Bulava

Bulava being fired from Dmitri Donskoy

The RSM-56 is a new ballistic missile for the Russian Navy that has been in some form of development since 1999. The missile was to be the new missile for a new class of SSBN, which had been laid down in 1996.

The missile however failed its first three tests, and both the missile and the construction of the submarine were delayed.

The design bureau started from the ground up, and designed the Bulava. The new missile was significantly different, and because of this the SSBN that had been laid down had to be heavily modified.  

Spiral glow after a failed Bulava launch

The Russian Navy expected to take delivery of the missile and submarine in 2005.

However the missile again failed tests and the missile was delayed. 

In 2009 the missile's chief designer resigned, and the program was examined once again.

Since a new chief designer has been in place the missile tests have been successful.

Yuri Dogorukiy being loaded with Bulava

The missile has now been fired from the new SSBN Yuri Dolgorukiy, and will enter serial production.

Yuri Dolgorukiy getting ready to head to sea.

This missile is the most expensive weapons system ever developed by the Russian Federation. Because of the delays in development and deployment the very force structure of the Russian Navy has been effected, and will continue to be effected for the next several years.

 

Russian Troops in Syria

      This week there were reports that Russian troops had been sent to Syria in order to assist the Syrian government with what they are calling a terrorist insurgency.  When I first saw these reports my attention was immediately peaked, and I couldn’t believe that Russia had actually escalated the situation by sending troops. As I looked around the internet it seems that the news agencies overreacted to a report of a Russian tanker docking in Tartus, Syria with a security force on board. 



Iman oil tanker



 He is a quote from Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, about the situation:

“As the defense ministry said, it is an oil tanker. We don’t have any warships in the Syrian regional waters. There are no Russian special forces aboard the oil tanker…but we should be aware that aboard these kinds of tankers, there is always a force to protect it against any attack. Ships of the Black Sea fleet are operating within the framework of an international plan for anti-piracy,” Lavrov said.

Here is a good read about the situation.

 And in other news:

The Bulava missile will enter service in October, after undergoing more tests

                                      

    Submarines: The Quiet Bulwark of the Russian Navy



A New President (well kind of)

       The news out of the Russian Navy this week has been slow. I'm guessing that this is because of the elections and protests dominating the news. In case you hadn't heard Vladimir Putin was elected to a third term as president of the Russian Federation. That means for the next six years he will be the head of the Russian military.

Putin

     So in light of that here are a few of the stories that I found from the past week: 

Typhoon at sea

       The Russian Navy has said that it will not modernize the Typhoon class submarines (the picture in the article depicts an Akula class submarine, which the Russian call the Typhoon. Akula is the NATO reporting name for submarine pictured in the article.) The main reason for not wanting to modernize lies in the fact that a full refit of one of the Typhoons could pay for two new Borei class submarines. The reports on whether or not these submarines will stay commissioned with the fleet vary widely. With some sources saying that they will remain in service until 2019. In my opinion besides the Dmitri Donskoy, which is being used to test the Bulava missile, the ships will be scrapped.  For more information about the Typhoons see my earlier blog post here. 

      

IL-38 May

      The Northern Fleet now has a modernized version of the IL-38 May. The aircraft were upgraded and fitted with a new system called Novella. Here are some of the new capabilities:

"The Novella system includes a digital computer manned by two operators. The system also has a new high resolution thermal imaging system, a magnetic anomaly detection system, an optical detection system (including laser, TV and thermal channels), gravitational anomaly detector and other equipment."