RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN USED BELLICOSE LANGUAGE AND ANIMATIONS THURSDAY TO THREATEN THE WEST WITH A NEW GENERATION OF ‘INVINCIBLE’ WEAPONS. WELCOME TO THE COLD WAR, PART 2.
PUTIN UNVEILS SEVERAL NEW WEAPONS SYSTEMS
President Vladimir Putin unveiled an apparent stunning catalogue of doomsday machines Thursday including a hypersonic warhead “like a ball of fire” and an underwater drone armed with a nuclear warhead powerful enough to sweep away coastal facilities and aircraft carriers. “No one has listened to us. You listen to us now,” he said in his annual stateof-the-nation speech. While some scientists voiced skepticism at the military hardware, the Pentagon seemed unconcerned by the claims and many analysts attributed the bombastic speech to the forthcoming presidential elections.
THE SARMAT INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE
“A very threatening weapon” that can strike over the North or South Pole and evade anti-missile systems. A video appeared to show warheads closing in on South Florida. Russia has been working for years to develop a new ICBM to replace the Soviet-designed Voyevoda, the world’s heaviest ICBM known as “Satan” in the West that carries 10 nuclear warheads.
A NUCLEAR-POWERED GLOBAL-RANGE CRUISE MISSILE
Capable of delivering a warhead over “practically unlimited range” and shown on video manoeuvering over the Atlantic before looping around South America to target the U.S. West Coast. Putin said the propulsion system was tested successfully late last year. “Nobody else in the world has anything like this.”
HIGH-SPEED UNDERWATER DRONES
Powered by nuclear energy and launched from submarines that can hit aircraft carriers and coastal cities with conventional or nuclear warheads across intercontinental distances. “Practically invulnerable,” according to Putin. The Russian president claimed the new drone had “fantastic” capabilities and could operate at “very big” depth at a speed many times faster than the fastest vessels or torpedoes in use today. “There are no means in the world to counter it now,” said Putin. The drone’s name is subject to a nationwide contest.
THE KINZHAL HYPERSONIC MISSILE
Just finishing testing and can travel 2,000 km and hit targets at 10 times the speed of sound, according to the president. The missile is launched by aircraft and can carry a nuclear or a conventional warhead.
THE AVANGARD HYPERSONIC VEHICLE
Launched from missiles and “absolutely invulnerable,” it “heads for a target like a meteorite, like a ball of fire,” said Putin. Supposed to fly at 20 times the speed of sound.
LASER WEAPONS
Putin said Russia had achieved “significant results” in designing laser weapons, and added that the military commissioned its first laser weapons last year. He would not elaborate, saying only that they would significantly boost the Russian military’s capability.
ARMS RACE
Putin said the creation of the new weapons had made NATO’s U.S.-led missile defence “useless,” putting an end to what he described as years of Western efforts to sidetrack and weaken Russia. “I want to tell all those who have fuelled the arms race over the last 15 years, sought to win unilateral advantages over Russia, introduced unlawful restrictions and sanctions aimed to contain our country’s development: All what you wanted to impede with your policies has now happened,” he said. “You have failed to contain Russia.”
NO BLUFF
The United States should revise its Russia policy and engage in a serious dialogue on global security, Putin said. “You will have to assess that new reality and become convinced that what I said today isn’t a bluff. It’s not a bluff, trust me.”
WE WANT PEACE
He said that Russian military experts and diplomats would be ready to discuss new weapons systems with their U.S. counterparts. “We aren’t threatening anyone, we aren’t going to attack anyone, we aren’t going to take anything from anyone. The growing Russian military power will guarantee global peace.”
U.S. REACTION
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said it was “unfortunate” to watch a Russian video animation depicting “a nuclear attack on the United States” that accompanied Putin’s speech. She’s called the video “cheesy” and said “we don’t think it’s responsible.” Nauert said the animation confirmed that Russia had been created destabilizing weapons systems for more than a decade in “direct violation” of its treaty obligations. She said the U.S. had long known that but that Russia had previously denied it. Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said the Defence Department was not surprised by Putin’s claims of new nuclear weapons, adding that the U.S. military was prepared to defend the nation.
THE SCIENTISTS
Robert Schmucker, a rocket scientist at the Technical University of Munich, voiced skepticism about Putin’s statement, saying that building nuclear-powered cruise missiles in particular would be technically difficult and basically pointless. “Why make something complicated when you can make it easy?” he said, adding that he also doubted that Russia had succeeded in building hypersonic missiles. Tom Plant, director of proliferation and nuclear policy at the defence think-tank RUSI, also said he was not sure how much of the announcement to believe. “The thing that sounds mad, the nuclear-propulsion thing, is potentially feasible,” he said, adding: “I think it’s insane.” Plant added that while “Russia already has a ton of systems that can threaten and overwhelm U.S. missile defences,” Putin’s announcement reflects his country’s concern that the U.S. missile shield could grow powerful enough to become a game-changer. “The Russians have a genuine worry from their perspective about where U.S. missile defence might go,” Plant said. “So it totally makes sense for them to try and find ways to defeat not what it is now, but what it may become.”