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Russia Suffers More Missile Mishaps in Nuclear Exercises
Russian missiles experienced more problems today during a major Russian strategic nuclear weapons exercise, as a submarine-launched ballistic missile was ordered to self-destruct after it flew off-course only 98 seconds into its flight, according to the Russian navy press service (CNN.com, Feb. 18). The errant test followed yesterday’s mishap in which two submarine-launched missiles failed to take flight as Russian President Vladimir Putin watched from a neighboring submarine (see GSN, Feb. 17). Putin had been aboard the Arkhangelsk, a Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine, to observe the SS-N-23 missile tests from the nearby Novomoskovsk, but after waiting 25 minutes for the expected launch, he disappeared below deck without a word. A few hours later, the Russian navy’s top admiral, Vladimir Kuroyedov, denied that any launch had been planned, but that a “virtual launch” had been intended from the start and had been successful (Peter Baker, Washington Post, Feb. 18). That incident, and today’s malfunction of the same missile type from the Karelia, occurred during what has been Russia’s largest military exercises in more than two decades, according to CNN (CNN.com). One weapons expert cautioned today against reading too much into the failed launches. “While it is tempting to say that this is a reminder of the decrepit state of missiles in the former Soviet Union, anybody who has been to a launch knows that sometimes they go and sometimes they don’t,” said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org. “Getting the president of your country to stand there almost guarantees it won’t work,” he added (Marina Malenic, GSN, Feb. 18). Other parts of the exercise were more successful today, as Russia tested an SS-19 ICBM from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (BBC Monitoring, Feb. 18), and Putin observed a satellite launch from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia (Pravda, Feb. 18). In addition, Russia Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers successfully launched cruise missiles during the exercise, a Russian air force spokesman said yesterday. “The cruise missiles have hit the set targets on a proving ground in the north of Russia. The launches were held under complicated weather conditions,” said Col. Alexander Drobyshevski (RIA Novosti, Feb. 17).
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