Russian Preparations for War

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Putin says new hypersonic Russian weapons outmatch those of every other country

Associated Press

Dec. 18, 2018, 10:27 AM

A Russian Air Force MiG-31K jet carries a high-precision hypersonic aero-ballistic missile Kh-47M2 Kinzhal during the Victory Day military parade to celebrate 73 years since the end of WWII and the defeat of Nazi Germany, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 9, 2018.

AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin says Russia's new weapons have no foreign equivalents and will help ensure the country's security for decades to come.

Putin, speaking during Tuesday's meeting with the top military brass in Moscow, specifically mentioned the new Kinzhal hypersonic missile and the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, saying they have significantly bolstered Russia's military capability.

Kinzhal has already been commissioned by the military. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the aircraft carrying missiles have flown 89 patrol missions this year.

Shoigu said the Avangard will enter service with the military next year.

Putin said Russia would have to respond to the planned U.S. withdrawal from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. He reaffirmed a strong denial of Washington's claim that Russia had violated the pact and blamed the U.S. for breaking it.


Putin boasts he has new ‘game changer’ weapons. And the US agrees

Russia has just revealed a freakishly powerful arsenal of hypersonic missiles. The US has been forced to admit it can’t do anything about them.
Jamie Seidel, AP

News Corp Australia Network
December 19, 20181:31pm



President Vladimir Putin is bursting with pride. He’s certain Russia’s brace of new weapons have no foreign equivalents. And he believes this will give his country an edge for decades to come.

President Putin, speaking at a meeting with his top military brass in Moscow, singled out his new Kinzhal hypersonic missile and the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, saying they have significantly bolstered Russia’s military capability.

“No one has hypersonic weapons yet, but we have it,” he said.

And that’s no idle boast.



Also overnight, the US government admitted it is powerless to defend against these ‘game changer’ hypersonic weapons. The Government Accountability Office says their speed, altitude and maneuverability simply make them too difficult to stop.

The report states: “There are no existing countermeasures.”


RELATED: Russia, China team up in secret test to jam GPS

The Kinzhal missile — reportedly capable of flying as fast as 12,500km/h — has already been commissioned by Russia’s military, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said, adding that Mig-31 combat jets carrying the missiles have flown 89 patrol missions ver the Caspian and the Black Seas this year.



Shoigu said the Avangard glider will enter service with the military in 2019. This is launched on the back of a conventional ballistic missile. But, once it is detached, it can twist, turn and dive before striking its target like a meteor.

The US Government report also places fresh credibility at the feet of US President Donald Trump’s new Space Command — which was signed into existence via executive order earlier this week.

“China and Russia are developing anti-satellite weapons to threaten US space operations,” it reads. “China is developing capabilities to conduct large-scale anti-satellite strikes using novel physical, cyber, and electronic warfare means.”


Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the top military staff in the Russian Defense Ministry's headquarters in Moscow, Russia. Picture: APSource:AP

TREATY TRIBULATIONS
President Vladimir Putin rejected a US accusation that Russia has developed a new nuclear-capable cruise missile in violation of a key treaty. Putin said he has no need for such a land-based weapon because there were already similar missiles on its ships and aircraft.

Washington warned this month it would suspend its obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 60 days if Russia did not return to full compliance.

RELATED: What we know about Russia’s new stealth fighter

The US claims the 9M729 cruise missile already breaches the INF, which bans all land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres.

Putin said the Russian military has successfully tested air-launched Kh-101 and sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles with a range of 4,500 kilometres in combat in Syria.


A Russian Iskander-K missile launched from a land-based container during a military exercise. Picture: Russian MoDSource:AP

“It has probably made our partners worry, but it doesn’t violate the INF treaty,” Putin said.

Putin asserts the treaty signed by US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev didn’t limit sea- and air-launched cruise missiles, which the Soviet Union didn’t have at the time and the United States did.

The Russian president argued that the pact represented “unilateral disarmament” for the Soviet Union, adding: “God only knows why the Soviet leadership did it.”


An artist's impression of a hypersonic weapon.Source:Supplied

He emphasised that with Russian strategic bombers and navy ships now armed with long-range cruise missiles, it makes the development of similar land-based weapons redundant.

“It makes no difference whatsoever if we have a Kalibr-armed submarine or aircraft carrying missiles or similar weapons ashore,” he said. “We can strike any targets within the range of 4,500 kilometres from the territory of Russia.”


Putin said that new Russian weapons have no foreign equivalents, helping ensure the nation's security for decades to come. Picture: APSource:AP

Putin added, however, that Russia could easily build such land-based missiles if the US opts out of the INF Treaty, which he described as a key stabilising factor.

“If we have similar air- and sea-launched systems, it wouldn’t be that difficult for us to do some research and development to put them on land if needed,” he said.

The treaty resolved a crisis over Soviet nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles targeting Western capitals, but put no restrictions on other major military actors like China.

“Yes, indeed there are certain difficulties with this treaty,” Putin said. “Other countries possessing short- and intermediate-range missiles are not party to it. But what prevents (us) from starting talks on their accession to the existing treaty or starting negotiating the parameters of a new treaty?”

Putin has said about a dozen countries were producing missiles of the type banned by the INF treaty.

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Putin warns the threat of nuclear war should not be underestimated

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the threat of a nuclear war should not be discounted and criticized the U.S.' move to withdraw from an international nuclear treaty.
• Speaking at his annual media press conference, Putin was asked by one journalist to assess the threat of nuclear war or a third world war.

Holly Ellyatt | @HollyEllyatt

Published 5:33 AM ET Thu, 20 Dec 2018
Updated 12:01 PM ET Thu, 20 Dec 2018
CNBC.com


Putin warns the threat of nuclear war should not be underestimated 3:49 PM ET Thu, 20 Dec 2018 | 01:39

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the threat of a nuclear war should not be discounted and criticized the U.S.' move to withdraw from an international nuclear treaty.

Speaking at his annual media press conference, Putin was asked by one journalist to assess the threat of nuclear war or a third world war.

"The danger of the situation is being downplayed," Putin told the audience of over 1,000 journalists at his year-end question and answer session.

"It now seems to be impossible, something without crucial importance, but at the same time if something like this would happen this would lead to the collapse of the entire civilization and maybe our planet. So this is an important question," he said via a translator.

"Unfortunately, we have this trend to underestimate the current situation. There are dangers, there are risks in our day-to-day lives. What are those risks? First and foremost, the collapse of the international system of arms control, of moving away from an arms race," he said.


Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to develop nuclear-tipped missiles 4:16 PM ET Wed, 5 Dec 2018 | 02:10

Speaking at his annual news conference, Putin said it was hard to predict what the consequences would be of a U.S. withdrawal from the landmark Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed in 1987. He also stated that an escalation of tensions that could lead to war should not be allowed to happen.

"Now they're making another step and they are withdrawing from the INF treaty so what's going to come out of that? It's hard to imagine what will come next," he said.

