Hyper sonic Intercontinental Missile Weapon Operational Moscow Russia
Russia Deploys Hypersonic Weapon, Potentially Renewing Arms Race
The new Russian weapon system flies at superfast speeds and can evade traditional missile defense systems. The United States is trying to catch up.
The Russian military on Friday said it had deployed a hypersonic weapon that flies at superfast speeds and can easily evade American missile defense systems, potentially setting off a new chapter in the long arms race between the world’s pre-eminent nuclear powers.
American officials said Friday they have little doubt that the Russians have a working hypersonic weapon — which sits on top of a modified missile and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead at speeds faster than 3,800 miles per hour.
Moscow has been working on the technology for years and has invested heavily in it, determined to reverse the pattern in the Cold War, when it was often struggling to catch up with American nuclear weapons systems. If the new system, called “Avangard,” works as President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia boasted when he described the weapon a year ago, it would significantly enhance Moscow’s already powerful nuclear forces, American officials said.
Hypersonic weapons fly extremely fast and can maneuver along unpredictable trajectories, making them incredibly difficult for current systems to track, much less shoot down. Senior American military officials said the United States plans to deploy its own hypersonic weapons by 2022, but some experts believe that schedule may prove optimistic.
//
Russia commissions intercontinental hypersonic weapon
An intercontinental ballistic missile blasts off from a truck-mounted launcher somewhere in Russia.
The Russian leader noted that Avangard is designed using new composite materials to withstand temperatures of up to 2,000C (3,632F) resulting from a flight through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.
Earlier this week, Putin emphasized that Russia is the only country armed with hypersonic weapons.
He noted that for the first time in history Russia is now leading the world in developing an entire new class of weapons, unlike in the past when it was catching up with the United States.
The military said that the Avangard is capable of flying 27 times faster than the speed of sound.
Russian media reports indicated that the Avangard will first be mounted on Soviet-built RS-18B intercontinental ballistic missiles, code-named SS-19 by NATO.
The administration also plans to study the idea of basing interceptors in space, so the US can strike incoming enemy missiles during the first minutes of flight when the booster engines are still burning.
//
China has tested its own hypersonic glide vehicle, believed to be capable of traveling at least five times the speed of sound. It displayed the weapon called Dong Feng 17, or DF-17, at a military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese state.
//https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-commissions-intercontinental-hypersonic-weapon-n1107741
//
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-nuclear-missile-weapon-putin-hypersonic-speed-sound-a9262006.html
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-12-27/russia-hypersonic-weapon
Comments
Post a Comment