Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that 14 military units across the country will receive an upgrade to their nuclear-capable missile forces by the end of the year.
Speaking to defense ministry officials in the Black Sea city of Sochi on Tuesday, the Russian leader said that Moscow’s nuclear forces were of “key significance” and that the upgrade of over a dozen missile regiments should take place before the end of December.
“Over the last few years, we have done a lot for the strengthening of the armed forces,” Putin said, according to state news agency Tass. “In accordance with the state armament program this year, we will continue replacing the Topol rocket complexes that are completing their service life with the newest Yars.”
The Yars is a recent multiple-warhead version of the road-mobile Topol intercontinental ballistic missiles and can be stored in a silo as well as on a vehicle, according to IHS Jane’s 360. Its introduction into service has been gradual since 2010, as Moscow looks to revamp the ICBM arsenal that currently has five different kinds of missile in operation.
Besides missiles, Russia will bolster the aviation aspect of its nuclear triad this year, as Putin announced that “modernized missile-carrying bombers Tu-95MS and Tu-160 armed with modern cruise long-range missiles Kh-101 and Kh-102” would be introduced.
Putin himself took the unusual step of dedicating the latter half of his pre-election, state of the union address to a presentation of arms, including the much-anticipated Sarmat 2 heavy ICBM. Russian state media channels have hyped the prospective missile by noting its destructive capabilities to European countries or U.S. states, which could be devastated by a hit. Animated footage that Putin used during the presentation appeared to show warheads dropping on Florida.
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