Russia’s military far more advanced than US's: Analyst

Russians have "far superior" military technologies than the Americans, and the US military’s latest missile test was a “bluff” to make people think otherwise, says an American counter-terrorism analyst.

“The United States typically does that, its military brass is so hell-bent on communicating to its Russian adversaries in particular, that its missile technology is the absolute end-all technology that can determine any war,” Scott Bennett, a former US Army psychological warfare officer, told Press TV on Monday.

On Sunday, the US military conducted a $230 million test involving Lockheed Martin’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems and the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) on-board the USS John Paul Jones destroyer.

The missile systems were able to successfully hit their targets in all but one of the tests.

During the test, a THAAD system and the Aegis destroyer both engaged a medium-range ballistic missile, launched by C-17 aircraft.

The SM-3 missile fired by the warship failed early in its flight and missed the target. However, the THAAD, which was now practically the last line of defense, was able to take it out.

However, the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) hailed the test as a success.  

“From a psychological warfare perspective, I see this as a massive bluff, as just a lot of feather puffing, and [it] really doesn’t have a lot of substance because the technology is not there and the Russian technology as we know is far superior,” Bennett noted.

“So this claim that an elaborate $230 million missile test was conducted with state-of-the-art technology really doesn’t cut the mustard,” he noted. “It seems to be really just a standard test and they are inflating it to make it look a lot more lethal than it potentially is.”

Bennett described the test as a bid by Washington to gain the upper hand in the Middle East and especially in Syria, which falls in line with US President Barack Obama’s decision to send Special Operation forces to the Arab country.

Russia needs to “call the bluff” and let the US know that if they send American troops to Syria “the Russian coalition will not be held responsible for any deaths that may result,” he said.

“That is a potential trap,” he said of Obama’s plan. “It is an attempt to try and goad Russia, I think, into maneuvers and bombings that can kill a lot of American troops for the purposes of triggering a larger US action.”

Bennett also suggested that there might be a relationship between the timing of the US drill and the recent Russian plane crash over Egypt’s Sinai desert that killed all of its 224 passengers.

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