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Russian General: Our Nuclear Missiles Combat-Ready NewsMax.com WiresMOSCOW -- Russia 's Soviet-built nuclear missiles have remained fully combat-ready, and the military isn't planning to withdraw them from service en masse, a top general was quoted as saying Monday. The deputy chief of Russia 's Strategic Missile Forces, Lt.-Gen. Vitaly Linnik, said that recent test launches of Soviet-built missiles had proven their worth. Story Continues Below "None of the missile systems on alert duty now has trends of degradation," Linnik said, according to the Interfax-Military News Agency. The Russian strategic forces have conducted regular test launches of Soviet-built ballistic missiles to check their readiness. Military officials have said that Russia would keep them on duty for another 10 to 15 years - long past their designated lifetime. "The missiles aren't going to be taken out of service in bulk," Linnik said. The post-Soviet funding shortage has left the Russian military struggling to extend the lifetime of Soviet-built missiles, since the government lacks the funds to quickly replace them with new weapons. Over each of the past few years, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces have acquired only a handful of Topol-M missiles - a rate many experts consider insufficient to replace the nation's aging missile arsenals. Yuri Solomonov, the head of the company that has designed and built the Topol-M, said that its mobile version would reach troops next year, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is developing new strategic nuclear weapons more effective than anything that other nations have. Military analysts have said the new weapon would likely be based on the Topol-M.
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