Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech on Thursday that Moscow is testing a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that is invulnerable to Western anti-missile systems.
He also claimed Russia has a new supersonic cruise missile that can overwhelm NATO defenses as well as underwater drones capable of carrying nuclear bombs in an annual state of the nation speech to parliament.
Putin’s presentation, which was dramatized by animated images of Russia’s new arsenal, also showed a new submarine that can can destroy US aircraft carriers.
A new ICBM codenamed Sarmat, according to the president, weighs more than 200 tonnes. The missile is said to have a greater range than its predecessors and can fly at minimal altitude.
“No anti-missile system – even in the future – has a hope of getting in its way,” said the president.
Putin says the nuclear-armed undersea drones can travel in deep water “at speeds many times that of current submarines, the most modern torpedoes and even the speediest of surface boats.” The weapon is said to be capable of destroying coastal towns and facilities.
Moscow’s latest cruise missiles were also credited with having a range “dozens” of times above current models and were capable of flying at unpredictable trajectories and low-altitudes.
“Their ability to move around missile shield intercepts make them invincible for all current and projected anti-missile and anti-aircraft systems,” Putin said.
White House response
Responding to a question about Putin’s comments, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the Russian president “has confirmed what the United States government has known all along,” namely, that Russia has been developing “destabilizing weapons systems for over a decade in direct violations of its treaty obligations.”
Sanders added that US defense capabilities “are and will remain second to none.”
Given the unmatched superiority of the S-400, Russian claims must be taken at face value.
Putin has taken a leaf from Osama bin Ladin whose stated aim was to convert America into a carbon copy of USSR, and then beat it with his experience.
At the height of the Soviet Union half of the population worked for Homeland Security, watching the other half. There was full employment, LOL. Today, DHS is the largest department in USA, and growing by the hour.
Economists have estimated that over 53% of US GDP is "hegemonic dividend", making a mockery of US efficiency. For a nation with over $20 Trillion in debt, the worst outcome will be to enter into an arms race that we can ill afford. But with Trump at helm, that is exactly what he will do what Putin wants, giving the US the taste of its own medicine that bankrupted the USSR.
While Russia and China concentrate on high-tech, Trump the realist, the child who blurts out that Emperor has no clothes, turns from growth to survival. He realizes that the American School System is churning out youth that can neither read nor count, a growing Trump Nation unfit for a technologically modern industry required for Globalization, and Free Trade.
Therefore, walls around USA and protect Agriculture and Resources makes eminent sense. America is blessed with enough land, water, and sun to feed its people, and does not need the world. To hell with Russia, China, Iran ….
Putin probably meant to shock the Americans, which would explain why Florida was mapped into the presentation. Hopefully, after the hysteria has died down in the hysterically farcical USA, the Americans will get his intended message: Mutually Assured Destruction is still very much in play. Forget about first strike and forget about using small tactical nukes as conventional weapons.
I don’t sweat Russia! China is a different story, however. They have an industrial economy potentially greater than the USA. Command driven economies are not the most efficient but China has grown and modernised its industrial base. Russia is still a very corrupt nation that is basically a military power, but not a economic power!
Mikey Henstra He said if they were attacked to the point where the existence of Russia was endangered (such as during Operation Barbarossa), then nukes would be employed. Russia holds to a No First use of nuclear weapon, as does China. The US does not. Also, America has happily waged war after war in distant lands, with their own mainland spared, while Russia has experienced massive devastation and is now surrounded by Nato. But keep poking the bear.
Esby Toh Don’t forget to lock up before you leave for Russia by way of China. If you believe anything that Putin or the Communist Chinese say you deserve to go there!
Steve Quattrocchi Sr. Thanks for the concern. But I’d defiitely visit Russia and China over the US any time. They’re a better option than the US of invasive TSA inspections, trigger-happy policemen, black lives matter, mass shootings, Amtrak mishaps, McCarthyism and never-ending political carnival.
Mikey Henstra take your ""chicken shit""’ comment and stuff it. putin is telling the neocon zionist warmongers to backoff. and he didn’t even mention what his su24 did to the” uss donald cook” in the black sea and the baltic sea.
Steve Quattrocchi Sr.
Well Putin and Xi could possibly be lying to their populations, on the other hand Americans know without doubt that their government lies to them. WMD, Gulf of Tonkin and on and on.
"Command driven economies are not the most efficient"
Really, you can say that and look at the shambles the US economy under the jackboot of capitalism and say with a straight face that it is better. Have you been following all of the Western Economies under capitalism. How? Please tell us we would all like to engage in a little fantasy everyonce in a while.
Even David Goldman, no left winger he, says that China will amaze us all.
American voters should think carefully if they can put Putin in white House to run US military Industrial Complex for 10 years to rebuild USA as a superpower again!
You can well say to hell with Russia, China, and Iran but these guys will not say to hell with USA. No once they can be incomparable militarily stronger than USA, they will glad bomb USA to hell