Vladimir PutinPutin touts new weapons in Russia's nuclear arsenal
Putin is talking about a nuclear tipped Cruise missile with "unlimited Range". If you go back and look at Shock and Awe of Baghdad when the U.S. took out Saddam Hussein overnight it was all done with Cruise missiles. So, you can see the danger of cruise missiles that can fly at 10 to 100 feet altitude far below ground radar. You might see them from radar from space and track them by speed (they fly faster than passenger jets for example). I think they fly at least 600 mph or more. Passenger jets fly at around 400 to 500 mph so they are just under the speed of sound. Once something goes faster than the speed of sound at that low of an altitude people start dying from glass blowing out of windows and cars from the sonic booms and people start going deaf in the path of something traveling that fast at really low altitude. Basically, windows break and so do the eardrums of everything in range of the sonic boom at that altitude. Not only human eardrums break but everything with dna that hears.
Putin touts new weapons in Russia's nuclear arsenal
MOSCOW --
Russia has tested an array of new strategic nuclear weapons that can't
be intercepted, President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday, marking a
technological breakthrough that would dramatically increase Russia's military capability
and boost the Kremlin's global position. Speaking in a
state-of-the-nation speech, Putin said the weapons include a
nuclear-powered cruise missile, a nuclear-powered underwater drone and
new hypersonic missile.
He said the creation of the new weapons has made NATO's U.S.-led missile defense
"useless," and means an effective end to what he described as Western
efforts to stymie Russia's development. The announcement comes as Putin is set to easily win another six-year presidential term in the March 18 election.
"I
want to tell all those who have fueled the arms race over the last 15
years, sought to win unilateral advantages over Russia, introduced
unlawful sanctions aimed to contain our country's development: all what
you wanted to impede with your policies have already happened," he said.
"You have failed to contain Russia."
"This
speech was classic sabre-rattling" and "a finely-tuned political moment
by a politician who is heading for re-election in three weeks," said
Mathieu Boulègue, a Russia security expert at Chatham House, a
London-based think tank. "He needs to be seen as a military leader at
home."
"We have heard this before - Putin was using the old rhetoric of great power politics," Boulègue said.
Putin said the nuclear-powered cruise missile tested last
fall has an unlimited range and high speed and maneuverability allowing
it to pierce any missile defense.
Boulègue said he is not sure
what the nuclear-powered cruise missile is, but is very sceptical that
the Russians have developed something new and truly ground breaking. As
far as anyone knows, their most advanced next-generation missile is the
RS-28, which the U.S. calls Satan 2. It's been in testing for weeks
according to a program and protocol well known to military watchers in
the West. It does not have a nuclear engine, but a conventional,
liquid-fueled rocket engine. The RS-28 is not operational, but is
supposed to be deployable around 2020, if everything goes according to
schedule, Boulègue said.
Putin said the high-speed underwater
drone also has an "intercontinental" range and is capable of carrying a
nuclear warhead that could target both aircraft carriers and coastal
facilities. He said its operational depth and high speed would make it
immune to enemy intercept.
He added to applause that names for the
nuclear-powered cruise missile and the drone haven't yet been chosen,
and suggested that the Defense Ministry run a nationwide contest for the
best names.
Putin accompanied his statement to an audience of hundreds of
senior officials and lawmakers with videos and computer images of new
weapons, which were shown on giant screens at a conference hall near the
Kremlin.
"No one in the world has anything like that," he said. "It may appear someday, but by that time we will develop something new."
The
Russian leader said that another new weapon called Avangard is an
intercontinental hypersonic missile that would fly to targets at a speed
20 times the speed of sound and strike "like a meteorite, like a
fireball."
Putin said that Russia also tested a new heavy
intercontinental ballistic missile, called Sarmat, with a range and
number of warheads exceeding its Soviet-era predecessor, known in the
West as Satan.
The Russian leader emphasized that the development
of new weapons that have no equivalent in the West came in response to
the U.S. withdrawal from a Cold war-era treaty banning missile defenses
and U.S. efforts to develop a missile defense system.
He said that the U.S. has ignored Russian complaints.
"No one has listened to us," he said. "You listen to us now."
Putin
said the new weapons will help ensure global stability and draw a line
under attempts to weaken Russia. He said that another weapons system,
called Kinzhal, already has been deployed in Russia's Southern Military
District – a hypersonic missile carried by an aircraft that can strike
targets 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) away.
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