Putin's comments come after President Donald Trump said in October that he will withdraw the U.S. from the long-standing "Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty," or INF treaty, citing Russian violations of the deal. Trump says that Russia has violated the arms agreement by building and fielding the banned weapons "for many years."

Russia has denied it is in violation of the deal.

The 1987 treaty prohibits Russia and the U.S. from possessing, producing or test-flying a ground-launched cruise missile having a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers or "to possess or produce launchers of such missiles."

WATCH: The Trump-Russia ties hiding in plain sight


The Trump-Russia ties hiding in plain sight 1:33 PM ET Thu, 24 May 2018 | 07:56

Economic progress

Putin started the press conference Thursday morning by outlining Russia's economic statistics and forecasts for the coming year.

Growth is estimated to have reached 1.8 percent in 2018, he said, and industrial output is estimated to have grown 3 percent in this year. He said inflation was at an "acceptable level" (it stood at 3.8 percent, as of November) and that decreasing unemployment was encouraging and would stand at 4.8 percent in 2018.

"For the first time since 2011, we see a budget surplus and this is going to be around 2.1 percent of (gross domestic product)," he added.

Putin's annual media question and answer session comes at an challenging time for the economy.

Several key Russian sectors are subject to Western sanctions including the banking, infrastructure, oil and military industries. Sanctions were imposed after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and role in a pro-Russian uprising in east Ukraine. There are restrictions on numerous individuals and entities alleged to have links to the government.

The major oil exporter has also had a torrid time with volatile oil prices over the last year. A barrel of Brent crude cost around $67 in January. But the price zig-zagged throughout the spring and summer and reached around $85 in October, before falling to its current level of $55. Russia formed a close relationship with fellow oil producer, and OPEC leader, Saudi Arabia, to stabilize prices by cutting production.

Amid fears of a drop in global supply both producers agreed to pump more oil in summer. In early December, that decision was reversed with the alliance deciding to cut again. Despite Russia's reliance on oil exports for much of its growth, Putin once again stressed the need for structural reforms and diversification when asked by one journalist why growth was not higher.

"We cannot provide for the necessary rate of economic growth unless we change the structure of our economy," he said.

Putin's annual press conference is largely seen as a way for the Kremlin to show it is transparent and accountable but the level of questioning is not usually overtly critical on Putin. According to the Russian state-owned news outlet Russia Today, which live broadcast the conference, this year's Q&A saw a record number of journalists accredited for the event, at 1,702.

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Official: Russian Weapon 27 Times Faster than Speed of Sound

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Chief of General Staff of Russia Valery Gerasimov oversee the test launch of the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle from the Defense Ministry's control room in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

27 Dec 2018
The Associated Press

MOSCOW — A top Russian official says the nation's new strategic weapon has made any missile defenses useless.

Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told Russian state television Thursday that the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle flies 27 times faster than the speed of sound, making it impossible to intercept. He added that the new weapon "essentially makes missile defenses useless."

Borisov spoke a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw the Avangard's reportedly successful test and hailed it as a reliable guarantee of Russia's security for decades to come.

In Wednesday's test, the weapon was launched from the Dombarovskiy missile base in the southern Ural Mountains. The Kremlin said it successfully hit a practice target on the Kura shooting range on Kamchatka, 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) away.

The test comes amid bitter tensions in Russia-U.S. relations.

Russia Tests Yet Another Hypersonic Weapon

And it's designed to fly under U.S. ballistic missile defenses.

By Kyle Mizokami

Dec 27, 2018

Russia tested a new hypersonic weapons program on Wednesday, December 26th, designed to sneak under U.S. ballistic missile defenses. Avangard is a winged glider weapon boosted high into the atmosphere by a ballistic missile, which then descends on its target at speeds in excess of 15,000 miles an hour. Avangard will reportedly enter Russian service in 2019.

Avangard is one of several new nuclear weapons programs announced in 2018 in a grim speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The weapons, which include the “Poseidon” nuclear apocalypse torpedo and the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, also included the Avangard hypersonic weapon. Russia's Ministry of Defense posted footage of the test launch on YouTube.



Avangard is so-called “boost glide” hypersonic weapon. Some sources claim three Avangard unmanned wing gliders are placed on a single older UR-100UTTKh intercontinental ballistic missile or newer Sarmat ICBM. Once launched, the rocket boosts Avangard gliders very high into the atmosphere. Unlike regular ICBM warheads, Avangard doesn’t go all the way up into space.

At a preset altitude the warhead nose cone fairing comes off and Avangard is released, whereupon it glides to its target at hypersonic speeds. According to a statement by President Putin, Avangard reaches speeds of up to Mach 20, or 15,340 miles an hour. Yesterday’s test involved an Avangard missile launched from Dombarovsky in southwest Russia and traveling more than 3,800 miles east to successfully land at the Kura Test Range on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

President Vladimir Putin oversees the Avangard hypersonic system test from Russia’s National Defense Management Center, with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to his right.

According to Russian state media the test was overseen by Putin himself, giving the order from the National Center for Defense Management to the Strategic Missile Troops in charge.

The development of these new weapons highlights Russian insecurity about American ballistic missile defenses. The U.S. has developed a number of anti-missile systems, including the Ground Based Midcourse Defense system based in Alaska and California, the SM-3 missile interceptor in Romania and U.S. Navy ships at sea, the THAAD missile system, and the Patriot PAC-3.
Although these systems were built to counter incoming missiles from rogue countries such as Iran and North Korea, Russia remains concerned that the modest number of U.S. defensive missiles could be scaled upward to render its ballistic missile force obsolete.


Avangard’s nose fairing falling away, ready to release the hypersonic glide vehicles.Getty ImagesTASS

In the nightmare Russian scenario, the U.S. could launch a surprise nuclear strike against Moscow, confident that whatever missiles it didn’t destroy could be shot down. The math in this scenario doesn’t quite work. Washington would need at least 8,000 interceptors to blunt Russia’s nuclear force, an unaffordable number, but the situation still makes Moscow uneasy.

In response, Russia is drumming up a whole host of new nuclear weapons to get around a missile shield. “Poseidon” would travel to U.S. territory underwater, whereupon it would deliver a devastating thermonuclear strike. The nuclear powered Buresvestnik cruise missile would have the range to literally fly for days or even weeks, flying around entire continents to slip into U.S. airspace.


Buresvestnik cruise missile

Avangard is important because it is an extremely fast weapon system that travels below the engagement envelopes of GBI or THAAD, both of which are designed to down warheads descending from space. Avangard could be used to attack American ballistic missile defenses, delivering a knockout blow that then opens the door for a larger nuclear strike involving more conventional (but still nuclear-armed) ICBMs.


Avangard in glide mode

Whether Moscow believes such an attack from the U.S. is possible, Avangard is set to enter service with the Strategic Missile Troops in 2019. Russia may have eventually developed such a system anyway, but count this—and the apocalypse torpedo, and the nuclear-powered cruise missile—as yet another unanticipated outcome of the U.S. anti-missile effort.

