. August 6, 2007 SouthAmerica: The English version of this news it does not give you a complete information about the intercontinental missile the Russians are going to produce in large scale. Quoting from the article from Folha de Sao Paulo: âO mÃssil Bulava-M, com mais de 8 mil quilômetros de alcance, pode transportar até dez ogivas nucleares.â The translation to English: âThe Bulava-M, with a reach of more than 8 thousand kilometers, can carry up to 10 nuclear warheads.â Bloomberg News left out of their article these minor facts, but you can read it from the front page of A Folha de Sao Paulo a major Brazilian newspaper. *********** âRussia Starts Production of Ballistic Missile to Counter U.S.â By Michael Heath Bloomberg News â August 6, 2007 Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russia will start producing an intercontinental ballistic missile for its new generation of nuclear submarines as it moves to counter a proposed U.S. missile defense system in eastern Europe. Russia ordered production of components for the Bulava-M missile after successfully test firing it June 29 from a submarine in the White Sea to Kamchatka on the Pacific coast, state television cited navy chief Admiral Vladimir Masorin as saying yesterday in Sevastopol, home of Russia's Black Sea fleet. The navy plans two more test launches of the missile this year. There may be ``some mishaps during the forthcoming launches but that is what tests are for,'' state broadcaster Perviy Kanal cited Masorin as saying on its Web site. Three launches of the Bulava-M last year and another in 2005 failed. President Vladimir Putin has said Russia can produce missiles capable of piercing any defenses. Russia opposes U.S. plans to base 10 missile interceptors in Poland and radar installations in the Czech Republic. Putin rejects President George W. Bush's assertion the system is aimed at defending Europe from a nuclear-armed Iran. ``Huge intellectual labor and financial resources have been invested in the creation of this system,'' Masorin said in the Crimean port yesterday. The Bulava-M is designed for Russia's new generation of nuclear submarines and is a key component in the country's strategic forces, the report said. The first of the submarines, the Yuri Dolgoruky, was launched in April after lengthy delays. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a4gh.X0XQjmw&refer=home *********** âMarinha russa anuncia produção em série para mÃsseis intercontinentaisâ A Folha de Sao Paulo â Brazil August 6, 2007 A marinha da Rússia anunciou neste domingo que vai produzir "em série" mÃsseis intercontinentais do tipo Bulava-M, para equipar futuros submarinos estratégicos para o paÃs. O almirante Vladimir Masorin, comandante em chefe da marinha russa, afirmou que o paÃs decidiu iniciar a produção industrial de peças do Bulava após um lançamento de sucesso no dia 28 de junho do mar Branco (Ãrtico). O mÃssil Bulava-M, com mais de 8 mil quilômetros de alcance, pode transportar até dez ogivas nucleares. O almirante afirmou que está previsto "um lançamento de ensaio do Bulava-M a uma distância máxima", mas não neste ano. Desde 2005 foram feitos seis lançamentos de teste, dos quais quatro falharam, de acordo com informações da imprensa russa. O militar afirmou que marinha russa pretende finalizar os ensaios do novo sistema no ano que vem. "Esperamos que no final dos ensaios seja tomada a decisão de por o mÃssil a serviço da marinha em 2008", afirmou, na base russa de Sebastopol (Ucrânia). A Rússia tem a segunda maior esquadra de submarinos no mundo, depois dos Estados Unidos. O sistema Bulava é parte do projeto do presidente russo Vladimir Putin de possuir um escudo anti-mÃsseis. Com agências France Presse e Reuters Source: http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/mundo/ult94u317847.shtml .
. September 17, 2007 SouthAmerica: Here is another victory for George W. Bush and his new cold war. *********** âRussia announces test of worldâs biggest bombâ By Stephen Fidler in London Published: September 15 2007 The Financial Times â UK. The military oneupmanship of Russian under President Vladimir Putin continued this week with state television announcing a test, and showing pictures of, what it said was the world's most powerful non-nuclear bomb. The date and location of the test were not given - western officials said there have, in fact, been others like it - but Russia's ORT First Channel television, citing the bomb's designers, said it was bigger and better than a US mega-bomb tested in 2003. Russia described the weapon as a vacuum bomb, suggesting it fell into a category of weapons designed to create a massive fireball and a huge blast. The tested bomb appears to be a thermobaric weapon, a title derived from words meaning heat and pressure. Conventional explosives carry their own oxygen while thermobaric weapons suck it out of the surrounding atmosphere. They usually contain two explosive charges, the first to disperse a fuel mixture into a cloud and the second to detonate the cloud. It is not clear what substances were used in the test, though some -versions of the weapons use aluminium powder. When used in tight spaces, such as tunnels and caves, their effect can be devastating because the blast waves can travel round corners, rendering sandbags and body armour ineffective. The impact on people in the blast area can be grisly, as it sucks the air out of organs, such as lungs and intestines. Though Russia says use of the weapons contravenes no international treaty, some governments are eschewing the technology. A spokeswoman for Britain's Ministry of Defence said yesterday the UK was not pursuing weapons optimised to create a heat pulse, nor those designed to have an impact over large areas. Russia's mastery of this technology is not a surprise. Its forces used the technology in Afghanistan and, reportedly, in Chechnya - and it is used also in smaller rockets and artillery shells, some of which are available from Russian suppliers at arms fairs. The US has followed suit, and has used a big thermobaric bomb of its own - the BLU-118 - at least once in the cave complexes of Afghanistan. State television compared the Russian weapon with another US megabomb, the so-called Massive Ordnance Air Blast, nicknamed the Mother of All Bombs, hitherto the largest non-nuclear weapon tested. The Russian weapon was described as generating an explosion equivalent to 44 tonnes of TNT - compared with 11 tonnes for the MOAB, and the blast radius was said to be 300 metres, twice that of the US bomb. But the Russian bomb was said to be lighter at 7,100kg compared with 8,200kg. Stephen Flanagan, director of the international security programme at the Centerfor Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the announcement seemed the latest example of new Russian military assertiveness. This assertiveness has included the resumption of bomber patrols, the threat to suspend participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty and the planting of a Russian flag under the North Pole, and helps to bolster Mr Putin ahead of parliamentary elections in December and presidential elections next March. *British and Norwegian fighter jets intercepted two Russian long-range bombers that crossed into Nato airspace yesterday, the UK military said. .