Russian Nuclear Weapons: Past, Present, and Future

it was fairly often reported in the media in the 1990s,
but then all information about it disappeared from
open sources until 2009, when it was mentioned only
once and apparently inadvertently. The Air Force has
also begun conversion of some Tu-160 heavy bombers
from cruise missiles to conventional gravity bombs.
In the 1990s, Russia also developed a new tactical
missile, Iskander; its production began in the mid-
2000s. Initially Iskander-E was reported to have the
range of 280 km, 75 but subsequently its range was reportedly
increased to more than 400 km—about the
same as the SS-23 Oka, which was eliminated under
the 1987 INF Treaty. Later, a cruise missile was also
developed for the Iskander launcher. The decision,
announced in 2008, to deploy five brigades (probably
60 launchers with two missiles each) of Iskanders in
Kaliningrad oblast—officially in response to an American
plan to deploy missile defense assets in Poland
and the Czech Republic 76 —perhaps signaled a move
in the shifting emphasis from nuclear to conventional
capability vis-à-vis NATO. Moscow had to cancel
these plans in 2009 after revision of the U.S. missile
defense program, but this probably shows only that
the pretext was wrong—a change of U.S. plans was
apparently not expected. If deployment of Iskanders
was indeed part of a move toward greater reliance on
conventional assets, the idea will be revived in a new
context.
An important element of the emerging conventional
capability is multipurpose (attack) submarines.
Russia is building new types of nuclear powered submarines
(SSNs) and diesel-powered submarines—
Project 885 Yasen (the first SSN, Severodvinsk, should
be commissioned this or next year), Project 677 Lada
(construction of the first submarine was completed in
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