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"The most flexible component of the nuclear triad": how is the modernization of long-range aviation in Russia

12/23/2018, 12:16:38 PM
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In 2018, Russian long-range aviation received five strategic missile carriers - one Tu-160M2 and four Tu-95MSM. Reports about it the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. At present, this formation of VKS is in the stage of deep modernization. The plans include a cardinal renewal of the existing fleet and the development of a promising intercontinental aircraft that can use almost all types of known ammunition.

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The long-range aviation (YES) units of Russia in 2018 received five upgraded strategic rocket carriers - one Tu-160M ​​“White Swan” and four Tu-95MSM “Bear”. This is reported on the website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Next year, four more Tu-95MSMs should be delivered to the troops.

The modern YA fleet consists of the Tu-160 (M / M2) and Tu-95MS (95MSM) missile carriers, the T-22M3 bombers, the Il-78 tanker and the Tu-22MR reconnaissance aircraft. Long-range aviation is part of the VKS and is the air component of Russia's Strategic Nuclear Forces.

The objectives of the DA include the destruction of air bases, missile complexes, command posts, operational control centers of air defense, aircraft carrier groups, ports, power facilities and hydraulic structures. Strikes can be inflicted with both nuclear and non-nuclear weapons. Also, long-range aviation may be involved in the conduct of aerial reconnaissance.

“A practical demonstration of the spatial indicators of the combat capabilities of the DA command are flights to air patrols of Tu-95MS and Tu-160 aircraft in the area of ​​Iceland and the Norwegian Sea; to the North Pole and the Aleutian Islands; along the east coast of South America, "- says the materials of the Ministry of Defense.

• Tu-95MS takes off from the airfield
• © Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of Russia

Currently, the composition of YES (taking into account the combat vehicles in storage) has almost 120 units (16 Tu-160, 60 Tu-95, 40 Tu-22M), slightly less than 60 "strategists" (16 Tu-160 , 30 Tu-95, 12 Tu-22M). Long-range aviation VKS participated in the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989), the South Ossetian conflict (August 2008) and the Syrian operation (2015-2018).

The main location for the deployment of YES RF connections is the Engels Guards Air Base in the Saratov Region. In addition to Russia, the only owners of long-range aviation are the United States and China, which is currently working on a project for the H-20 bomber, designed to replace the Xian H-6 (Soviet Tu-16).

Increased combat capabilities

In 2015, a large-scale long-range fleet modernization program was launched in Russia. At the enterprises of the military-industrial complex (DIC), a major overhaul and repair of new on-board radio-electronic equipment (AIRT) and more advanced engines is being carried out.

In addition, new ammunition was developed for YES aircraft. On November 17, 2015, the Tu-95MS used for the first time in combat the Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles with a range of 4.5 thousand km. The blows were inflicted on the infrastructure of terrorists in Syria.

Tu-95 is the oldest strategist of Russia. The first flight "Bear" made in 1952. However, as the Ministry of Defense believes, the car has not lost its relevance. The brainchild of Tupolev Design Bureau is equipped with the NK-12, the most powerful turboprop power plant in the world, developed by the Kuibyshev Engine Plant (now PJSC Kuznetsov). The aircraft engine makes it possible to overcome a distance of 10.5–15 thousand km with economical fuel consumption. The maximum speed of the vehicle is 830 km / h, the combat load is 20 tons, the crew is 7 people.

Created in the second half of the 1960s, the Tu-22M became the first distant supersonic bomber in the USSR. The machine is capable of hitting targets deep behind enemy lines. It received baptism of fire during the war in Afghanistan, successfully destroying Mujahideen objects in mountainous areas by air bombs. The range of the Tu-22M in the M3 version is 6 thousand km, the maximum speed is 2.3 thousand km / h. The aircraft can withstand a combat load of up to 24 tons, its crew consists of 4 people.

The newest aircraft DA VKS is the Tu-160 (“White Swan”). The car first took to the air on December 18, 1981. The uniqueness of this strategist lies in the ability to overcome the enemy's air defense lines at a speed of 2.2 thousand km / h at an altitude of 22 km. The aircraft can go to a supersonic speed in the afterburner mode and hold it for 45 minutes. The crew of the Tu-160 consists of four people, the combat load - 40-45 tons, flight range - 13.5 thousand km.

The production of the White Swan was discontinued in 2008. In 2015, the leadership of the Russian Federation decided to resume the serial production of a strategist in the M2 modification at the Gorbunov Kazan Aviation Plant (KAZ, a branch of PJSC Tupolev). The first demonstration flight of the Tu-160M2 (board "Peter Deinekin") was made on January 25, 2018.

• Tu-160 provides refueling in the air
• © Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of Russia

The initial plans of the Ministry of Defense included the release of 50 new Tu-160M2. Currently KAZ executes an order for the production of 10 “White Swans”. The contract worth 160 billion rubles was concluded in January 2018 during a meeting between the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation (now Deputy Prime Minister) Yury Borisov and the head of the United Aircraft Building Corporation (UAC), Yuri Slusar.

The current fleet of Tu-160 will be improved to the level of "M2". This modification has an increased flight range (by 1 thousand km compared to the previous sample) and a 10% reduction in fuel consumption due to a more economical powerplant. Also, the aircraft features a more modern layout. It implements the concept of a “glass cabin” (mechanical indicators are replaced by displays) and an “open side” (a simplified scheme for the integration of equipment components from different manufacturers).

In late December 2017, in an interview with the Red Star, Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash said that the combat effectiveness of the Tu-160M2 would be two and a half times higher than the previous model. According to him, for the updated "White Swan" "the leading positions among the strategic strike complexes will be maintained."

According to the “flying wing” scheme

In November 2018, UAC announced the start of the development of the new generation strategist PAK DA (a promising long-range aviation complex). The aircraft will be implemented according to the “flying wing” scheme and with extensive use of stealth technology. Designers Tupolev design bureau decided to sacrifice supersonic speed in favor of stealth.

All the weapons of the machine will be inside the case. It is assumed that the PAK DA will be able to use almost all types of known ammunition, including the latest missiles, adjustable and guided bombs. The flight range of a promising vehicle will be about 12 thousand km, speed - up to 1000 km / h, take-off weight - 110 tons.

From the information on the public procurement website it follows that the PAK DA engine will be able to work at least 600 hours without repair, and its full resource will be 8 thousand hours (about 12 years of operation). The body of the aircraft will be made of composite materials with a radio absorbing coating. Mass production of the machine will unfold in Kazan.

• Image PAK YES
• © Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of Russia

In an interview with RT, the founder of the Military Russia portal, Dmitry Kornev, stated that the PAK DA should completely replace the long-range aircraft fleet. However, as the expert believes, the development and testing of the aircraft can be delayed, since the industry will have to solve many complex engineering problems. To give the specialists time, the Ministry of Defense is carrying out modernization of the front-line machines.

