This encyclopaedic book (first published in Russia in 1998) provides comprehensive data about Soviet and Russian strategic weapons, payloads and delivery systems and on the nuclear complex that supports them. The data are drawn from open, primarily Russian sources. All the information is presented chronologically, arranged by individual systems and facilities, and is not available elsewhere in a single volume. Following an overview of the history of Soviet strategic forces, the book discusses the structure of the political and military leadership in the Soviet Union and Russia, the structure of the Russian military and military industry, nuclear planning procedures, and the structure of the command and control system. It describes the nuclear warhead production complex and the Soviet nuclear weapon development program. It then focuses on the individual services that constitute the so-called strategic triad - land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, the strategic submarine fleet, and strategic aviation.

Author Biography

Pavel Podvig is a Research Fellow at the Center for Arms Control Studies at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Frank N. von Hippel is Senior Research Physicist and Professor of Public and International Affairs Emeritus at the Woodrow Wilson School.