Russia Continues to Remind the World They Are Prepared for Nuclear War

November 3, 2012 • 9:53AM

The Russian government has been very open about its nuclear force programs for quite some time, in large part, in response to the potential for strategic confrontation from the U.S. missile defense policy and the U.S. regime-change policy in Southwest Asia and North Africa. Yesterday, Lt. Gen. Valery Mazurov, the deputy commander of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces (SMF), said that Russia will continue to deploy both mobile and silo-based ICBMs. According to RIA Novosti, this two-component structure of the SMF reflects its purpose as part of Russia's nuclear triad. Silo-based ICBMs function as the preventive deterrent, while mobile ICBMs provide the capability to respond to nuclear strikes launched by potential enemies. "The composition of ICBM systems [in the SMF structure] is based on a thorough analysis of potential military conflicts of varied intensity that involve the use of nuclear weapons," Mazurov said.

The Russian mobile ICBM force consists of three types: Soviet-era Topol, which first went into service in 1985 with 160 deployed; the upgraded Topol M, 18 of which are in service since 1997; and the RS-24 Yars, a further modernized version of the Topol M specifically intended to penetrate U.S. missile defenses, and 18 of which have been in service since 2010. There are also 50 Topol M's reported to be in silos, and 58 of the Soviet-era R-36 (called SS-18 by NATO), a monster liquid-fueled rocket which can carry 8-10 warheads.