Russia Deploys New Hypersonic Weapon

Russia appears to be gearing up for a new arms race after the deployment of new hypersonic missiles that are said to have nuclear capabilities. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu released a ministry statement that said that President Putin had been informed of the weapons but did not mention where the weapons are being held. Vladimir Putin has boasted that the move puts his country ahead of others and in a class all its own. 

The Avangard system, as it is called, is made of a hypersonic glide vehicle positioned above an intercontinental missile. The weapon is but one of several that Putin has claimed are being ahead of their time. 

Putin claims that the new generation of nuclear weapons the Russians have made can hit just about any point in the world and are capable of evading American missile defenses. Some experts in the West question how advanced these new weapon programs really are. 

The Pentagon released a statement saying that would not “characterize the Russians claims” over what the Avangard is capable of. The United States have reportedly been developing these hypersonic weapons since the early 2000s, according to a Congressional Research Report from this past July. 

Russia says that on November 26, American experts did inspect an Avangard under the rules of the New START Treaty signed in 2010. A US State Department official confirmed that these inspections did happen, but they offered no further comment about the examination or the weapon. 

Putin claims that the new missiles are so sophisticated they could penetrate current missile defense systems and even future ones. 

“Today, we have a unique situation in our new and recent history. They (other countries) are trying to catch up with us. Not a single country has hypersonic weapons, let alone continental-range hypersonic weapons.” -Vladimir Putin on Russia's new hypersonic weapons. 

Researchers explained how the weapons worked, saying that the hypersonic glide vehicles of the weapons are boosted to altitudes between 40km and 100km before detaching and gliding along the upper atmosphere to reach their intended target. 

The glide vehicles have control surfaces that allow them to steer across an unpredictable course and make sharp movements as they approach the target. They also follow a lower and flatter trajectory compared to ballistic missiles, which have high arcing paths. 

This makes them harder to detect using radar, so there is less time for missile defense systems to respond to them and stop them. 

Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, says he doubts the claims that the Avangard is able to evade missile defense systems. 

“I remain skeptical that gliders will change the survivability of Russia’s nuclear forces since gliding results in slower speeds than traditional re-entry,” he said.