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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Soviet military power

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5493486

This report presents developments within the military forces of the USSR. Topics addressed include: Nuclear Force Operations; Strategic Defense and Space Operations; Soviet Forces for Theater Operations; Readiness, Mobility, and Sustainability; Research, Development, and Production; Global Ambitions; and US Policies and Programs. With the initial deployment of mobile SS-25 intercontinental ballistic missiles to operational ICBM regiments in 1985, the Soviet Union confronted the world with further proof of its intensive drive for offensive military weapons capable of underwriting its political objectives against the West. Deployment of the SS-25 violates SALT agreements. The new, highly survivable, road-mobile, fifth-generation SS-25s entered service as the deployment of the USSR's highly accurate, fourth-generation, silo-based SS-18 Mod 4 ICBM program was reaching completion. At the same time, test firings of the fifth-generation, rail-mobile SS-X-24 ICBM continued. Preparations were also underway for test flights of three future ICBMs being developed to build on the capabilities of the fourth and fifth generations. By the mid-1990s, nearly all of the USSR's currently deployed strategic nuclear attack forces -- ICBMs, SNLBMs, and manned strategic bombers -- will have been replaced by more-advanced strategic nuclear weapons systems. Paralleling the offensive strategic developments of 1985, the Soviet Union pressed forward with advanced strategic defense systems. Construction continued on new over-the-horizon radars and large phased-array radars capable of tracking greater numbers of targets with increased accuracy.

Research Organization:
Department of Defense, Washington, DC (USA)
OSTI ID:
5493486
Report Number(s):
AD-A-166544/7/XAB
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English