“In my opinion, PAK DA is designed to solve the big problem of our long-range aviation, its technical diversity, which complicates operation and leads to increased costs for the production of individual units. For example, on all three YA combat vehicles there are different engines. On the Tu-160 - NK-32, on the Tu-95 - NK-25, on the Tu-22M3 - NK-12. This is not critical, but it is more preferable to have one type of multi-purpose attack aircraft, ”noted Kornev.

According to the expert, with the advent of PAK DA, the air component of the strategic nuclear forces of the Russian Federation will reach a qualitatively new level. From the end of the 2020s, the plane will gradually be forced out of the Tu-95MSM and Tu-22M3M. In this case, as suggested by Kornev, the VKS will be long enough to operate the Tu-160M2.

“There was a lot of controversy over the resumption of mass production of the Tu-160. Indeed, because of the large number of titanium structures, this is a very expensive car. Of course, “White Swan” is a wonderful airplane, but I adhere to the point of view that it is more expedient to send funds to the implementation of the PAK DA project and complete the production of the Tu-160 with ten production samples. It is for PAK DA that the future of our long-range aviation, the most flexible component of Russia's nuclear triad, ”concluded Kornev.

REF: https://russian.rt.com/russia/article/586635-dalnyaya-aviaciya-modernizaciya

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Putin Announces Early 'New Years Gift' Of Successful Hypersonic Glide Vehicle Test (Updated)

The launch was meant to simulate the actual operational use of the game-changing weapon system, which Russia hopes will enter service next year.

By Joseph Trevithick
December 26, 2018



Russia has released multiple videos of a recent test of its nuclear-capable Avangard hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, offering the best imagery publicly available so far of the complete weapon system. The Kremlin says this combination of vehicle and booster rocket is now in serial production and the Russians still plan to deploy the first examples operationally in 2019.

Russian forces conducted the test, meant to be operationally representative, from a silo at Dombarovsky Air Base near the country’s border with Kazakhstan on Dec. 26, 2018. The Avangard vehicle then successfully struck a designated target area at the Kura range on the Kamchatka Peninsula, which the Kremlin regularly uses as a proving ground for strategic weapons, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), according to statements from Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia's Ministry of Defense. There is no independent confirmation that the test met its objectives.

“This is a great success and a big victory. This is a wonderful, excellent gift for the country for the New Year,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting after the test, which he personally oversaw. “It was a hard and time-consuming work which required breakthrough solutions in principal areas, and all this was done by our scientists, designers, and engineers.”

Dombarovsky has hosted operational tests of strategic weapons in the past, being home, in part, to an active division of the 31st Missile Army of the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces. In 2004, an improved R-36M2 ICBM blasted off from one its silos during a test, for example.





The two videos of the Avangard launch, shot from different angles, show the silo door opening and the rocket lifting off. There is still no publicly available imagery of the hypersonic vehicle itself.

The new clips do appear to confirm that the weapon system is using a refurbished rocket booster from the Soviet UR-100N UTTKh ICBM. In March 2018, Russia announced that it would put the still-in-development RS-26 Rubezh ICBM, which it had originally expected to carry the Avangard, on hold indefinitely in order to refocus resources into the development and fielding of the hypersonic weapon.

Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces only have a limited number of UR-100N UTTKh missiles still in operational service, but acquired a number of deactivated boosters from Ukraine in the early 2000s. Independent Ukraine had inherited these weapons after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, but subsequently deactivated the silos and missiles.

The modified UR-100N UTTKh carrier rocket for Avangard also appears to use a payload shroud similar to the SHS-2 on the Strela space launch vehicle.

Strela uses a modified rocket booster from a UR-100NU ICBM.

Roscosmos
The Strela space launch vehicle, which combines a modified rocket booster from a UR-100NU ICBM and the SHS-2 payload shroud.

The longer shroud likely reflects the overall length of Avangard. This is undoubtedly longer than the UR-100N UTTKh’s original payload bus, which carried six multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) nuclear warheads.

As we at The War Zone have noted in the past, substituting the UR-100N UTTKh for the RS-26 as the carrier for the Avangard vehicle makes good sense as a way to get the high-tech weapon into service faster. Hypersonic boost-glide vehicles eliminate a significant number of vulnerabilities traditionally associated with ICBMs, which typically have readily detectable signatures and follow predictable flight paths.

Existing U.S. space-based early warning systems would be able to spot the plume of the missile launch, but the United States has no effective means of tracking Avangard, which is reportedly capable of rapid and frequent course changes along a flatter trajectory, during its mid-course flight. The U.S. military's existing ballistic missile defense shield has no way of engaging the actual Avangard vehicle, either. Of course, at present, those defensive systems are in no way capable of undermining Russia’s overall nuclear deterrent capabilities, either.

All of this reduces the required capabilities of the booster rocket component of the system to the sole job of getting the hypersonic boost glide vehicle to the appropriate initial speed and altitude. The speed of the weapon itself also mitigates some of the delay in using the liquid-fueled UR-100N UTTKh, which reportedly takes around 25 minutes to prepare for launch.

Sergey Kazak/TASS
A standard UR-100N ICBM sits in its silo.

As such, using the existing UR-100s, a known system that has been in service since 1975, is a pragmatic choice. Of the various new strategic weapons that Putin highlighted in a state-of-the-union style speech in March 2018, the Avangard boost-glide vehicle appears to be, by far, the most mature.

The RS-28 Sarmat, a new heavy ICBM that is also known as the SS-X-30 Satan 2, recently suffered a new setback. The Poseidon nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered long-range torpedo/unmanned underwater vehicle and the Burevestnik nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered ground-launched cruise missile, are both still very much under development.

On Dec. 25, 2018, an unnamed Russian defense industry source told state-run news outlet TASS that underwater trials of Poseidon had just begun using an unnamed nuclear-powered host submarine. The Kremlin says it has also been flight testing Burevestnik, but it remains unclear whether the test weapons have a functioning nuclear-powered propulsion system yet.

Putting Avangard into service on top of UR-100s is also a cost-effective decision, both in terms of production and sustainment, with existing knowledge bases and logistical networks to support the booster rocket. This is important since Russia’s persistent economic woes contributed to the RS-26 program ending up on hold and cancelation of the Barguzin rail-mobile ICBM program entirely. Limited funding and other defense industrial resources have also threatened a variety of other Russian strategic and non-strategic military modernization efforts. It remains to be seen just how rapidly the Kremlin can actually get its new hypersonic weapon into service and to what degree.



That being said, using the existing rocket boosters gives the Kremlin perhaps the best chance of getting Avangard into service in the very near term.

Russia would be free to re-boot the RS-26 program in the future when sufficient funds are available. It could also seek to adapt road-mobile RT-2PM2 Topol-M and RS-24 Yars IBCMs to carry the new warhead to expand its hypersonic weapons capacity without the development of entirely new missiles.

Regardless, Just having units equipped with the UR-100N-based Avangard system would likely change the strategic calculus of its potential opponents, chiefly the United States. American military officials have been sounding the alarm all year about the growing threat of hypersonic weapons from both Russia and China. U.S. officials have warned about limited defensive options, as well as the lack of comparable U.S. systems that might be able to better hold these new weapons at risk and deter their use. The U.S. military has also initiated a program, known as Glide Breaker, to explore ways to physically intercept boost-glide weapons.

