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Russia outdoes US with deployment of first hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles

Friday, 27 December 2019 4:46 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 27 December 2019 6:26 PM ]

A still image taken from video footage released by Russia’s Defense Ministry on December 26, 2018 shows the test-launch of an Avangard hypersonic missile in the Orenburg Region of Russia. (Via Reuters)

Russia has entered into service its first hypersonic, nuclear-capable “Avangard” missiles, marking a significant upgrade to its combat capabilities, amid an effective arms race with the United States.

“The first missile regiment equipped with latest strategic missiles with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered service at 10 am Moscow time on December 27,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced in televised remarks on Friday.

Minister Shoigu described the development as a “landmark event for the country and the armed forces.”

AFP cited Russian defense officials as saying that the first Avangard regiment was based in the Orenburg region, south of Russia’s Urals, in an area near Kazakhstan.

Avangard, which was featured for the first time in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual address to the Federal Assembly in early March 2018, has been touted by the president as the centerpiece of Russia’s super advanced weapons.

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Russian officials have said that the Avangard is a highly maneuverable missile that, during testing, reached speeds of up to 27 times the speed of sound — approximately equaling a staggering 33,000 kilometers per hour.

‘Not a single country has achieved this!’

Speaking earlier this week, Putin said that Russia was the only country to have developed hypersonic arms.

“Not a single country has hypersonic weapons, let alone hypersonic weapons of intercontinental range,” Putin said at the time.

He added that the development had now put Russia ahead of America in terms of weapon advancements.

“Now we have a situation that is unique in modern history when they (the Americans) are trying to catch up to us,” President Putin said.

In August, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper admitted that it was “probably a matter of a couple of years” before Washington could be able to develop a hypersonic weapon.

The US prompted what has effectively turned into a renewed arms race with Russia in August, when it withdrew from a long-standing missile treaty with Moscow. The US has also failed to respond as of yet to a proposal by Russia to negotiate the renewal of another pact, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which will expire in February 2021.

Russia had long warned America against action that could result in an arms race.

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