Since 2013, Russia will practically double the production of both strategic and operational-tactical missiles (Yars, Bulava, Iskander). This statement was made by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, speaking at a meeting dedicated to the development of the domestic defense industry and the implementation of the arms procurement program for 2011-2020, which took place in Votkinsk. It is planned to spend 77 billion rubles on the production of missiles by 2020. The Votkinsk plant, the monopoly manufacturer of strategic missiles in Russia, will receive at least 9.6 billion rubles.
The decision to increase missile production in Russia stems from the START-3 treaty signed last year, which stipulates that each side will have 1,550 operatively deployed nuclear warheads. In addition, the parties decided to limit themselves to 700 strategic carriers, which include: intercontinental ballistic missiles, ballistic missiles on nuclear submarines and strategic bombers on alert. The United States has 100 more carriers, they will have to reduce them. On the other hand, Russia, on the other hand, as a result of the shock cuts in recent years, associated primarily with the aging of technology, has about 600 carriers left, so that doubling the production of missile technology in Russia is fully linked to the signed START-3 treaty.
According to Vladimir Putin, it can be judged that the emphasis in this area will be placed on the production of well-known types of weapons, however, with different purposes and different destinies. Thus, the Iskander operational-tactical complexes have long been supplied to the troops, albeit individually, the first Yars intercontinental missiles were adopted by the Strategic Missile Forces at the end of 2010. And only the prospects of the sea-based Bulava missile are still in the fog. The military declares their readiness to take them into service by the end of the year, while only 7 out of 14 launches were successful. But there is nothing to do, the Yuri Dolgoruky, the lead nuclear submarine of the series, has already been built specifically for this missile, which is still without its main armament.
Meanwhile, at the meeting in Votkinsk, truly sensational things were heard. Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said that Russia has already manufactured the required number of missiles to arm the first nuclear submarine Yuri Dolgoruky. This submarine has 12 missile silos, and 12 Bulava missiles are to be produced.
ICBM "Voevoda" in the mine
It turns out that strategic weapons, which still have not passed all the tests and have not even proved their ability to at least just fly to the target, not to mention the fact that there were no launches from the standard carrier of Yuri Dolgoruky, are already riveted in full swing in production … It is hardly possible to recall at least one such case, when the weapon went into mass production before the signing of the state test certificate. All this is even more striking, because we are not talking about some kind of pistol, but about a strategic missile carrying nuclear warheads.
There is no doubt that the experts will discuss the results of the meeting hotly and for a long time for one more reason. It was announced here that Russia has begun to develop a new heavy liquid-fuel ballistic missile that will replace the Voevoda, which has been in service for 30 years (in the West, the missile was nicknamed Satan). The logic of the initiators of the development of a new rocket is clear. Each Voevoda rocket carried 10 warheads, with all service life extensions such missiles will be on alert until 2026 at the most. Meanwhile, this is the main part of our nuclear shield. The remaining 58 such missiles, distributed between the 62nd (Krasnoyarsk Territory) and 13th (Orenburg Region) missile divisions, carry 580 nuclear warheads. This is almost half of what the Strategic Missile Forces currently have (1259 nuclear charges). In 15 years Russia will no longer have this half.
The Yars solid-propellant missiles, which are trying to replace the outgoing heavy missiles, can carry a maximum of three warheads of lower power. The exchange here is clearly defective. If the situation is not changed, we will self-disarm without the START III treaty. In order to prevent this from happening, the idea arose to create a rocket like the Voevoda. It is expected that the new missile will receive 9 warheads and a throw weight of 10 tons.
However, there are a number of quite definite difficulties here. Recently, Yuri Solomonov, the general designer of the Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering, who created the Topol-M and Bulava missiles, criticized the creation of heavy ballistic missiles. In his opinion, such a new weapon will inevitably carry the burden of technology 30 years ago. In addition, Academician Yuri Solomonov believes that the new missile, due to its high trajectory, will not be able to effectively overcome the American missile defense system. The reason is that liquid-propellant rockets are not adapted to modern missile defense systems with space-based elements, these rockets have a long active phase of operation of the first stages and fly at rather high altitudes. According to Yuri Solomonov, this venture is just a waste of budgetary funds.
The designer also recalled that not so long ago, the country's first deputy defense minister for armaments, Vladimir Popovkin, announced that the decision to develop a new liquid-propellant missile had already been made. At the same time, the arguments that he gave, to put it mildly, do not correspond to reality and let them remain on his conscience, Solomonov noted. I am not going to enter into polemics with him for one reason: he is not a free person in making his decisions. Moreover, Yuri Solomonov accused the heads of the Ministry of Defense that they make their strange decisions in the interests of certain "high-ranking officials", without specifying who they are.
ICBM "Yars" on a mobile launcher
After his remarks, suspicions immediately arose that, under the guise of military-scientific argumentation, there was a usual struggle for budget billions. And Yuri Solomonov, who has monopolized the development of ICBMs in recent years, is simply fighting to stay close to the trough. Maybe that's the way it is. One way or another, at a meeting in Votkinsk, Sergei Ivanov announced that a new holding company for the production of ballistic missiles would be organized within the framework of Roscosmos. According to experts, it may include the Makeyev State Missile Center (specializing in sea-based missiles), the Reutov NPO Mashinostroeniya, the Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Center and the TsSKB-Progress rocket and space center. Whatever it was, but the well-known domestic designer threw his accusations at the Ministry of Defense, there was no public and reasoned answer on this score.
After the meeting in Votkinsk, Alexander Konovalov, Director of the Institute for Strategic Assessments and Analysis, shared his assessments with journalists. In his opinion, nothing will come of the idea of doubling the production of missiles. It is simply unrealistic to accomplish this task in modern conditions, at the Votkinsk plant there are neither free production lines, nor a sufficient number of specialists. The expert's pessimism is also reinforced by previous failed army rearmament programs. Therefore, he does not understand the Kremlin's confidence in the implementation of the current one. In fact, there is an increase in purchases of equipment everywhere, but it is not clear how this growth will be carried out, the expert noted. The country's defense complex is not a cow, feeding it more hay, you can get more milk, everything is more and more difficult here. The defense industry complex is in crisis, which does not prevent it from mastering any means, but does not at all guarantee the release of the necessary and high-quality weapons in the required volumes.
Aleksandr Konovalov is skeptical about the prospects of a new heavy rocket, which should replace Voevoda. In his opinion, this will be another feeding trough that will surpass the production of the Bulava rocket in scale. Moreover, Alexander Konovalov does not even see the need to develop such a rocket. In his opinion, the problem of decommissioning the Voevoda missiles from combat duty can be solved in a much simpler way. In Voevoda, the first two stages, which are filled with fuel, become obsolete the fastest. Nothing can happen to the third stage in the mine, in principle, you can only order the production of the first two stages for the rocket in Ukraine, and that's it - their service life has been extended again. Needless to say, this way is simpler and cheaper.
According to Alexander Konovalov, the main problem here is that the Russian government does not think at all about how best to carry out any business. All their thoughts, and this concerns not only the rearmament of the army, are aimed at how to grab more budget funds. They hope that when they want to be grabbed for one place, they will all be far enough away from Russia.
