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Russia to deploy new missiles by 2020: military
AFP - Thursday, December 18
MOSCOW (AFP) - - Russia will by 2020 replace its Soviet-era arsenal with new nuclear-capable intercontinental missiles that can overcome defence systems like the US missile shield, the military said Wednesday.
"By 2015-2020 the Russian strategic rocket forces will have new complete missile systems with improved combat characteristics," General Nikolai Solovtsov told reporters at a briefing in the Moscow region.
"They will be capable of carrying out any tasks, including in conditions where an enemy uses anti-missile defence measures," said Solovtsov, the overall commander of Russia's missile forces, quoted by Russian news agencies.
Russia is working hard to upgrade its elderly missile forces and has repeatedly tested new missiles in recent months amid the controversy over the missile shield.
"Basically his comments mean almost all Soviet-made or 1990s intercontinental ballistic missiles will be withdrawn and scrapped by 2020," leading Russian defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told AFP.
"The missile force will be much slimmer that the present one, which is still a leftover from the Cold War and Soviet times," he added.
The refurbishment of the missile forces comes amid Russian fury at the US plan to install missile defence facilities in Central Europe, despite US assurances that the system is not directed against Russia.
Washington plans to put an anti-missile radar facility in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland, both ex-Eastern bloc countries which are now NATO members.
President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have urged US president-elect Barack Obama to drop the system, which was devised by President George W. Bush's administration.
However despite expressions of optimism from Moscow, Obama has yet to give any details about his intentions.
Solovtsov said the Russian rocket forces are "developing and putting new missile systems on combat duty and perfecting their capabilities in line with the threats that are currently apparent."
Russia's missile arsenal still contains Soviet-era war horses like the Stiletto, the Voevoda and the Topol but the military has been seeking to phase in newer weapons.
The military has already started mass production of the Topol-M, a three-stage ballistic missile with a range of 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) which can be deployed on both stationary and mobile launch platforms.
Felgenhauer said that Russia's new intercontinental missile arsenal will be essentially be built around the Topol-M.
"It is not clear how many will be deployed but it is clear it will be less than now. Russia will also lose in payload capacity, maybe four or five times," he said.
But he added: "The commander was saying 'we will still have a credible force. It will be smaller but renewed.'"
Generals have said that from December 2009 Russia will deploy its new RS-24, which is similar to the Topol-M but carries a multiple warhead.
It also in November successfully tested the Bulava, the sea-based equivalent of the Topol-M which is also capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads, reaching a target 6,000 kilometres (4,000 miles) away.
Solovtsov denied that the RS-24 violates the START 1 missile control treaty, which he says only bans adding additional warheads to existing missiles or expanding the number of warheads on multiple-warhead weapons.
He said Russia was planning 13 rocket launches in 2009, including five test firings and three launches aimed at extending the service life of older weapons.
The other launches will be of Dnepr rockets used to carry satellites into space.
The refurbishment of the missile forces comes alongside a wider shake-up of the armed forces, which is expected to see a massive reorganisation of structures and personnel cuts to make the military more dynamic.
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Enlarge Photo
A Russian Topol-M ICBM intercontinental ballistic missile is driven across Red Square in a Victory Day Parade in Moscow, May 2008. Russia will by 2020 replace its Soviet-era arsenal with new nuclear-capable intercontinental missiles that can overcome defence systems like the US missile shield, the military said Wednesday.
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