Nuclear déjà vu: Russia again used the same forces for the “Thunder” exercise as a year ago

They even used the same submarine, the K-114 Tula, launched in 1987.

Without any additional announcements or hype that preceded last year’s Grom nuclear exercise in Russia, which involved the practical launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Kremlin announced that it was held yesterday, October 25.

It is officially reported that the Yars system was launched from the Kura test site in Kamchatka from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, and R-29RMU2 Sineva missiles were launched from the Barents Sea from the K-114 Tula strategic nuclear submarine missile cruiser, as well as Tu-95MS bombers that launched cruise missiles.

At the same time, this outfit of forces is identical to the one that was involved in the exercises on October 26, 2022. One Yars, Tu-95MS bombers, and, most interestingly, the Tula submarine were also involved.

667BDRM “Dolphin”

The K-114 Tula entered service in 1987, belongs to the Dolphin project 667BDRM, and carries 16 R-29RMU2 missiles, which are a modernization of the R-29 missile that was adopted in 1974.

As in the previous year, neither the newer Borey submarines with R-30 Bulava missiles, nor the Tu-160 strategic bombers, nor the Sarmat, whose status is still unclear in Russia, were used in the exercise.

It is also quite strange that there is no information about the exercises, since they were held twice last year. First, in February, on the eve of the full-scale invasion, unplanned, with the presence of Belarusian dictator Lukashenko and a much larger number of launches – two Yars, one Iskander-M, two Tu-95MS, one MiG-31K, two Varshavianka submarines and a 667BDRM Karelia, as well as two ships, including the launch of a Zircon from the Project 22350 frigate Admiral Gorshkov.

The hysteria before the nuclear weapons showdown was also present exactly one year ago, despite the much smaller scale of the exercises. But this year, there was complete silence until the exercise itself.

Source defence-ua
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