Free Republic

Russian authorities denied an emergency in Russia's Udmurt Republic, as videos show a huge fireball over a weapons plant that produces nuclear weapons components and ballistic missiles. Massive explosion was reported on Wednesday on the grounds of the Votkinsk weapons factory, which produces weapons including the RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) & strategic ballistic missiles for the Topol-M and Iskander systems. The factory is located some 30 miles from the capital of the Udmurt Republic, Izhevsk. Videos filmed by residents showed a huge fireball over the area and a massive glow in the sky. Locals reported hearing explosions before...

Russia’s military carried out a flight test of a new multi-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile on Monday amid growing tensions with the United States over the crisis in Ukraine. The SS-27 Mod 2 road-mobile ICBM was launched around 2:40 a.m. EST from Russia’s Plesetsk launch facility, located about 500 miles north of Moscow. “The main purpose of the launch is to validate the reliability of a batch of this class of missiles made at the Votkinsk Plant,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Yegorov told state-run Interfax-AVN. An unspecified number of simulated nuclear warheads landed at an impact range on the Kura test...

Russia plans to replace most of its older (Cold War era) ICBMs in the next five years. But all of these older missiles will not be retired until 2020. Currently, Russia has 538 ICBMs in service, 71 percent of them the most modern Topols (SS-25 and SS-27). Only 56 are the most modern, Topol-M design. About a dozen of these are the road-mobile versions, that avoid destruction in a first strike, by constantly moving around on the roads 200-300 kilometers northeast of Moscow. The 54 foot long transporter for these 46 ton missiles is a 16 wheel vehicle, using a...

MOSCOW, March 10 (RIA Novosti) - A missile battalion equipped with mobile Topol-M (SS-27 Stalin) ICBMs has been put on combat duty in central Russia, a spokesman for the Russian Missile Forces (SMF) said on Tuesday. The first two Topol-M mobile missile battalions, equipped with six road-mobile systems, had already been put on combat duty with the 54th Strategic Missile Division near the town of Teikovo, about 150 miles (240 km) northeast of Moscow. "Another missile battalion equipped with mobile Topol-M missile systems and comprising three launchers and a command unit has been put on combat duty with the Teikovo...

MOSCOW, September 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Strategic Missile Forces will conduct more tests of new warheads for its intercontinental ballistic missiles later this year, the SMF commander said Saturday. "This year we will continue test and combat-training launches of new types of warheads for the Topol-M and Bulava sea-launched missile complexes," Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov said. He said previously a second missile battalion, equipped with advanced Topol-M (SS-27) road-mobile ICBMs, will be put on combat duty before the end of the year and that the deployment of silo-based Topol-M systems in the Saratov Region and road-mobile systems in the...

MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin warned yesterday that the U.S.-Russian arms race is not over and called for a strengthening of his nation's nuclear and conventional forces so Moscow can better resist foreign pressure.     The remarks, in his seventh state of the nation address since taking power in 2000, follow increasingly sharp criticism of Russia's democratic and foreign policy directions from the United States, including a harsh rebuke by Vice President Dick Cheney last week in Lithuania.     "It is premature to speak of the end of the arms race," said Mr. Putin, who pointed out in the nationally televised address...

Moscow: Russia's fifth-generation fighter plane will be ready in 2007, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force Vladimir Mikhailov said Tuesday. "Work to build the fifth-generation plane is going according to schedule," he said. Mikhailov said, however, that the project had encountered some financial problems after civilian aircraft were produced using the money allocated in the budget for the fighter planes. "Clearly, the development of aviation technology will depend on specific military and economic conditions, determining the progress of reform in the Russian armed forces and the country's aircraft construction industry. However, Russia will continue to be a leading aircraft-building power,"...

The chief of Russia's strategic forces on Saturday attended the deployment of a new set of state-of-the art intercontinental ballistic missiles, boasting of their capability to penetrate any prospective missile defense, news reports said. Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, chief of the Strategic Missile Forces, took part in a ceremony that marked the commissioning of the latest set of Topol-M missiles at a missile base in Tatishchevo in the Volga River's Saratov region. Solovtsov said Saturday that the new missile "is capable of penetrating any missile defense system," the RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies reported. Russian officials have called prospective...

Reprinted from NewsMax.com Russia Beefing Up Missile ForcesPhil Brennan, NewsMax.comMonday, Dec. 13, 2004 Is there a new Cold War and arms race underway? A new force of the Topol-M Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM)- described by Russian Defense officials as a "21st-century weapon" unrivaled in the world and allegedly capable of defeating U.S. anti-missile defenses - is due to be created in 2005, posing a deadly threat to the U.S. According to Russian Missile Force Commander Nikolai Solovtsov a fifth missile regiment armed with Topol-M ICBMs will be added next year. Today's RIA Novosti quoted Solovtsov as telling a Moscow news...