The Kremlin is well aware of this reality and with Russia-U.S. relations at a recent low point, the Russians are almost certainly eager to be able to further challenge the United States with a new class of operational strategic weapon. “We will continue to work according to the plans that were designed for this system and other promising systems for equipping the army and the fleet,” Putin declared at the Dec. 26, 2018 meeting.

We’ll have to wait and see whether the Russians can actually field some level of operational capability with Avangard in the new year. If nothing else, the latest test shows that the Kremlin is still very committed to that goal.

Update: 2:50pm EST—

Our good friend and Aviation Week's defense editor Stephen Trimble has spotted an interesting detail in a report on the Avangard test from Russia's state-run Channel One television network. A previously unseen computer-generated rendering shows the complete weapon system launch three total hypersonic boost-glide vehicles, which would then be able to strike independent targets.

Russia Channel One
A computer-generated image showing multiple hypersonic boost-glide vehicles separating from the top of the complete Avangard weapon system.

There have been reports that this could be the case in the past, but previous computer renderings had only shown a single hypersonic vehicle inside the missile's payload shroud. There is so no official pictures of the vehicle or the actual payload configuration.

Contact the author: jtrevithickpr@gmail.com

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RUSSIA REVEALS WEST: First shot of the launch of the powerful "Avangard"; PUTIN: This is a serious event (VIDEO)

December 26, 2018



According to the order of President Vladimir Putin, the Ministry of Defense of Russia successfully launched the launch of the Avangard rocket with a hypersonic cruiser combat unit on Wednesday, the Kremlin press service announced.



PUTIN: THIS IS A SPECIAL EVENT

Russian President Vladimir Putin summarized with this year's results of the work of the Government of Russia and a number of current tasks, Kremlin press service announced earlier.

"Putin, traditionally, on the eve of New Year, met with members of the Government. During the meeting, it is planned to discuss the results of this year's work, issues of socioeconomic development of the country, as well as a series of current tasks, "the statement said.

At the beginning of the meeting with the Russian government, Putin announced the completion of successful tests of the new Russian weapon - the hyper-American "Avangard" system. "You know, in my address I spoke about new types of Russian weapons, including primarily hyper-weapons. One of them is the intercontinental system, the hyper-type system 'Avangard'. According to my order, industrial companies of the Ministry of Defense have prepared and conducted the final examinations of this system. They have just finished and with complete success, "Putin said.



"This event (the launch of the 'Avangard' system) does not even have a purely national character, it goes beyond the purely national interests. This is a serious event, "Putin said.

He added that a new type of Russian weapon would reliably ensure Russia's security in the coming decades and that this system will take office in Russia's Armed Forces in 2019.

"A new Intercontinental Strategic System 'Avangard' will be launched in 2019 by the Russian army. The first regiment in strategic missile forces will be deployed. This is a major event in the life of the armed forces, and in the life of the country. A new type of strategic weapon appeared in Russia, "Putin said at a meeting with members of the government.

Putin also thanked the members of the Government for actively engaging in the implementation of national projects and invited them, along with regional governments, to break into fulfilling their tasks.


Russia's Avangard System Missile Test-Launched From Orenburg Region - Kremlin


© Photo : Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation

Military & Intelligence14:08 26.12.2018(updated 14:43 26.12.2018)

The Russian Defence Ministry, on orders from President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday conducted a successful test launch of an Avangard missile from the Orenburg region, hitting a target in Kamchatka, the Kremlin press service reports.

"Putin arrived at the National Defence Control Centre and gave the command to start the tests. The launch was conducted by combat troops of the Strategic Missile Forces from the Dombarovsky launch facility [Orenburg region]. The missile hit a mock-up target at the Kura missile test range in Kamchatka", Kremlin's press-service said.

READ MORE: Military Expert: Russia's Avangard Missile Renders US Missile Defense Useless

"Putin thanked the creators of Avangard, the test participants and the Ministry of Defense for their excellent work," Kremlin's press-service added.

The program of flight tests of the missile of the Avangard system has been completed and makes it possible to put the system into service in time, the Kremlin's press service said in a statement Wednesday.

"The flight test program has been completed, which allows the Avangard system to be put into service with the Strategic Missile Forces in due time," the Kremlin said.

It said the capabilities of the tested winged glider unit make it possible to bypass the coverage areas of information and fire missile defenses, which allow it to effectively overcome all existing and prospective missile defense systems.

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GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE ADMITS U.S HAS NO DEFENSE AGAINST HYPERSONIC WEAPONS

Defense Updates
Published on Feb 2, 2019

America’s Government Accountability Office (GAO) report have stated that the U.S currently lacks the defenses required to protect against the latest crop of hypersonic weapons being developed by China and Russia, The report states, “China and Russia are pursuing hypersonic weapons because their speed, altitude, and maneuverability may defeat most missile defense systems, and they may be used to improve long-range conventional and nuclear strike capabilities. There are no existing countermeasures.”

Views can go through the report from the link given in the ‘Description’ section below. This technically means that U.S land bases and supercarrier may be vulnerable to strikes. In its response to the GAO, the Department of Defence described the report as “an accurate although sobering macro picture of how the US stands in the world against emerging threats.” In the video Defense Updates, analyses 3 Russian & Chinese Hypersonic weapons that can penetrate American defenses.

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BREAKING! Putin Greenlights Creation Of HYPERSONIC Mid-Range Missile As US Suspends INF Treaty

Russia Insight
Published on Feb 2, 2019


Russia will start developing a new type of mid-range missile as it suspends the 1987 INF Treaty. The decision comes in response to the US halting its participation in the agreement. "I agree with the proposal… to create a ground-based hypersonic mid-range missile," President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with the nation’s defense chief and foreign minister on Saturday. He also endorsed the army’s suggestion to make a ground-based model of the Kalibr cruise missile, which is currently fitted on planes, ships, and submarines.

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China, Russia Preparing For "Blackout Warfare" With "Super-EMP" Bombs

by Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/30/2019 - 22:35

Russia, China and several other nations are developing powerful high-altitude nuclear bombs that can produce super-electromagnetic pulse (EMP) waves capable of knocking out critical electronic infrastructure, according to several declassified 2017 reports from the now-defunct Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from EMP Attack (see below).



"Foreign adversaries may aptly consider nuclear EMP attack a weapon that can gravely damage the U.S. by striking at its technological Achilles Heel, without having to confront the U.S. military," reads the report, which notes how foreign actors could use EMP attacks virtually anywhere in the world.

"Super-EMP" weapons, as they are termed by Russia, are nuclear weapons specially designed to generate an extraordinarily powerful E1 EMP field. Super-EMP warheads are designed to produce gamma rays, which generate the E1 EMP effect, not a big explosion, and typically have very low explosive yields, only 1-10 kilotons ... Even EMP hardened U.S. strategic forces and command, control, communications and intelligence (C3I) systems are potentially vulnerable to such a threat. -Firstempcommission.org

"Nuclear EMP attack is part of the military doctrines, plans, and exercises of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran for a revolutionary new way of warfare against military forces and civilian critical infrastructures by cyber, sabotage, and EMP," the report continues.

