TASS – 2018-12-06 00:08:30
http://tass.com/defense/1034414
Russia Boosting Its Nuclear Forces’ Potential
Due to US Missile Shield
TASS
MOSCOW (December 5, 2018) — Russia is boosting the capabilities of its nuclear forces while the United States is building up its missile shield, Chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov said at a news briefing for foreign military attaches on Wednesday.
“As the US was building up its global missile shield, Russia was increasing the combat potential of its ground-based strategic nuclear forces,” the general said.
In particular, Russia’s Strategic Missile Force is being rearmed with Yars missile systems and the Avangard missile complex equipped with the hypersonic glide vehicle has gone into serial production, the Russian general said.
Russia is developing the Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile system to replace its most powerful Voyevoda ICBM. In 2018, the Sarmat successfully passed pop-up tests, he added.
Russian strategic submarines are on constant combat duty, carrying out their patrols, including under the Arctic ice, the general said.
Gerasimov stressed that the United States has the ability in the shortest possible time to increase its nuclear strike potential by more than 1,200 nuclear charges.
“Unfortunately, our American partners in order to reach quantitative parameters of the New START, have been re-equipping a part of their strategic offensive devices for 2 years (four launchers on each of the 14 Ohio-class submarines 41 B-52H tactical bombers) and unilaterally excluded them from the Treaty’s record. This gives then the opportunity to build up the potential of their strategic offensive forces in the shortest time possible and to increase the number of warheads by more than 1,200 units,” Gerasimov said.
“The sea-based strategic nuclear forces will be developed further through the construction of Borei-A submarines carrying ballistic missiles with the means of overcoming the missile shield,” he noted.
The potential of the airborne strategic nuclear forces is maintained through the modernization of strategic Tupolev Tu-160 and Tu-95MS missile-carrying bombers. Russia is furnishing these planes with more powerful engines, modern onboard equipment, and is also expanding the range of their armament, the general said.
Russia is also building up its space-and ground-based echelons of the missile early warning system, Gerasimov said.
Russia has also completed creating the continuous radar field along its borders, the general noted. “This has guaranteed detecting ballistic missiles from all missile-dangerous directions and by any type of their flight trajectory,” Gerasimov said.
Russia to Hold over
4,000 War Games in 2019, Says Defense Chief
TASS
MOSCOW (December 4, 2018) — The Russian Defense Ministry plans to hold more than 4,000 drills and roughly 8,500 practical combat training events throughout 2019, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on a conference call on Tuesday.
“Next year is going to be extremely busy. Over 4,000 various types of drills and nearly 8,500 practical combat training events are scheduled. The main focus will be placed on applying expertise in the use of troops in today’s armed conflicts and training commanders to effectively address non-standard tasks,” the minister stated.
Shoigu added that the Defense Ministry would continue to practice snap combat readiness checks. “This form of monitoring makes it possible to pinpoint problems that are not very visible in everyday life,” he stressed.
On December 3, the Russian Armed Forces shifted to its winter schedule of training. The defense chief noted that a lot of preparatory work had been done in the army before the start of the new training period.
The conference call with the defense minister was held at the National Defense Control Center, and was attended by area and combat arms commanders, as well as representatives of the leadership of the Republic of Tatarstan, and the Primorsky and Smolensk Regions.
As for his meeting with regional representatives, Shoigu addressed possible solutions regarding the social problems of servicemen and their families, along with the development of the Young Army movement, and progress in constructing and arranging Patriot Park branches in their regions.
Russia Eyes Beefing Up Armed Forces
Amid US Plans to Quit INF, Says Defense Chief
TASS
MOSCOW (December 4, 2018) — At a conference in Sochi, Russia’s brass has mulled over measures to beef up the army amid Washington’s plans to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Tuesday.
On November 19-22, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a series of meetings with the nation’s top brass and heads of the military industrial complex.
“The measures were considered to reinforce the (armed) forces’ combat capacity and means amid the mounting arms race related to the US plans to quit the INF Treaty,” Shoigu said.
At the gathering, the sides noted that the new state armaments program up to 2027 allows the army and the navy to reequip at their necessary pace.
“The supreme commander-in-chief was informed about the process of building and developing the armed forces, their capacity to ensure the state’s military security and counter a technologically advanced enemy,” Shoigu stated.
The sides also discussed the implementation of the state defense order and preliminary results for this year. “The focus was made on fulfilling design works and supplies of cutting-edge weapons, military and special equipment,” the minister stressed.
In late October, US President Donald Trump said that Washington would withdraw from the INF Treaty because Russia had allegedly violated it. Washington has not yet sent its official notification to Moscow. White House National Security Advisor John Bolton said on October 31 that this notification would follow “in due course”.
The INF deal was concluded on December 8, 1987, and took effect on June 1, 1988. It applies to deployed and non-deployed ground-based missiles of intermediate range (1,000-5,000 kilometers) and shorter range (500-1,000 kilometers).
In recent years, Washington has repeatedly accused Russia of violating the treaty. Moscow strongly dismissed the accusations and voiced its own counterclaims against Washington’s non-compliance.
A New ‘Era’ of Innovation
Shoigu noted that at the president’s meeting based at the Era military innovation technopolis in Anapa the parties discussed the manufacture and storing of missiles and munitions in state reserves and adapting the defense industry to the current economic climate.
Besides, the conference also focused on creating reserves of material and technical resources, organizing their safe storage and timely modernization, Shoigu noted.
The president inspected the facilities of the technopolis and emphasized the importance of work on introducing advanced and breakthrough technologies in the defense sector and also on training personnel working in science and innovation. The supreme commander-in-chief thanked everyone who took part in fulfilling this large-scale project and wished the technopolis’ personnel great success in their work, he said.
The main goal of the Era technopolis, which opened this September, is to ensure the research, development and introduction of breakthrough technologies in the defense sector. Key attention is centered on educational programs for young scientists in the Russian Army.
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