Rocket "Sarmat": plans, activities and delays
The year 2022 is of great importance for the further development of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces. This year, it is planned to carry out the remaining tests of the advanced RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, as well as put the first regiment with such weapons on combat duty. The army and industry are faced with tasks of particular complexity, but only a year remains to solve them.
Plans and activities
In 2017-18 at the Plesetsk training ground, throw tests of the promising ICBM "Sarmat" were carried out. After that, preparations began for future flight design and state tests. Against this background, the approximate dates for the first full-fledged launches and the adoption of the missile into service were repeatedly called. However, these dates have repeatedly shifted to the right, and the first flight of the Sarmat has not yet taken place.
Last summer, the general director of the Krasmash missile manufacturing plant, Alexander Gavrilov, said that the first launch as part of flight tests would take place in the 3rd quarter. Later, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed that the tests would begin before the end of the year, and they plan to complete them in 2022, with the subsequent adoption of the complex into service.
In October, an unnamed TASS source said that in 2021 they would have time to conduct two test launches at once. Plans for 2022, according to him, remained in force. Later it was reported that only one launch would be able to be performed by the end of the year, but five were planned for the next 2022.
In December, TASS announced the transfer of tests to next year. The first launch of the Sarmat as part of flight design tests has shifted from December to the 1st quarter of 2022. At the same time, plans to complete work and put ICBMs on duty by the end of next year have not changed.
Over the past month news the first launch of the Sarmat was not reported. Apparently, the sources of the domestic press were right. For one reason or another, the start of testing of the new rocket was postponed to 2022, and the exact date is still unknown. Apparently, the first launch will be announced after it is held.
Rocket in the troops
Over the past few years, it has been reported that the Sarmat complex will be put into service and take up combat duty no later than the beginning of the twenties. Recently, the current plans of the Ministry of Defense in this regard became known, and they provide for the completion of part of the work during the new year 2022. In the future, activities will be continued and will give new results.
In mid-December, the Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel General Sergei Karakaev, told Krasnaya Zvezda about the tasks ahead. So, by the end of 2022, it is necessary to put the first Sarmatian regiment on combat duty as part of the Uzhur missile division. The commander considers it possible. According to him, at that time, the infrastructure was being prepared, and the activities necessary for testing were also being carried out.
On December 21, such plans were clarified by the Minister of Defense. Among the priority tasks for 2022, he named putting on duty 21 launchers with various types of ICBMs, including the new Sarmat. In addition, the production and supply of other missiles already in service will continue.
Over the past month, new reports on the progress of the Sarmat program, preparations for testing and adoption, etc. did not act. In addition, it was not reported about the first launch as part of flight design tests. However, last year's news suggests that the launch will take place in the coming weeks or months, and then new starts will take place.
Delayed successes
Thus, the work on the topic "Sarmatian" stretched for several years. Four years ago, the industry and the Ministry of Defense conducted successful throw tests of several experimental missiles. After that, the development of the project continued and preparations began for a new stage of testing. However, new launches were regularly postponed and have not yet taken place.
For obvious reasons, the customer and contractor are in no hurry to disclose all information about the project, its successes and difficulties. At the same time, it follows from official statements in recent months that the start of flight tests really had to be postponed from last year to a new one. The reasons for this are, of course, unknown.
Apparently, the Sarmat project encountered some difficulties, and they have not yet been fully overcome. These may be difficulties at various stages of design, preparation for production and manufacture of experimental missiles, etc. Difficulties in preparing the test site have been reported in the past, and this factor should also have affected the overall course of the program.
Regardless of the nature of the problems that have arisen and how to solve them, revising the schedule and shifting the deadlines for the completion of work is an acceptable and even correct step. The industry will be able to use the extra time and complete the fine-tuning of the project. Accordingly, a rocket with a minimum of "childhood illnesses" or without them at all will be submitted for testing. The same applies to the launcher and other components of the missile system.
By spending some time in the development phase and postponing flight testing for several months, the Defense Ministry and industry will protect themselves from additional risks and unnecessary expenses. The finished ICBMs and ground facilities will show the required level of reliability, and fully prepared production facilities will be able to deploy the production of products in the required quantity in the shortest possible time.
"Sarmat" and others
Officials have repeatedly mentioned that the Sarmat complex with a heavy-class missile is being created as a promising replacement for the obsolete R-36M (2) Voevoda systems. The latter have only a few years left to serve, after which they will completely give way to modern ICBMs. At the same time, according to recent reports, such a replacement should begin in the very near future.
Recent reports have mentioned that the phased decommissioning of the Voyevoda will begin as early as 2022. Within a few years after that, the R-36M missiles will be withdrawn from service. At the same time, it is planned to deploy new stationary systems "Sarmat" and bring them to combat duty. The first of them, as reported, will begin service this year.
Thus, not only the emergence of a new weapons, but also the general course of the rearmament of the Strategic Missile Forces. The existing delays, most likely, will not have a negative impact on the re-equipment of the missile forces. However, hypothetical further difficulties could lead to serious problems.
The rearmament of the Strategic Missile Forces should be carried out systematically and rhythmically. The decommissioning of old missiles should be accompanied by the commissioning of new products in comparable quantities. The absence of a ready-made Sarmat can lead to a distortion in these processes with a negative impact on the “heavy” part of the missile forces.
However, it is obvious that work on the RS-28 Sarmat complex will be completed in the near future. It is unlikely that now the project schedule will undergo a serious revision, and in the medium term the Strategic Missile Forces will be able to receive the required number of new missiles. Serial products in mines and storage bases will be able to participate in the processes of strategic deterrence over the next few decades.
On the eve of the test
In general, the situation around the promising RS-28 Sarmat missile system causes some concern, but does not encourage pessimism. Apparently, by now the project has advanced far enough and is already preparing to enter the stage of flight design and state tests. Moreover, all these activities are going to spend less than a year.
Thus, there is every reason to believe that the Sarmat program is now proceeding in accordance with the current version of plans and will soon show the desired results. Now it remains only to wait for the first test launch. Obviously, the Ministry of Defense will immediately report this event.
- Ryabov Kirill
- Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
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