"The Commission sees the high-altitude nuclear explosion-generated electromagnetic pulse as an existential threat to the survival of the United States and its allies that can be exploited by major nuclear powers and small-scale nuclear weapon powers, including North Korea and non-state actors, such as nuclear-armed terrorists."




Nuclear-electronic warfare is also known as "Blackout War" according to the Washington Free Beacon.

EMP attacks will be carried out at such high altitudes they will produce no blast or other immediate effects harmful to humans. Instead, three types of EMP waves in seconds damage electronics and the strikes are regarded by adversaries as not an act of nuclear war.

"Potential adversaries understand that millions could die from the long-term collateral effects of EMP and cyber-attacks that cause protracted black-out of national electric grids and other life-sustaining critical infrastructures," the report said.

The attacks are regarded by enemy military planners as a relatively easy, potentially unattributable means of inflicting mass destruction and forcing opponents to capitulate.
EMP strikes can be adjusted in the size of the area and the intensity of the wave by detonating at different altitudes. The closer to the earth the more powerful is the pulse. The higher the altitude, the wider the area of impact. -Free Beacon

EMP attacks do not require accuracy, nor do the bombs require a re-entry vehicle, heat shield or shock absorbers like standard nuclear weapons, and they can be delivered through several methods - including satellites, short - medium - long range missiles, or even from a jet, commercial airliner or a meteorological balloon.



We've seen how this ends:


The Commission's recommendations are as follows:

Recommendation 1: The Commission recommends the President establish an Executive Agent with the authority, accountability, and resources to manage U.S. national infrastructure protection and defense against the existential EMP threat.

Recommendation 2: The Commission strongly recommends that implementation of cybersecurity for the electric grid and other critical infrastructures include EMP protection.

Recommendation 3: The Commission encourages the President to work with Congressional leaders to establish a joint Presidential-Congressional Commission, with its members charged with supporting the Nation’s leadership to achieve, on an accelerated basis, the protection of critical national infrastructures.

Recommendation 4: The Commission recommends that government agencies and industries adopt new standards to protect critical national infrastructures from damaging E3 EMP heave fields, with more realistic standards of 85 V/km.

Recommendation 5: The Commission recommends that the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy provide expedited threat-level, full-system testing of large power transformers in wide use within the bulk electric system and share key findings with the electric utility industry.

Recommendation 6: The Commission recommends the Director of National Intelligence circulate to all recipients of the 2014 JAEIC report the EMP Commission critique and direct a new assessment be prepared that supersedes the 2014 JAEIC EMP report.

And for what to do after an EMP attack, the Commission has provided a handy report titled: "LIFE WITHOUT ELECTRICITY: STORM-INDUCED BLACKOUTS AND

IMPLICATIONS FOR EMP ATTACK"



https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...uper-emp-bombs

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Russian “Dead Hand” Alive and Modernized?

by Tsarizm Staff
February 2, 2019

Delta-II class nuclear-powered ballistic missle submarine

From recent news . . . .

“Russia could shift to preemptive nuclear strike doctrine — ex-chief of RVSN”

“Retaliatory nuclear strike command and control system ‘Perimeter’ has been modernized”

“Moscow. 9 November. INTERFAKS-AVN – Russia could renounce its retaliatory strike doctrine in favor of a preemptive nuclear attack on a potential aggressor, if the U.S. deploys missiles on the territory of European states, said General-Colonel Viktor Yesin, who led the Main Staff of the Missile Troops of Strategic Designation in 1994-1996.”

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Russia Conducts Test of Nuclear-Powered Cruise Missile
The test is the thirteenth to date to involve the experimental Burevestnik

By Ankit Panda
February 06, 2019



Russia conducted a partially successful test of its developmental nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Burevestnik, on January 29, 2019, according to U.S. government sources with knowledge of Russia’s weapons programs who spoke to the The Diplomat. The test took place at Russia’s Kapustin Yar missile test range and is the thirteenth to date involving the missile.

The test marks the first involving the Burevestnik in nearly one year. The missile had not been tested since February 2018. According to one source, U.S. intelligence assesses that Russia’s development efforts on the missile continues. The United States intelligence community internally calls the missile the KY30 or the SSC-X-9 SKYFALL.

The Burevestnik was first tested at Kapustin Yar in June 2016. According to U.S. military intelligence, only one test of the missile has been moderately successful to date. That test took place in November 2017 from Russia’s Pank’ovo test site in Novaya Zemlya and resulted in recovery mission involving specialized Russian ship crews to retrieve the missile’s debris and nuclear materials from the Barents Sea after a crash.


In a speech unveiling a suite of new missile systems before the Russian Federal Assembly in March 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that “In late 2017, Russia successfully launched its latest nuclear-powered missile at the Central training ground.”

He continued that “during its flight, the nuclear-powered engine reached its design capacity and provided the necessary propulsion.” He additionally claimed that the missile’s range was “unlimited” and that it could “maneuver for as long as necessary.”

No country has to date deployed a cruise missile using an on-board nuclear reactor, largely given the engineering challenges and safety concerns involved. In the late-1950s, the United States began development on prototype nuclear-powered ramjet engines as part of Project Pluto, but none of those missiles were ever deployed.

The Burevestnik was announced by Putin alongside a range of new nuclear weapons in his March 2018 address. Some of the other weapons include the Avangard, a hypersonic boost-glide reentry vehicle, the Poseidon, an autonomous thermonuclear torpedo, the Sarmat, a new intercontinental-range ballistic missile, and the Kinzhal, an air-launched ballistic missile.

The January test of the Burevestnik comes shortly after the release of the United States’ 2019 Missile Defense Review, which called for the development of a range of new technologies to augment existing U.S. defensive capabilities against cruise and ballistic missile threats. In March 2018, Putin justified Russia’s development of the Burevestnik and other new systems in terms of growing Russian concerns about U.S. missile defense capabilities.

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UNSTOPPABLE! Russia’s New Hypersonic Missile Zircon Travels Two Miles a Second

Published on Feb 25, 2019

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Interesting first strike strategy.

BREAKING! Top Russian Expert Explains How Russia Will Target US Command Centers!

Published on Feb 28, 2019

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Watch: Russian Choir Singing On Fatherlands Day At St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg About A First Strike Nuclear Attack On America

MEMRI TV Videos
Published on Mar 1, 2019

On February 23, the concert choir of St. Petersburg sang a song titled "On the Wages of Servicemen" in St. Isaac's Cathedral. The song, which was written in 1980 by Andrei Kozlovsky and is about a nuclear submarine preparing to bomb America, was sung during a celebration of Defender of the Fatherland Day.

