Russia begins mooring trials of Yury Dolgoruky strategic sub

17/03/2009 15:14 MOSCOW, March 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has started mooring trials of the first Borey class nuclear-powered strategic submarine, which will be equipped with Bulava sea-based ballistic missiles, the defense minister said on Tuesday.

"In line with the program on the introduction of new Borey class nuclear-powered strategic submarines into the Russian Navy, we have begun mooring trials of the first submarine in the series - the Yury Dolgoruky submarine," Anatoly Serdyukov told a meeting at the Defense Ministry attended by President Dmitry Medvedev.

The submarine, built at the Sevmash plant in northern Russia, was taken out of dry dock in April 2007.

The vessel is 170 meters (580 feet) long, has a hull diameter of 13 meters (42 feet), a crew of 107, including 55 officers, a maximum depth of 450 meters (about 1,500 feet) and a submerged speed of about 29 knots. It can carry up to 16 ballistic missiles and torpedoes.

Two other Borey-class nuclear submarines, the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh, are currently under construction at the Sevmash shipyard and are expected to be completed in 2009 and 2011. Russia is planning to build a total of eight submarines of this class by 2015.

Russia also is planning to complete tests and put into service sea-based Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in 2009 despite numerous test failures. The Russian military have said that production flaws could be to blame for the unsuccessful test launches and insisted that the tests would continue until the missile was ready for production.

The Bulava (SS-NX-30) ICBM carries up to 10 nuclear warheads and has a range of 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles).

Russia to put regiment of RS-24 missiles into service in Dec.

17/03/2009 17:39 MOSCOW, March 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will put a regiment of new-generation intercontinental ballistic missiles into service in December, the Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) commander said on Tuesday.

"After December 5, 2009, when START-1 expires, Russia will put a regiment of RS-24 missiles into service," Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov said.

He also said the SMF would conduct at least eight missile test launches, including space launches, in 2009.

Solovtsov said the next launch was scheduled for April 10.

The commander said earlier that RS-24 ICBMs, with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) warheads, would help bolster the SMF's ability to overpower missile defense systems, "thus strengthening the nuclear deterrence potential of the Russian nuclear triad."

The SMF reportedly has a total of 538 ICBMs, including 306 SS-25 Topol (Sickle) missiles and 56 SS-27 Topol-M missiles.