The Hindu : Russian war games hit a snag

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2004

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International

Russian war games hit a snag

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, FEB. 17. Russia's largest nuclear war games in decades were marred by a failed attempt to fire sea-based ballistic missiles.

A source in the Russian Northern Fleet command said the launch of two ballistic missiles from a submerged submarine on Tuesday had been "blocked by command from a satellite".

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, observed the exercise aboard another nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea. The manoeuvres come less than a month before a presidential poll in Russia which Mr. Putin is tipped to win easily.

He previously visited the Northern Fleet in April 2000, about four months before the Kursk nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea, killing all 118 men on board.

The Novomoskovsk submarine, which was to fire ballistic missiles, belongs to the Dolphin-class strategic submarines (Delta-IV in NATO classification) armed with 16 RSM-54 (Skiff) intercontinental missiles. These submarines form the backbone of Russia's naval nuclear fleet. In 1990 one of the Dolphin submarines test fired all of its 16 missiles in one salvo.

The war game, described as the biggest in nearly 25 years, involves missile firings by the Russian nuclear triad — submarines, aircraft and land-based launchers. Under the exercise scenario the heavy nuclear missile cruiser, Peter the Great, successfully knocked down attacking `enemy' missiles, while cruise missiles launched by long-range bombers hit targets in the Barents Sea said. A naval source said another nuclear submarine, Karelia, would test fire ballistic missiles on Wednesday. Mr. Putin is also to attend the launching of two land-based strategic missiles at Russia's northern cosmodrome Plisetsk.

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