“Yuriy Dolgorukiy” to Launch Bulava SLBM This Week

Area closures (red), flight bans (yellow), and flight restrictions (green) for missile activity - October 29-31, 2014
(Map courtesy of Google Earth)

Two area closures and several flight bans and flight restrictions have been announced for Barents Sea missile activity scheduled for October 29-31, 2014:

Area closure
HYDROARC 319/14

ARCTIC.
BARENTS SEA.
ROCKETS.
DNC 22.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS 0600Z TO 2100Z DAILY 29 THRU 31 OCT IN AREAS BOUND BY:
A. 70-22.0N 035-00.0E, 70-03.0N 036-25.5E, 69-27.0N 035-35.0E, 69-27.0N 034-10.0E,
69-47.0N 034-06.0E.
B. 77-03.0N 053-02.0E, 75-58.0N 056-33.0E, 75-05.0N 052-13.0E, 76-04.0N 048-53.0E.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 312200Z OCT 14.

Flight bans
G2124/14 - TEMPO DANGER AREA ACT WI COORD:
 1. 6938N 03410E-6947N 03410E-7022N 03500E-7004N 03626E-6927N 03535E-
6927N 03518E.
 2. 7703N 05302E-7558N 05633E-7505N 05213E-7604N 04853E-7703N 05302E.
SFC - UNL, DAILY 0600-2100, 29 OCT 06:00 2014 UNTIL 31 OCT 21:00 2014.

G2136/14 - FLT PROHIBITED WI AREA BOUNDED BY COORD:
693800N 0341000E-692700N 0351800E-692700N 0341000E-693800N 0341000E.
SFC - 1500M AMSL, DAILY 0600-2100, 29 OCT 06:00 2014 UNTIL 31 OCT 21:00 2014.

Flight restrictions
G2123/14 - ATS RTE SEGMENTS CLSD:
B483 TIMUN-ANODI,
B488 TUMOM-ANODI. SFC - UNL, DAILY 0600-2100, 29 OCT 06:00 2014 UNTIL 31 OCT 21:00 2014.

Additionally, a flight restriction over the Kamchatka Peninsula near the Kura Test Range also goes into effect on the same dates:

P7610/14 - ATS RTE B240 SEGMENT TILICHIKI NDB (TK)-OKLED CLSD. SFC - UNL, DAILY 0600-2100, 29 OCT 06:00 2014 UNTIL 31 OCT 21:00 2014.

Flight restriction (green) located just west of the Kura Test Range (red) - October 29-31, 2014
(May courtesy of Google Earth)

Russia's TASS news agency, citing an unnamed General Staff source, reported on October 20 that Russian Navy Northern Fleet Dolgorukiy-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine "Yuriy Dolgorukiy" would launch a single SS-N-32 Bulava SLBM on October 29-30. And on October 22, flot.com reported that "Yuriy Dolgorukiy" had arrived in Severodvinsk to onload one or more SLBMs. Why the submarine had to transit all the way from Gadzhiyevo to Severodvinsk to onload the missile(s) is a mystery.

This launch will be the first SS-N-32 launch outside of the White Sea and the first SS-N-32 launch by a commissioned Dolgorukiy SSBN. The last SS-N-32 was launched by "Vladimir Monomakh" in September as part of its pre-commissioning state acceptance testing.

Dolgorukiy SSBN: The Dirty Secret Under the Hood

Dolgorukiy SSBN "Yuriy Dolgorukiy" underway in the White Sea - September 7, 2009
(Image courtesy of images.yandex.ru)

The Russian Navy’s newest class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines is not as new as Moscow's submarine dealers would like you to know.

All of the Dolgorukiy-class (Project 955) SSBNs launched to date are actually hybrids of Akula SSNs and Oscar II SSGNs. I’m not sure why this isn’t more clearly explained in the English-language Wikipedia article, but it’s abundantly clear in the Russian-language version of the article.

If it were only the Frankenstein hull, then all debate could center on the third generation hull structure’s impact on the submarine’s theoretical tactical performance and detectability. But the hull is not the only borrowed item on this submarine.

It turns out that in addition to hull sections, the Dolgorukiy SSBN is borrowing used steam turbines from scrapped nuclear-powered submarines that were built nearly 30 years ago. This month, the Northeastern Repair Center in Vilyuchinsk (Kamchatka Peninsula) announced it was signing a contract (worth RUB 1,198,951) with the Far East subsidiary of Onega Scientific Research Technological Design Bureau (in Bolshoy Kamen, east of Vladivostok) for the “creation of technological and design documentation to support the removal of modular steam turbine plant equipment” plus “assistance during the deinstallation and removal of an Azurit-M modular steam turbine plant [from Oscar II SSGN “Krasnoyarsk”]" in the 4th quarter of 2014. The umbrella contract under which this work is to be done is Z/1/1/0169/GK-12-DGOZ, signed on May 25, 2012, which actually covers the construction of hulls 5-8 of the Dolgorukiy SSBN class. Thus, the steam turbine plant on “Krasnoyarsk” will be used in the construction of a future, new and improved Project 955A version of the Dolgorukiy SSBN (the 955A series started with the fourth hull, "Knyaz Vladimir"). And there is a strong suspicion that this has happened with some, if not all, of the earlier units, as well.

How much would you pay for a “new” car that used a frame constructed from 30-year-old cars and that was powered by a used engine?

Show me the Car Sub Fax!!!

Break Out the Champagne!

After much trial and tribulation, Dolgorukiy-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine Yuriy Dolgorukiy conducted a salvo launch of the SS-NX-32 Bulava SLBM on December 23.  Despite previous media coverage of the submarine's return to port, this time there have been no images or video released of the submarine tying up to the pier or of the crew receiving the traditional roasted pig for a successful mission.  Despite there being no image of a sickly-looking piglet, Russia's Channel 1 (Первый Канал) released footage this evening that it claims to be of the salvo launch.  Between 0:10 and 0:19, you can see two distinct contrails, along with a wonderful light show in the clouds.  Between 0:20 and 0:22, you can see two small, moving specks that would represent the two missiles in flight.  It will take some time (a month or more - especially given the upcoming nine-day holiday period that starts on January 1) until the results of the flight test are finalized and approved.  Only then will the Russian Ministry of Defense forward its recommendation to the Russian government to either accept the Bulava into the Russian Navy inventory or to continue testing.  On December 27, however, President Medvedev told senior military officers gathered in the Kremlin that the flight testing portion of the overall Bulava test program had concluded and that the missile would now enter into service... pending a favorable MOD recommendation, of course.