{"id":181346,"date":"2018-12-31T07:04:57","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T07:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=181346"},"modified":"2019-01-04T07:14:42","modified_gmt":"2019-01-04T07:14:42","slug":"russias-new-avangard-hypersonic-nuke-missile-prompts-panic-in-us-german-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=181346","title":{"rendered":"Russia\u2019s New Avangard Hypersonic Nuke Missile Prompts Panic in US \u2013 German Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sputnik News \u2013 Dec 29, 2018<\/h1>\n
\"A<\/a>

A computer simulation shows the Avangard hypersonic vehicle being released from booster rockets. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

On 26 December, the Kremlin reported that the Russian Defence Ministry had test-launched the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, which flies 27 times faster than the speed of sound and which can carry megaton-class nuclear weapons. The US military has nothing to set against the new missile, the respected daily Die Welt stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The successfully launched hypersonic glide vehicle Avangard<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, dubbed a “New Year’s present to\u00a0the nation” by\u00a0Russian President Vladimir Putin, has alarmed military and defence experts in\u00a0the US and Europe, according to\u00a0the German outlet.<\/span><\/p>\n

On 26 December, the weapon was launched from\u00a0a missile base in\u00a0the southern Ural Mountains and successfully hit a practice target on\u00a0Kamchatka, 6,000 kilometres (3,700 miles) away.<\/span><\/p>\n

Die Welt points out\u00a0that it has long been known to\u00a0the West that the Russians have been developing and testing hypersonic weapons (the work on\u00a0the Avangard began after\u00a02002 when the US withdrew from\u00a0the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and began developing defences against\u00a0ballistic missiles).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A still from a Russian government video shows the Kinzhal missile detaching from a MiG-31 aircraft. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

Although the glider, able to\u00a0carry megaton-class nuclear weapon, was presented <\/a><\/strong><\/span>along\u00a0with SARMAT missile system tests, super-fast drone torpedoes, cruise missiles with\u00a0nuclear power plants, the air missile system \u201cKinzhal\u201d as\u00a0well as\u00a0laser and hyper-sonic weapons as\u00a0one of\u00a0the newest additions to\u00a0the Russian arms complex in\u00a0March, the newspaper claims it to\u00a0be proof of\u00a0sabre-rattling by\u00a0the great powers in\u00a0the wake of\u00a0US President Donald Trump announcing his country’s withdrawal from\u00a0the 1987 INF Treaty in\u00a0October.<\/span><\/p>\n

What makes Avangard unique is its manoeuverability as\u00a0the vehicle constantly changes its course and altitude while it flies through\u00a0the atmosphere, zigzagging on\u00a0its path to\u00a0its target, making it impossible to\u00a0predict the weapon’s location, as\u00a0former Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov revealed.<\/span><\/p>\n

This characteristic ensures that the target this hypersonic missile is actually heading to\u00a0remains virtually secret, according to\u00a0the US think tank Rand Corporation.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We have no defence that could prevent the use of\u00a0such a weapon against\u00a0us”, said John Hyten, the head of\u00a0the Strategic Command of\u00a0the United States to\u00a0the US Senate Armed Forces Committee in\u00a0late March.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Die Welt, current US radars cannot yet locate such a missile over\u00a0sufficient distances.<\/span><\/p>\n

“You have to\u00a0cover thousands of\u00a0miles, not hundreds\u201d, chief engineer of\u00a0the Pentagon and ex-chief of\u00a0NASA Michael Griffin told an expert panel shortly before\u00a0the test launch, pointing out\u00a0at the curvature of\u00a0the globe, limiting the coverage of\u00a0radars, taking the vastness of\u00a0the western Pacific Ocean and the lack of\u00a0islands for\u00a0radar.<\/span><\/p>\n

“There are not many places where radars can be parked. And if you find them, they’ll probably become targets”, Griffin said.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to\u00a0the outlet, the US would probably have to\u00a0install a network of\u00a0reconnaissance sensors in\u00a0space to\u00a0handle this problem. Griffin also pointed out\u00a0that not only Russia, but\u00a0also China is working intensively on hypersonic weapons<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, surpassing the US.<\/span><\/p>\n

“China tested more hypersonic weapons last year than\u00a0we did in\u00a0a decade. We have to\u00a0change that”, he stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pressed with\u00a0these developments, the Pentagon research agency Darpa published an urgent call under\u00a0the slogan “Glide Breaker Programme” to\u00a0the industry on\u00a06 November to\u00a0come up\u00a0with suggestions how a defence system for\u00a0hyper-sonic weapon gliders in\u00a0the upper air layers would look like. However, Die Welt points out\u00a0that the details remain secret.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The head of U.S. Strategic Command admits that America has \u201cno defence\u201d against Russia’s new hypersonic weapons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":167098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Fringe_Science_New_Discoveries_and_Developments","category-russia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181346"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181462,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181346\/revisions\/181462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/167098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}