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RUSSIA'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF STRATEGIC NUCLEAR FORCES
Defence Review. Winter 2000
 This book, the first in a series published the Arms and Technologies publishing house in Moscow, is a fascinating collection of material covering all aspects of Russia's mighty strategic nuclear force.
The editor, Nikolai Spassky, is a former editor of the journal Military Parade, the Russian military-industrial complex quarterly, and a former Soviet Navy officer, hence the authority of the work is beyond doubt. The editorial board is a veritable who's who of Russia's nuclear forces, including the Commander in Chief of the Strategic Rocket Forces, Colonel General Vladimir Yakovlev, heads of armaments directorates and senior military scientists.
Whilst many readers may have some knowledge and familiarity with the subject, this book contains a mass of extremely interesting detail, and its breadth of coverage is unparalled. A considerable amount of the material is new, or presented in a way that has not been seen before in the west. It is likely to be most interesting to specialists, as well as those less devoted to the subject.
This book is not intended to be a full history of the development of Russian nuclear weapons and platforms. Whilst there are pictures of the first air-delivered nuclear fission bombs for example, the text does not give a detailed history of their evolution (which would require a book in itself – such as Steven Zaloga's Traget America). It is rather a reference work, and this is its real value and purpose.
The text describes the general characteristics of the systems illustrated, but does so accurately and concisely (in English and Russian, with excellent translation).
Most of the text is contributed by specialists including academics from the Russian military from the Russian armed forces.
What really makes this book outstanding is the sheer amount of material. Not only does the work cover the major land, sea and air-based rockets, bombs and missiles, but also the storage and transportation facilities associated with them, the research and testing institutes that designed them, and even the protection systems and radiation safety equipment in use Russia.
The technical drawings showing the weapons and their characteristics are well presented, especially that of the cruise and ballistic missiles, which also have fairly detailed technical specifications alongside.
Also of great interest are the photographs in the book, which are generally of good quality and are quite unique in content, particularly those of the older systems which will be quite novel to most in the west.
Of particular interest to those with some knowledge of the subject will be the testing grounds at Novaya Zemlya in Russia's Arctic Circle, and the sub-surface launch of a cruise missile from a Russian submarine.
Another remarkable shot is the launch of a ballistic missile from a Delta class submarine at the quayside, and also a sequence of pictures of an early model Tu-95 dropping an enormous H-bomb.
Probably never seen before is a picture of a multiple-reentry vehicle warhead cluster on a missile, and also a warhead decoy – very impressive.
Indeed, the pictures deserve far more (and more detailed) caption than they are given, and the reader is sometimes left wanting to know more about what is illustrated.
The overall quality and presentation of the book are of an appropriately high standard, and it is nicely bound and printed. As a reference source for the specialist user, it is probably without compare, at least in the unclassified world.
The encyclopedia is only available from US distributor Tommax Inc., a New Jersey based defence and aerospace specialist. The 511 page volume costs $495.
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