It went:

"On a submarine with a nuclear motor – yes, with a dozen 100-megaton bombs…

I called to the gunner: 'Set the target to Washington city'…

Tra-La-La, tra-La-La,

We can do anything for three rubles!

Hello New Land of the Enemy!

And on the airplane in the skies above, is my friend Vovochka for a visit and his hatches aren't empty…

On a little submarine with a little nuclear engine,

Our crew cheerfully sings a song.

TRU-La-La, tra-La-La,

We can do anything for three rubles!

You will burn the land of the adversary!

Sweetly sleeping shore lights in Norfolk, toys are sleeping, and Negros are sleeping quietly,

I'm sorry America, good America,

But five hundred years ago, you were discovered in vain…

Burn in half the land of the adversary!"

The choir's performance came amidst tensions between Russia and the U.S. surrounding American withdrawal from the INF Treaty after accusing Russia of violating the agreement.

This video was uploaded to the Internet on February 25, 2019 and the performance went viral among Russian social media users.




On a little submarine with a little nuclear engine,

And with a dozen bombs under a hundred megatons,

We crossed the Atlantic and I call on my gunner: “Point,” I say, “Petrov, at the city of Washington!”

Tra-La-La, tra-La-La,

We can do anything for three rubles!

Greetings, the New Land of the Enemy!

On the airplane above, my friend Vovochka

Not with empty hatches came for a visit.

On a little submarine with a little nuclear engine,

Our crew cheerfully sings a song.

TRU-La-La, tra-La-La,

We can do anything for three rubles!

You burn, burn the Enemy’s land!

Sweetly sleeping shore lights in Norfolk, toys are sleeping, and Negros are sleeping quietly,

You forgive us, America, good America,

But five hundred years ago you were discovered for no-good,

Tra-La-La, tra-La-La,

We can do anything for three ruble!

In half is burning the land. Unfriendly land.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmUCv70A0aw
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35TiuIUYI4M
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=166&v=ijZXtrFP0wE

[Ryan Ruck]

RUSSIA REVEALS WEST: First shot of the launch of the powerful "Avangard"; PUTIN: This is a serious event (VIDEO)

Russia's Avangard System Missile Test-Launched From Orenburg Region - Kremlin

Russia Will Only Make A Few Units Of A Hypersonic Weapon Putin Bragged About, US Intelligence Says

July 1, 2019

Russia will produce only a few units of a hypersonic weapon that President Vladimir Putin had bragged was already in serial production, according to people with direct knowledge of a U.S. intelligence report.

The Kremlin is having a hard time finding a source for the critical carbon fiber components needed to produce the weapon, a hypersonic glide vehicle dubbed Avangard.

It was one of the six weapons Putin boasted about in March 2018. At the time, the Russian leader claimed Avangard was capable of reaching targets at a speed of 20 times the speed of sound and that the weapon can strike "like a fireball." He also said that the device had already entered serial production.

In October, CNBC learned that the Kremlin was looking for another carbon fiber source since their current supply was unable to withstand the extreme temperatures of hypersonic flight. According to a U.S. intelligence report curated a month ago, the Kremlin has still not been able to find an alternative carbon fiber material.

"It's expected that they will make no more than 60 of these hypersonic weapons because it's just proving to be too expensive to develop," one person told CNBC on the condition of anonymity.

However, since Moscow has prioritized the Avangard program, the weapon is still slated to achieve initial operational capability by 2020, according to people with direct knowledge of the U.S. intelligence report.

In May 2018, CNBC learned that Russia successfully tested Avangard twice in 2016. The third known test of the system was carried out in October 2017, and resulted in a failure when the platform crashed seconds before striking its target.

The intelligence reports, which were curated in spring of last year, calculate that Russia's hypersonic glide vehicles are likely to achieve initial operational capability by 2020, a significant step that would enable the Kremlin to surpass the U.S. and China in this regard.

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Russia's powerful Northern Fleet just got the first of a new class of submarines that has the US Navy worried

BENJAMIN BRIMELOW
JUN 8, 2021, 12:30 PM

Lev FedoseyevTASS via Getty ImagesRussian Navy Northern Fleet Yasen-class nuclear-powered sub Kazan arrives at its home base in Severomorsk, on Russia’s Arctic coast, June 1, 2021.

• In May, Russia’s navy finally commissioned the Kazan, a new and completely modern guided-missile sub.
• Kazan is the culmination of more than a decade of effort, and it is a marked improvement over its predecessor, which already had NATO commanders worried.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

On May 7, the Russian Navy finally commissioned the Kazan, its first Yasen-M-class nuclear-powered guided missile submarine (SSGN).

Kazan is the lead boat of a subclass descended from the Yasen class, the first of which, Severodvinsk, was commissioned in 2013.

Kazan is the culmination of more than a decade of effort to field a new and completely modern SSGN, and it is a marked improvement in nearly every respect over its predecessor, which already had US commanders and their NATO allies worried.

Severodvinsk and Kazan represent a new chapter for Russia’s submarine force – long considered the most important part of the Russian Navy.

The Yasen-class

Russian Ministry of DefenseThe Russian submarine K-560 Severodvinsk.

The Yasen-M-class has an interesting history. Although it is believed to be Russia’s most advanced and expensive submarine class ever, the original Yasen design comes from the latter days of the Cold War.

Since its start, the Yasen program has been beset by delays and setbacks. The collapse of the USSR was followed by extensive budget cuts for the Russian Navy and the erosion of critical shipbuilding infrastructure and expertise.

Severodvinsk was laid down in 1993 but did not enter service until 2013. Construction of Kazan didn’t begin until 2009.

At 138.99m long, the Severodvinsk has 10 torpedo tubes located near the central post instead of the bow (a first for Russian submarines) and eight vertical launch tubes, each capable of holding multiple missiles.


Lev FedoseyevTASS via Getty ImagesThe crew of K-560 Severodvinsk during basic training in the closed town of Zaozyorsk in Murmansk, March 14, 2018.

Severodvinsk is also armed with either 32 P-800 Oniks or 40 3M-14 Kalibr missiles, or a combination of both. Both missiles have variants that can be used to strike land targets or enemy warships.

The Kalibr, which entered service in 2015, is particularly threatening, as its range of over 2,414km gives the Russian Navy the ability to conduct long-range strike missions with conventional weapons for the first time.

The Severodvinsk also has much more advanced quieting technology than its predecessors, and has already proven able to avoid detection.

In 2019, Pentagon officials told “60 Minutes” that the sub had sailed into the Atlantic in 2018 and “for weeks” evaded all efforts to find it.

The Yasen-M

Lev FedoseyevTASS via Getty ImagesKazan arrives at its home base in Severomorsk, June 1, 2021.

Because Kazan took so much longer to develop, it could be loaded with advanced technology developed in the last few years. Its overall design was also refined, placing it in a distinct subclass.

“You really have a fundamentally new submarine in many respects,” Jeffrey Edmonds, a research scientist at the Center for Naval Analysis, told Insider.

