Russia Vows To Make New Weapons Amid U.S. Suspicion Of Blast That Killed Five Scientists

RFE ^ | August 13, 2019 01:53 GMT

[robowombat]

Russia Vows To Make New Weapons Amid U.S. Suspicion Of Blast That Killed Five Scientists

August 12, 2019 15:41 GMT UPDATED August 13, 2019 01:53 GMT By RFE/RL's Russian Service

Former Rosatom head Sergei Kiriyenko said at the funeral that the victims were aware of the danger, but "took the risk, realizing that no one else would do the job better than them."

Former Rosatom head Sergei Kiriyenko said at the funeral that the victims were aware of the danger, but "took the risk, realizing that no one else would do the job better than them."

Russia's chief nuclear official has vowed to continue developing new weapons while attending a funeral on August 12 of five Russian nuclear researchers who were killed in an explosion in what U.S. experts suspect was a mishandled test of a new nuclear-powered engine.

The five were buried in Sarov, a closed city some 375 kilometers east of Moscow that has served as a center for Russia's nuclear weapons program since the late 1940s.

The blast occurred on August 8 on a sea platform at the navy's testing range in Nyonoksa in the northwestern Arkhangelsk region.

The New York Times on August 12 cited anonymous U.S. intelligence officials who said Russia was apparently testing a "new type of nuclear-propelled cruise missile," while saying the blast could possibly be "one of the worst nuclear accidents in the region since Chernobyl."

U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States is "learning much from the failed mission explosion," according to an August 12 tweet.

Referring to a new cruise missile that Russia is allegedly developing, dubbed SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO, Trump said the "explosion has people worried about the air around the facility, and far beyond."

Russia's Defense Ministry initially said the explosion killed two people and injured six others, but the state atomic power agency, Rosatom, acknowledged later that five of its employees were killed and three injured.

The coffins were displayed at Sarov's main square before being transported to a cemetery.

Rosatom director Aleksei Likhachev praised the victims as "true heroes" and "the pride of our country."

"The best tribute to them will be our continued work on new models of weapons, which will definitely be carried out to the end," Likhachev said.

Rosatom said the blast occurred during the testing of a "nuclear-isotope power source" for a rocket engine.

The blast was followed by a 30-minute radiation spike in Severodvinsk, a city 40 kilometers east of the Nyonoksa test range, by the White Sea, local officials said, adding that it didn't pose any health hazards.

The Defense Ministry insisted that no radiation had been released.

Neither the Defense Ministry nor Rosatom identified the type of rocket that blew up during the test, saying only that it had liquid propellant.

Historically, Russia has kept major accidents a secret, most notably after a 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in what is modern-day Ukraine, still regarded as the worst nuclear accident in history.

The military was also shaken by the deaths of 14 sailors killed in a fire on one of the navy's research submersibles in July 1.

Military and government authorities have given scant details about the incident, which the Defense Ministry said occurred in the Barents Sea and was one of Russia's worst submarine disasters in years.

[Sirius Lee]

They’re like Chernobyls, but flying through the air!

[Right Wing Assault]

"new type of nuclear-propelled cruise missile,"

How does that work? Other than 'not well'?

[Gen.Blather]

“Former Rosatom head Sergei Kiriyenko said at the funeral that the victims were aware of the danger, but “took the risk, realizing that no one else would do the job better than them.” “

Russia has a demographic problem. Ethnic Russian speakers stopped reproducing after the fall of the Soviet Union. Adding that to the losses suffered in World War I and II and in just a few years there will be an insufficient number of soldiers to defend the current boundaries of the country. The deaths of the sailors, nearly all of whom where senior people, highlights the problem. The education system collapsed when the Soviet union fell and there are few, if any, trained technical people. Thus, the quote above. There simply aren’t enough younger people to do the jobs. Thus Russia is developing doomsday “vengeance” weapons to protect their country. The problem with these weapons’ is they can only be used after Russia is effectively dead. Using them before Russia is dead means the other side will wipe Russia out anyway.

[ScaniaBoy]

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a25173254/russia-might-actually-build-a-nuclear-powered-rocket/

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Good enough to put 5 scientists in orbit.

[robowombat]

More than just loses in the two world wars. The Civil War and attendant famines and epidemics accounted for another 10M, then the forced collectivization of agriculture and the ‘Liquidation of the Kulaks as a Class produced at least 6 M more then the purge culture racked up untold millions. The purge of the CPUSSR alone accounted for over a million executions, and these were from the sort of educated elites and the purge of the armed forces added at least 750K more, again hitting trained and educated technical elites the hardest (it was June 1943 before the number of commissioned officers in the Red Army killed in the war with Germany exceeded the number executed in the 37-38 military purge. )The Soviets were the deadliest enemy the Russian people ever faced.

[FreedomPoster]

Rummel estimated around 60 millions murdered by the Soviets.

http://hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE4.HTM

[Bookshelf]

There is the Third World, and then there is the Fourth World: Russia.

[Vaquero]

We had nuclear rockets. Tested them in test rigs. Quite good actually. At a Place called Jackass Flats Nevada in the Mojave desert. You could travel to the moon (or anywhere) using half the mass of fuel or at twice the speed. This was project NERVA

We stopped during the 70’s due to Nixon cost cutting and Congress opposition to all things nuclear.

[Zhang Fei]

Thus Russia is developing doomsday “vengeance” weapons to protect their country. The problem with these weapons’ is they can only be used after Russia is effectively dead. Using them before Russia is dead means the other side will wipe Russia out anyway.

The primary target of these weapons is, IMO, China. Russia lacks the wherewithal to fight off a conventional invasion by a neighbor with an economy 10x its size. Eventually, China will make its move for all of the Central Asian stans, as well as Russia east of the Urals. The only questions are when, and whether it will be within Xi Jinping's lifetime. That's as long as the US continues to extended its security umbrella over East Asia, thereby making those neighbors too hard a nut for China too crack.

Whereas Russia, under Putin, has gone too far out of its way to antagonize its other neighbors to get any sympathy or significant material support against a rampaging China. Would they prefer to see Russia become, in effect, a much diminished middle-income (i.e. like Argentina and Brazil) Sweden bereft of its traditional world-conquering ambitions? It may happen sooner than they think. Sweden became a pussycat only after a cataclysmic defeat at Poltava. A similar defeat, and dismantlement of its empire, perhaps at Chinese hands, may have to happen for Russia's will to empire to become dormant again.

[Scooter100]

How fast can they make new scientists?

[ctdonath2]

Scoop up air, use missile’s velocity to compress it within a cone (ramjet), use nuclear reactor to heat air to propulsive energies.

[VTenigma]

The coffins were displayed at Sarov’s main square before being transported to a cemetery.

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The lead lined coffins were displayed at Sarov’s main square before being transported to a cemetery. Fixed

[wastoute]

Remember, they had a nuclear powered airplane.

[jmcenanly]

The U.S. did a study, called Project Pluto, which was a Stragelovian nightmare.

[G Larry]

It will be entertaining to watch them continue to experiment with this.

Expect more disappointment for Vlad.