapon-command systems [and] combat equipment."
The spokesman added that Russia is moving this year to deliver RS-24 Yars strategic missiles to the country's Novosibirsk, Tagil and Kozelsk missile units.
"At this stage, operations for their acceptance and commissioning are underway," Yegorov told ITAR-Tass in an interview.
"The work for the creation of new infrastructure of positioning areas of missile regiments continues, it will ensure better conditions for the use of armaments and training of the alert forces," he added.
Meanwhile, a defense ministry insider said that new Voronezh-M and Voronezh-DM radar systems would fill in for Russian missile-detection capabilities once offered by a now-defunct satellite network, Russia Beyond the Headlines reported on Friday.