Russia has been busy upgrading its Cold War-era missile systems, and now it expects to have radar-evading ballistic missiles by 2021.
“By 2016, the share of new missile systems will reach nearly 60 percent, and by 2021 their share will increase to 98 percent,” said Col. Igor Yegorov, a defense ministry spokesman for the Strategic Missile Forces, the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported July 4. “At the same time, the troop and weapon command systems [and] combat equipment will be qualitatively improved. First of all, their capabilities for the suppression of antimissile defense will be built up,” he added.
The news agency added that the budget of the Russian Defense Ministry’s state armaments program up to 2020 is estimated at $600 billion.
The announcement comes just weeks after the nation christened a new top-secret nuclear submarine named Severodvinsk.
“The submarine is equipped with the newest communications and navigation systems, a completely new nuclear power unit, and [it] carries powerful armaments, among them supersonic cruise missiles,” Russia’s Navy Commander Admiral Viktor Chirkov said June 17.
The Severodvinsk is the 131st nuclear submarine built for the Russian Navy.
SEE ALSO: Putin’s nuclear navy gets an upgrade: Russia christens new top-secret submarine
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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