According to Global Network citing Russian News Agency , Russia is conducting a nuclear exercise code-named "Thunder-2022", which is expected to last until the 29th. Previously, Russia had notified the news that the Russian army would hold a nuclear exercise, and a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense also confirmed the Russian news. However, it is worth noting that NATO also carried out a large-scale nuclear exercise code-named "First Noon" in the middle of this month. A total of 14 NATO countries participated. NATO's exercise time is from the 17th to the 30th, and the nuclear exercise time of both sides partially overlaps.
( Putin President personally commanded the Russian military's "Trial" nuclear exercise)
According to reports from Russian media, this exercise is a large-scale strategic nuclear military exercise of "Trial". The so-called "Trial" refers to the joint implementation of the three strategic strike forces, land-based, sea-based and air-based, and is the most standardized and difficult exercise in nuclear exercises.
This Russian army's "Thunder-2022" exercise includes the launch of the "Yars" land-based intercontinental strategic missile of the strategic missile force, the Navy's "Tura" strategic nuclear submarine launching R-29RMU ( NATO code-named SS-N-23 "Light Boat") submarine-launched ballistic missile, and the two Tu-95MS launching KH-55 air-launched nuclear cruise missiles (the Russian army currently has only this type of nuclear cruise missile).
(Russian "Delta-4" strategic nuclear submarine floats on the Arctic to launch the "Light Boat" strategic missile. Generally speaking, strategic nuclear submarine can launch missile underwater. The floating is mainly because the ice layer is too thick. submarine has to knock on the ice layer by itself to ensure the successful launch of the missile)
In fact, this is the second time Russia has held a large-scale "Trial" nuclear exercise this year. On February 19 this year, the Russian army also held a strategic containment force exercise code-named "Thunder", and the scale is much larger than this nuclear exercise. During the February exercise, the MiG-31 of the Russian Aerospace Force carried and launched the "Dagger" air-launched ballistic missile; the Russian Navy Northern Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet dispatched the surface ship and submarines respectively, launching the "caliber" cruise missile and the "Zircon" hypersonic anti-ship missile , respectively, hitting land and sea targets; the Russian Army tested the "Iskander-K" land-based cruise missile at the Kapustiny Al shooting range live ammunition. In addition, the Russian Army, Navy and Air Force also tested the strategic missiles such as "Yars", KH-55 and "Qingzhou" in real-fire respectively.
(Russian military map-95MSM strategic bomber and its cruise missile (red))
"Thunder" series of nuclear exercises belong to the annual routine exercises of the Russian army, also known as the "year-end assessment" of Russia's strategic nuclear force, so Kremlin attaches great importance to this. According to Russian media reports, the "Thunder-2022" nuclear exercise was personally directed by President Putin. At the same time, on the first day of the exercise, Putin observed the entire process of the Russian trinity nuclear exercise throughout the process. This move reflects the importance of strategic nuclear forces to Russia. At present, Russia's comprehensive national strength is relatively weak and conventional forces are difficult to confront NATO head-on, the deterrence of the nuclear weapon is extremely important to Russia.
(Russia's land-based strategic missile)
It is worth mentioning that in this Russian military nuclear exercise, in addition to the "Yars" intercontinental missile that can be regarded as relatively "new" equipment, whether it is the Tu-95MS and the KH-55 nuclear cruise missile it launched, or the "Qingzhou" missile launched by the Tula nuclear submarine, they are actually "old antiques" in the Russian nuclear arsenal. Needless to say,
Tu-95, because this aircraft is the only turboprop-powered strategic bomber in service. In addition to fuel consumption, it is not as good as a jet bomber in almost all other performances. The KH-55 nuclear cruise missile it carries was also developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It has not undergone technical upgrades so far, so you can imagine how behind the performance.
(Russian military "Turah" strategic nuclear submarine, its huge "turtle back" is its appearance feature)
The "Turah" nuclear submarine that participated in the exercise was a 667BRDM "delta-4" nuclear submarine. This nuclear submarine was also built in the Soviet era and was put into service in 1987. Its characteristics are that it has a huge towering "turtle back", which leads to huge fluid noise and poor concealment performance of the submarine. However, the "Qingzhou" submarine-launched strategic missile carried by the submarine has excellent performance. The missile is a liquid-fuel submarine-launched intercontinental missile with a maximum range of 11,000 kilometers and a maximum throwing capacity of 2.8 tons.
(Qingzhou submarine-launched ballistic missile)
In comparison, the "Circular Hammer" strategic missile carried by the Russian 955 "God of the North Wind" strategic nuclear submarine is only 9,400 kilometers, and its load is only 1.2 tons. It is precisely because the Delta-4 nuclear submarine still has a strong strategic strike capability higher than the " North Wind God ", that the submarine has been in service in the Russian army.
(Although 14 countries participated in the "First Noon" nuclear military exercise, only the United States, Britain and France still have nuclear weapons)
In contrast, NATO also started a large-scale nuclear exercise code-named "First Noon" on the 17th of this month, and a total of 14 NATO countries participated in the exercise. Although NATO also claimed that the "First Noon" nuclear exercise is NATO's annual routine exercise and is not targeted at any country, it is difficult for NATO to hold a large-scale nuclear exercise in a situation where Russia and NATO relations are extremely tense due to the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Therefore, the Russian army held another nuclear exercise code-named "Thunder" this month, which can be seen as a response to NATO's nuclear exercises to a large extent. However, it can be seen from the exercise that the Russian military's strategic nuclear force is currently maintaining a high level of combat readiness, which can be regarded as the last guarantee of Russian national security.
