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Russian Nuclear Weapons: Past, Present, and Future - Strategic ...

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LONG-RANGE AVIATION<br />

Using the one or two Tu-160s available to him,<br />

General Igor Khovorov, the comm<strong>and</strong>er of Long-<br />

Range Aviation (LRA), stated that during 2006, he<br />

planned to carry out 10 launches of cruise missiles; not<br />

exactly what one would expect from the air force of<br />

a superpower. 46 The next year, the comm<strong>and</strong>er of the<br />

Air Force announced that an upgraded Tu-160 would<br />

enter service with the Air Force, <strong>and</strong> that another one<br />

was in the pipeline. 47 Imagine if the effective air arm of<br />

the <strong>Russian</strong> nuclear triad consisted of only four or five<br />

old, if modernized, strategic aircraft!<br />

The situation did not improve over time. For example,<br />

every time a senior Air Force officer spoke of new<br />

planes, his comments were clearly focused on fighter<br />

aircraft, which appears to be the major concern of the<br />

Air Force at present—the Fifth Generation Fighter.<br />

Consider the follow comments from a critic of LRA:<br />

<strong>Strategic</strong> missile-armed aircraft are designed to destroy<br />

enemy targets with …known coordinates. Recently<br />

within the scope of the LRA comm<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> staff<br />

drill conducted under the direction of DA (LRA) Comm<strong>and</strong>er<br />

Major-General Anatoliy Zhikharev, crews<br />

took up Tu-95MSs with practice cruise missiles aboard<br />

from Engles Airbase. They unsuccessfully executed<br />

launches to maximum range (around 2,500) against<br />

targets on the northern Pemboy Range (Vorkuta). It<br />

was “whispered” to me that the missiles’ deviation<br />

from the center of the target did not exceed 20m. This<br />

is something of which to be proud! 48<br />

The bottom line is that LRA has a very long way<br />

to go before it can be considered a critical part of the<br />

strategic nuclear triad.<br />

19

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