Russia gets ballistic missiles from Ukraine (and developing new nuclear submarine)

The Times of India ^ | July 25 2003 | Associated Press

[knighthawk]

MOSCOW: Moving to boost its strategic arsenal, Russia has acquired a batch of Soviet-built ballistic missiles from Ukraine and is preparing to begin producing a new generation of nuclear submarines, officials said on Friday.

Ukraine inherited the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, but later renounced nuclear weapons and transferred all its 1,300 nuclear warheads to Russia for destruction. It has also dismantled most of its Soviet-made strategic missiles with US financial assistance, but Ukraine's space agency reportedly took over some 30 RS-18 missiles -- called SS-19 by Nato.

The Ukrainian government decided last October to sell its SS-19s to Russia, and Russia's Interfax-Military News Agency reported on Friday that Ukraine had completed their transfer. An unidentified spokesman for Ukraine's Ukrspetsexport company refused to say how many missiles Ukraine sold and how much money it earned, the agency said.

Officials at Ukrspetsexport refused to comment on the report.

A spokesman for Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, who asked not be named, confirmed that Russia got the missiles and said that they would join Russia's strategic arsenals. He said the missiles remained in good condition, but refused to comment on their number and other details of the deal.

Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said during a trip to the northern part of the country that in 2006 the navy would receive a new nuclear submarine armed with next-generation intercontinental ballistic missiles currently under development, the Interfax-Military News Agency reported.

The first new submarine, called the Yuri Dolgoruky, will be followed by other submarines of the same type, the agency quoted Ivanov as saying. He did not say how many would be built.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Orangedog]

Ukraine inherited the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, but later renounced nuclear weapons and transferred all its 1,300 nuclear warheads to Russia for destruction.

And for anyone who believes all of those nuclear warheads were destroyed, I have some prime beachfront property in Siberia for sale at a great price.

[finnman69]

But Clinton promised us all that there were no more russian nuclear warheads targeted on the US?

[Orangedog]

Right. And we also don't have to worry about the several dozen suitcase nukes that the Russians "lost" a few years ago.

[Pearls Before Swine]

But Clinton promised us all that there were no more russian nuclear warheads targeted on the US?

Unfortunately, there's plenty of blame to go around. GWB gazed deep into Putin's soul and decided that another round of deep strategic cuts was in order. I don't know what he's thinking--what ever happened to the Gipper's approach of "trust but verify?"

[Poohbah]

First, we ARE verifying.

Second, the SS-19 was known as an expensive maintenance pig back in the days when the SRF had a big budget.

Look at it this way: the Russians just paid real cash, not rubles, for 25-year-old missiles that they've already bought once.

Also, that ballistic missile submarine has been slipping its schedule at a rate of 1 year per year for the last ten years--it's always going to be delivered three years in the future.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Also, that ballistic missile submarine has been slipping its schedule at a rate of 1 year per year for the last ten years--it's always going to be delivered three years in the future.

Thanks for your reassurance. I also like your description of the "Xeno's Paradox" of submarine construction.

[ffusco]

"Xeno's Paradox"

Is that the one about the tortoise and the sprinter. The sprinter can run as fast as he can, but can only travel half the distance at a time. First he runs to the halfway mark, then the 3/4 mark, then 7/8ths and so on without ever reaching the finish line. The Tortoise wins the race.

The paradox is that a finite sum,such as the length of the sprint is only infinitely divisable in the mind.

[Poohbah]

Thanks for your reassurance. I also like your description of the "Xeno's Paradox" of submarine construction.

?????

Xeno's Paradox, IIRC, is "what happens when the irresistable force hits the immovable object?"

[Pearls Before Swine]

No, Xeno's paradox is one of limits. It's usually expressed as the race between a tortoise and a hare. Here's a description from a web site:

Xeno's Paradox - Tortoise and Hare - One of the most famous mathematical paradoxes!

A hare (rabbit) can run ten times as fast as a tortoise (turtle); the tortoise gets a ten-yard headstart. By the time the hare runs the 10 yards to catch up, the tortoise has crawled a yard. When the hare makes up this yard, the tortoise has gone a tenth of a yard, and so on. The hare can never catch the tortoise!

Variation: The phone rings across the room. Before you can walk to the phone, you have to walk halfway there. But before you can walk 1/2 the distance you need to walk 1/4 of the distance, and before that you have to go 1/8 the distance, and so on. So you can never answer the phone!

Your description of the sub's construction schedule sounds a bit like this.

[Poohbah]

Not quite.

It would be more akin to the tortoise getting a ten yard head-start--and then the hare starts running, but never exceeds the tortoise's forward velocity.

He stays ten yards behind for the duration of the race.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Re Xeno--The exact analogy is less important to me than your assertion that the sub's completion date is constantly slipping.

[Poohbah]

This thing was supposed to be on patrol seven years ago. They aren't one single, solitary day closer to delivering the boat than they were in 1993, when they announced that they were going to have it on patrol in 1996.

Of course, there is also the issue that the missile that the submarine was intended to carry never completed one successful flight test before getting cancelled a few years back.

One might be forgiven for wondering if ANY work has been successfully accomplished on this boat.

BTW, the same problem is plaguing the attack submarine Severodvinsk, which was laid down in 1992 for a 1998 delivery date. They stopped all work in 1996, and it hasn't resumed since.