U.S. warns of Russia’s greatest army manufacturing push since USSR

Russia is enterprise a major push to broaden its army manufacturing base, with solid-propellant rocket motor manufacturing rising as a key precedence. Satellite tv for pc imagery has revealed energetic development and upgrades throughout a number of websites tied to the manufacturing of those crucial elements, together with the revival of services dormant because the Soviet period.

This marks a stark shift after a long time of stagnation, with main investments solely materializing in recent times. The transfer underscores Moscow’s intent to bolster its missile capabilities, addressing bottlenecks in manufacturing and enhancing the spine of its tactical and strategic arsenals.

Russia’s missile arsenal, from tactical short-range techniques just like the Iskander-M to strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles [ICBMs], closely depends on superior composite solid-propellant motors. These techniques have been a cornerstone of Moscow’s army technique, enabling precision strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and forming the spine of its nuclear deterrent.

Stable-propellant motors, integral to those capabilities, require intricate manufacturing processes and specialised services, which stay much less publicized in comparison with the high-profile missile design bureaus. Regardless of its secrecy, Russia is making vital efforts to scale up manufacturing, aiming to maintain its increasing operational calls for throughout each standard and strategic domains.

Russia’s solid-propellant motor manufacturing community spans a number of services, every enjoying a crucial function within the growth of its missile arsenal, however key are 5 services uncovered by US intelligence. The Biysk II web site, traditionally linked to Soviet-era missile techniques, now helps fashionable designs just like the Bulava SLBM. The Kamensky Plant contributed to now-retired weapons just like the RT-23 Molodets however stays integral to missile and rocket techniques such because the Iskander SRBM and Twister MRLs.

Services just like the Moscow-Dzerzhinsky plant are central to propulsion analysis, supporting ICBMs just like the Yars and tactical techniques just like the Smerch. Others, like Perm and Shlisserburg, are believed to deal with specialised elements for missiles throughout strategic and tactical domains, reflecting the breadth of Russia’s ambitions to maintain and modernize its missile forces.

A key problem in scaling up manufacturing lies in securing uncooked supplies and chemical compounds important for contemporary strong propellants, similar to ammonium perchlorate, a crucial oxidizer. At the moment, Russia depends closely on the Federal State Enterprise ‘Anozit,’ the one recognized home producer of this compound, situated in Novosibirsk Oblast.

Regardless of bulletins in 2022 about renovating its manufacturing capabilities, there was no seen progress in satellite tv for pc imagery, leaving doubts about Russia’s capacity to fulfill rising calls for with out importing supplies. These provide chain vulnerabilities may turn out to be a bottleneck in Moscow’s ambitions to spice up its missile output.

Including to the complexity, Russia’s procurement of ballistic missiles from nations like Iran and North Korea signifies that its short-range ballistic missile [SRBM] manufacturing could also be struggling to maintain tempo with wartime necessities. The continued battle in Ukraine has positioned immense stress on Russia’s missile reserves, significantly techniques just like the Iskander and different SRBMs, which have been broadly deployed towards Ukrainian infrastructure and army targets.

Increasing solid-propellant manufacturing could possibly be a transfer to handle these shortages and guarantee a gentle provide of missiles for each speedy tactical wants and long-term strategic plans.

Past the battle in Ukraine, the implications of those developments may prolong to Russia’s broader geopolitical technique. Enhanced solid-propellant manufacturing capability might allow the event of latest missile techniques with elevated vary, accuracy, and survivability, posing a higher risk to NATO’s jap flank. It may additionally facilitate developments in hypersonic know-how, as strong propellants are sometimes integral to the increase part of hypersonic glide automobiles.

Moreover, the mixing of recent solid-propellant motors into Russia’s arsenal would probably improve the reliability and lifespan of its missiles. Techniques just like the Yars and Bulava, which kind the spine of Russia’s nuclear deterrent, depend on composite propellants for his or her strategic mobility and speedy deployment capabilities.

Modernization efforts may considerably enhance these techniques’ efficiency, making them extra resilient towards countermeasures and boosting their general strategic effectiveness.

Finally, whereas the specifics of Russia’s solid-propellant manufacturing enlargement stay murky, its broader intent is obvious: to bolster its missile stockpiles, mitigate provide chain vulnerabilities, and modernize its arsenal to take care of strategic parity—or superiority—towards perceived adversaries. This industrial push underscores the enduring centrality of missile know-how in Russia’s army doctrine, even because it navigates vital challenges each at dwelling and overseas.

In recent times, Russian officers have made a number of bulletins indicating efforts to broaden the manufacturing of solid-propellant motors for strategic missile techniques. For instance, in 2022, the top of Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, highlighted modernization at services just like the Votkinsk Plant to reinforce manufacturing effectivity for missiles such because the Yars and Bulava techniques.