Experts note that the use of splitting warheads is banned by the START I, a treaty which expires in 2009.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Russian Missile Systems to Have Splitting Warheads by 2010
The Topol-M missile system will be equipped with splitting warheads and anti-missile defense gadgets within the next two or three years, Russian Strategic Rocket Forces Commander Nikolay Solovtsov said on Monday, giving the first official schedule for the re-equipment of Russian missile forces.
Col. Gen. Solovtsov said that the new armaments would be used in missile defense systems deployed in Ivanovo Region, Central Russia.
The new warheads will be more effective in the penetration of anti-missile defense systems, according to Russian Strategic Rocket Forces Commander said. Experts note that the use of splitting warheads is banned by the START I. But the treaty expires in 2009.
Yury Solomonov, director of a Moscow research center and designer of the Topol-M missile, earlier mentioned a possibility to equip Topol-Ms with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, or splitting warheads. Mr. Solomonov did not give any schedule, but said that Russia would be able to retain nuclear parity with the United States by 2011 with the help of the new warheads.
Russia will have some 1,500 warheads by 2015 if the current pace of dismantling old armaments and introducing new ones is kept, analysts say. The United States will have 2,200 warheads. However, Russia may have some 2,000 warheads if ballistic missiles are equipped with splitting warheads.
www.kommersant.com
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