MOSCOW. April 11 (Interfax-AVN) - The loss of technologies and personnel in the Russian missile industry has dragged out the Bulava strategic rocket project, Deputy Chairperson of the State Duma Defense Committee, astronaut Svetlana Savitskaya told a press conference in Moscow.
"The infamous Bulava was supposed to be put into service, but it was not. The works drag on because the industry has lost technologies and personnel, and not because it was designed badly," she said.
The defense sector "is trying hard to reconstruct production standards, technologies and acceptance procedures," she said.
"We must realize that modern security of this country is based exclusively on nuclear weapons and means of their delivery," she said.
The Strategic Rocket Forces remain the core of the national nuclear missile potential, Savitskaya said. New missiles are being developed to ensure national security, she said. "There is a justified program of modernizing missiles the Strategic Rocket Forces have," she said. "This is the sole foundation of our security."