Though it is slightly smaller than the Severodvinsk, the Yasen-M class features new control systems, new quieting technology, new sensor suites, new personnel-rescue systems, new damage-control systems, and even an updated nuclear reactor designed to make less noise.

Although Yasen-M only has eight torpedo tubes compared to Severodvinsk’s 10, it can carry the same kind and number of missiles.

There are also reports that Kazan will be armed with the Zircon, the Russian hypersonic missile reportedly capable of reaching speeds between Mach 6 and Mach 8. Final testing of the Zircon is expected to begin in June.

At first glance, Yasens may appear less threatening than Russia’s nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines, particularly those of the new Borei-class.
But those ballistic-missile boats are more predictable; they are covered by agreements like the New START Treaty, and their nuclear arsenals would likely only be used in absolute worst-case scenarios.

The Yasens, on the other hand, carry advanced conventional weaponry capable of striking targets deep inland. Combined with their stealth capabilities and their ability to be almost anywhere in any ocean, the threat of the Yasens is hard to understate.

“The Severodvinsk is [meant] for long-range patrols in the ocean,” Edmonds said. “During wartime we’d be worried about Severodvinsk submarines sitting off the East Coast or the Pacific Coast.”

‘No longer a sanctuary’

Lev FedoseyevTASS via Getty ImagesKazan arrives to its permanent deployment base in Severomorsk, June 1, 2021.

The US Navy has repeatedly sounded the alarm over increased Russian Navy capabilities and activities.

Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, the commander of the 2nd Fleet, warned last year that “our ships can no longer expect to operate in a safe haven on the East Coast or merely cross the Atlantic unhindered.”

Vice Adm. Daryl L. Caudle, commander of Naval Submarine Forces, echoed those concerns in September, saying that “it’s pretty well known now that our homeland is no longer a sanctuary, so we have to be prepared here to conduct high-end combat operations in local waters.”

Those concerns stem mostly from improvements in Russia’s submarine fleet, especially the Severodvinsk and Kazan.

With Kazan completed and commissioned and the Yasen-M design finalized, it is believed that Kazan’s sister-boats will take less time to construct.

The second Yasen-M, Novosibirsk, was launched in December 2019 and is expected to be delivered to the Navy by the end of this year. The third boat, Krasnoyarsk, will be launched in August and is expected to be commissioned in late 2022.


US Navy/MCS Seaman Jimmy Ivy IIIA US Navy destroyer seen through the periscope of Los Angeles-class sub USS San Juan during an exercise, September 12, 2020.

If Russia sticks to its timetable, five more Yasen-Ms will join the fleet by the end of the decade.

Severodvinsk and Kazan are part of Russia’s Northern Fleet based in Severomorsk, while Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk will join the Pacific Fleet.

In all, four Yasen-Ms and the Severodvinsk will be in the Northern Fleet, with the other four in the Pacific Fleet. Russia does not deploy any of its nuclear submarines to the Baltic or Black Sea fleets because they do not have easy access to the open ocean.

With more Yasens in service, Russia’s strategic deterrence capabilities are markedly enhanced.

“It’s something that can bring the fight to the continental US,” Edmonds told Insider. “There is a certain conventional non-nuclear deterrent aspect to the Severodvinsk, and I think that plays into the larger strategic framework that the Russians operate in.”
“It’s just a formidable undersea platform,” Edmonds said.

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Russian Warships Practice Sinking Aircraft Carrier 35 Miles Off Hawaii Coast As US Places F22s On Standby

BY TYLER DURDEN
ZERO HEDGE
TUESDAY, JUN 22, 2021 - 10:35 AM

For weeks Russia has mustered a large fleet and aerial assets in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii in what's been widely recognized as Russia's largest Pacific military drills since the end of the Cold War. The Pentagon has closely monitored the somewhat unprecedented exercises which have seen at least 20 warships, submarines, fighter jets, and long-range bombers operating a mere 300 miles off Hawaii's coast.

But in a new alarming statement the US Navy is confirming that at one point Russian vessels and aircraft came a mere 35 miles off Hawaii's coast as the massive war games were underway. While stressing that the foreign military assets stayed within international waters, spokesman for US Indo-Pacific Command Navy Capt. Mike Kafka, said, "At the closest point, some ships operated approximately 20 to 30 nautical miles (23 to 34 statute miles) off the coast of Hawaii," he said.
"We closely tracked all vessels."



New details of Russian maneuvers during the course of the exercises suggest there were multiple "close calls" - also as days ago the Pentagon scrambled F-22 stealth fighters, which remain on standby.

The Russian side is now divulging that its military undertook mock attacks on a simulated aircraft carrier strike group.

[ATTACH type="full" alt="1624397240257.png"]272989[/ATTACH]

First, as the Honolulu Star Advertiser has detailed, armed US fighters twice responded to the area amid a heightened state of alert over the Russian war games:

The deployment of Russian "Bear" bombers as part of the exercise twice resulted in missile-armed Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 fighters scrambling to possibly intercept the turboprop planes — which headed in the direction of Hawaii but never came close, officials said. (Newsweek)

The report continues: "The Hawaii Air Guard stealth jets launched June 13 and again on Friday, but no intercepts were conducted with the Russian planes likely turning away from the path toward the state, according to an account of the launch."


Russian military, Varyag cruiser


And the hugely provocative details of the simulated carrier sinking put out by Russia's defense ministry were detailed in The Drive as follows:

The Russian Ministry of Defense today published an account about the Pacific Fleet maneuvers, which are described as having practiced "the tasks of destroying an aircraft carrier strike group of a mock enemy."

A simulated cruise missile strike was carried out by the Pacific Fleet flagship, the Slava class cruiser Varyag (pictured above), as well as the Udaloy class destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov, and the Steregushchiy class corvettes Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov, Gromky, and Sovershenniy.

Russia's defense ministry has lately issued multiple short official videos of its large force in action near Hawaii...



Again, since the formal end of the exercises it's emerging based on independent satellite image analysis that some of the Russian military assets were engaged in operations much closer to the United States' sovereign territory than previously thought.

"Russia says that they are 300 miles off the coast of Hawaii, yet unconfirmed satellite images from June 19 appear to show them much closer - within 35 miles of the U.S. state," The Daily Mail observes. The newest US Pacific-Command statement has since confirmed this proximity of at least some of the Russian assets.


Russian MoD

A number of Western pundits underscored that the large-scale Russian games were meant as a serious muscle-flexing "message" to President Biden just as he met with Vladimir Putin in Geneva last Wednesday.

Despite the US fighters being scrambled off Hawaii's coast and remaining on stanby, Biden never publicly addressed the threat, though it's unknown if he broached the issue with Putin directly in the closed-door talks.

What's more is that a Russian spy ship has remained in the regional waters near the US islands, according to Hawaiian news sources which detailed its presence Monday.

No doubt, US Pacific-Command forces are still on a high state of alert, monitoring for any remaining Russian military maneuvers in the area.

Russian Warships Practice Sinking Aircraft Carrier 35 Miles Off Hawaii Coast As US Places F22s On Standby | ZeroHedge