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Boomers April 4, 2007

Posted by ocmpoma in : politics , trackback

Boomers

I don’t write much about arms control here, but in one of my classes I recently talked a bit about the Russian North Fleet. I had the pleasure (and it was, really, a great time) to be at several North Fleet installations for some START inspections.

Thanks to that, I know where to look on Google Earth or Google Maps to find such nifty images as the one above. At any rate, two things besides that nifty image prompted me to write this post.

First, over at Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces, there’s some interesting information about Russia’s latest sub-launched missile, the Bulava, being ready in the (relatively) near future. And second, like I said, I talked a bit about the North Fleet the other day:

Other sources of information include globalsecurity.org and the Bellona foundation, which discusses the fleet, and the environmental impact that it has had on the Kola and surrounding waters. Just to give the reader an idea of that impact, Bellona notes that “the Kola Peninsula along with Severodvinsk on the White Sea, has the greatest concentration of nuclear reactors in the world.” And those reactors’ existence is due almost exclusively to the North Fleet’s operations.

Besides the obvious environmental and economic impact, why is the North Fleet important? Well, there are several reasons, some more obvious than others. First off, the North Fleet is the most important part of Russia’s navy, with more vessels than the Pacific or Black Sea fleets. Take those Typhoons, which only the North Fleet has, pictured above. Each has a combined total of 200 nuclear warheads when fully loaded with missiles. Three boats means that from that one base alone, Russia has 600 warheads ready to go to sea.

Another reason is that the North Fleet is modernizing. With the help of US aid such as Cooperative Threat Reduction, improvements are being made both in security and in missile technology.

Moreover, the North Fleet is a very conservative organization, even by the standards of the Russian military. The austere location and hazardous duty ensure that only the most dedicated personnel seek out a career with the North Fleet. And recent incidents such as the Kursk tragedy have focused and perhaps hardened the sailors of the fleet even more.

Anyone looking for signs of how Russia’s military views itself, Russia, and the world at large should examine the North Fleet as a bellwether of future trends.

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