Russia to Get New ICBM Later this Year

  

 

MOSCOW, April 18 (RIA Novosti) - The first modernized intercontinental ballistic missile, Yars-M, will enter service with Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN) later this year, RVSN Commander Col. Gen. Sergei Karavayev said on Thursday.

A defense industry source previously told RIA Novosti the Armed Forces will take delivery of a fifth-generation Yars-M missile before the end of the current year.

Karavayev declined to provide any details, including the missile’s specifications.

The existing RS-24 Yars (NATO reporting name, SS-29) is a MIRV’ed ICBM that is heavier than the Topol-M (SS-27 Stalin) and can carry up to 10 independently targetable warheads.

The RVSN previously said that the Topol-M and RS-24 ballistic missiles will be the mainstay of the ground-based component of Russia's nuclear triad and would account for no less than 80 percent of the RVSN’s arsenal by 2016.

Karavayev also said the Tatishchevo RVSN Division, near the city of Saratov in southwestern Russia, at present has 60 Topol-M missile systems.

The Topol-M missile, with a range of about 7,000 miles (11,000 km), is said to be immune to any current and planned US antiballistic missile defense. It is capable of making evasive maneuvers, and carries targeting countermeasures and decoys.

By 2020, the RVSN are expected to be equipped with over 170 Topol-Ms (mobile and silo-based), as well as 30 SS-19 and 108 RS-24 missile defense systems in nine divisions.

India’s Russian-Built Frigate Completes Sea Trials

 

 

MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) - The last in a series of three frigates that Russia is building for India at the Yantar shipyard in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad has completed sea trials, a shipyard spokesman said on Wednesday.

The Trikand frigate carried out workup trials on March 14 and was cleared for final state trials on April 4, which started on April 8, spokesman Sergei Mikhailov said.

Earlier on Wednesday the frigate effectively engaged a target flying at 50 meters above the sea level with its surface-to-air missile system, he added.

The frigate’s Indian crew are to complete their onboard training practice within the next several days and after that it will return to the shipyard for a final inspection.

The frigate is due to be handed over to the Indian Navy this June, Mikhailov said.

Russia and India signed a $1.6 billion contract on the construction of three modified Krivak III class (also known as Talwar class) guided missile frigates for India in 2006.

The first frigate, INS Teg, joined the Indian Navy on April 27, 2012, and the second, The Tarkash, arrived at the port of Mumbai in India on December 30, 2012.

The frigates are each armed with eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles.

They are also equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil surface-to-air missile system, two Kashtan air-defense gun/missile systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers and an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) helicopter.
 

Russian air force commander eyes MiG-31 replacement

Russia's air force expects to begin fielding a replacement for its Mikoyan MiG-31 interceptors by 2020 and to retire the type by 2028, says its commander, Lt Gen Viktor Bondarev.

"We have started development of a new aircraft of this type and I think we can develop this plane before the end of the state armament programme in 2020," Bondarev said at a meeting with Russian parliamentary deputies. "The new plane should replace the existing fleet by 2028."

Bondarev did not specify if the new aircraft might be a derivative of an existing design or an emerging one such as the Sukhoi T-50/PAK-FA or Su-35.

Some analysts think the air force will be hard-pressed to get an entirely new aircraft in use by the date quoted by Bondarev.

"In terms of both design and financial resources this looks very challenging, unless an existing platform was the basis for any project," says Douglas Barrie, air warfare analyst at the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies.

Bondarev says the air force has 122 MiG-31s in service, with about half undergoing conversion to the MiG-31BM standard. This adds a new multimode radar, multifunction cockpit displays and the ability to use Vympel's RVV-BD long-range air-to-air missile.

Russia’s Anti-Magnitsky List May Include over 100 Americans

MOSCOW, April 12 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian response to the so-called Magnitsky List may include the names of 104 officials from the United States banned to enter Russia, Kommersant daily reported on Friday.

“As soon as the United States publishes its list, Russia will publish its own,” the daily quoted as saying its unnamed source close to the presidential administration.

According to the daily, Russia’s list initially included 71 names and now Moscow have 33 more people to add to the list bringing the number to 104.

The Magnitsky Act introduces visa and financial sanctions on Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses. The officials’ names are to be put on the so-called Magnitsky List, which is scheduled to be made public this week.

The act was signed into law by US President Barack Obama in December, and is ostensibly designed to punish officials believed to be connected to the death in a Moscow jail of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009. The scope of the legislation has been broadened since its inception to cover a whole range of suspected rights abusers.

Russia Tests New Amphibious Armored Vehicle

SEVASTOPOL, April 11 (RIA Novosti) – A new amphibious armored personnel carrier (APC), the BTR-82AM, is undergoing a series of trials at the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s naval infantry facility in Sevastopol, fleet spokesman Capt. 1St Rank Vyacheslav Trukhachev said on Thursday.

During the trials, the BTR-82AM, which is due to replace the military’s workhorse, the BTR-80, will cover “dozens of miles at sea” to test its stability and endurance when afloat, Trukhachev said.

The new APC incorporates an automatic 30-mm artillery system, which “has significantly enhanced the vehicle’s firepower,” he said.

The BTR-82AM is the latest APC modification of the BTR-80 8x8 wheeled carrier, production of which began in 1986.

It features improved armor, is equipped with the Glonass navigation system and has a more powerful engine of 300 hp.