Russia's Putin unveils 'invincible' nuclear weapons

[NutLoose]

I cannot see the point in having a missile that can cruise around the world, surely the longer time it is airborne increases the possibility of it being intercepted and neutralised, hence why you tend to sit a sub full of fun off the oppositions seaboard.

[Brat]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf_50

The question remains: is the missile invisible, or just hard to track?

It is probably about as visible as the brand new Russian superfighter f-35/F-22 ‘killler' deployed to Syria.

Now you see them, now you don’t. FFS the Russian airforce can't afford buying them, and the Indians don’t want them.
Russia Admits Su-57s Were In Syria But Claims They Left After Just Two Days - The Drive

Russia has a well earned reputation for telling porky pies,
the Western press has a reputation of gobbling them up and spewing then out as ‘amazing’ headlines.

[Lyneham Lad]

U.S. Hypersonic Weapons ‘Coming’ As Putin Touts Russia’s Lead

Snip:-

As Russian President Vladimir Putin displayed video of the country’s Kinzhal air-launched hypersonic strike missile in his March 1 state of the union address, Darpa’s director confirmed the U.S. will flight test operational prototypes of a similar weapon in 2022-23.

The race continues...

[A_Van]

Thought some news on this topic would be interesting: one piece of the Russian "porky pie" has just successfully passed its next test saying "hi" to SM-3 and GBI ( and to Bush Jr who withdrew from the ABM treaty)

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-america-should-fear-russias-new-avangard-hypersonic-weapon-we-dont-have-any-defense

Even Oz news made comments:

https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/russia-hails-successful-test-of-new-hypersonic-weapons-system/news-story/1c8b858007c607385cb93c66764c9cdc

[Imagegear]

Of one thing I am certain: Somebody, somewhere has a bigger one. As ever, should this thing ever be launched in anger, something bigger will be launched.

There comes a time where a proportional response becomes the ultimate response.

IG

[ORAC]

A pointless PR weapon for the Russian public which does nothing the RS-28 and RSM-56 can’t do.

The GBI, Patriot and other missiles have a limited capability against single shot opponents such as North Korea or Iran and are useless against either of the above.

But whatever persuades Putin to waste money in such directions the better.

[Melchett01]

Regardless of the actual truth behind these claims, it does reveal an interesting point about thinking in places like Russia and China. The West continues to focus on stealth platforms and yet there seems to be a growing trend towards hypersonic missile technologies amongst what we would traditionally describe as our potential enemies. It’s a little bit like those drunken arguments you used to have with mates about who would win a fight between improbable opponents like Godzilla and King Kong. What does the future hold - stealth or hypersonic? Or is hypersonic the new stealth? One might argue that it is; it would certainly ft in with the thinking that the pilot is likely to be the weakest link in future air power delivery. Would be interesting to understand our opponents’ doctrine to see their views on these things if we are to be appropriately configured for the next rather than last conflict. So much for COIN being the only future conflict!

[A_Van]

Originally Posted by ORAC

A pointless PR weapon for the Russian public which does nothing the RS-28 and RSM-56 can’t do.

You are definitely too far from that subject and "compare cold and green". Here, the key point is the manoeuvrable final stage. The current booster itself is pretty old, even ancient. What you mention are new ICBMs, which may or may not be equipped with such a final stage.

Originally Posted by ORAC

The GBI, Patriot and other missiles have a limited capability against single shot opponents such as North Korea or Iran and are useless against either of the above.

Not really. GBI is a powerful thing and can intercept as many targets as the double number of interceptors deployed. The same with SM-3 (not its current "release" but potential future ones). The issue is that the targets should be ballistic, i.e. their trajectories are predictable. Patriot and THAAD are local area defence systems.

Originally Posted by ORAC

But whatever persuades Putin to waste money in such directions the better.

It's rather opposite. The adversary will now have to spend zillions to develop new generation of SAMs and install them along the whole perimeter of its territory (and even more inland).
It would be way cheaper to remain within the ABM treaty (and pull China in).

[A_Van]

Originally Posted by Melchett01

Regardless of the actual truth behind these claims, it does reveal an interesting point about thinking in places like Russia and China. The West continues to focus on stealth platforms and yet there seems to be a growing trend towards hypersonic missile technologies amongst what we would traditionally describe as our potential enemies. It’s a little bit like those drunken arguments you used to have with mates about who would win a fight between improbable opponents like Godzilla and King Kong. What does the future hold - stealth or hypersonic? Or is hypersonic the new stealth? One might argue that it is; it would certainly ft in with the thinking that the pilot is likely to be the weakest link in future air power delivery. Would be interesting to understand our opponents’ doctrine to see their views on these things if we are to be appropriately configured for the next rather than last conflict. So much for COIN being the only future conflict!

An interesting point indeed. IMHO, both concepts make sense. I would compare the risks of the adversary's invention of a "silver bullet" that would make my gadget(s) useless.

[Jetstream67]

Odd . . .. . A lot of money to spend when all you need is a tourist visa or rubber dinghy to evade and overcome the UK's current defense capability

[Jetstream67]

Originally Posted by Heathrow Harry

Apparently they're running a naming competition with the public for some of the new kit - but they've warned that trying a "Boaty McBoatface" campaign will NOT be appreciated and we all know what that means..........

Nasty McNuke face would do it . .

[UPP]

"Bangy McBangface".........?

[ORAC]

I think it’s more Putin trying to pull the Reagan “Star wars” trick and get the USA to spend a fortune responding to a non-existent threat.

Three problems though. Firstly, I don’t think the US sees the weapons as a threat worth responding too; Secondly they don’t see Russia as an existential threat any more (they saw communism as an existential threat, a capitalist Russia, not so much; lastly the US attention has switched to concentrating on China.

[Bigbux]

Originally Posted by UPP

"Bangy McBangface".........?

Pute Mc Puteface. works well in Spanish.

[Torquelink]

I think it’s more Putin trying to pull the Reagan “Star wars” trick and get the USA to spend a fortune responding to a non-existent threat.

Russia's economy is approximately the same size as S Korea's or Spain's and is much smaller than those of France and the UK and just a fraction of the US's or China's. The country appears to export little but oil, gas and military hardware. For how long can it continue to pour resources into advanced weaponry in an attempt to maintain "superpower" status alongside the US and China? Presumably everything else which advanced Western countries take for granted such as healthcare, education, social care, pensions, infrastructure etc have been neglected. How long will the apparently compliant population tolerate being a third world country in virtually every respect except for the military? Putin and his corrupt mafia cronies would appear to control everything to their own advantage while neglecting pretty much everything else - and eliminate all opposition both literally and through control of the media.

It is not beyond imagining that a repeat of the Reagan Star Wars scenario i.e. a massive ramp up of Western military expenditure which helped force the collapse of the USSR in the 1980s would eventually result in the overthrow of Putin and his henchmen as the population got increasingly fed up with becoming poorer and poorer. The establishment of a regime more focused on domestic issues rather than creating trouble abroad would be in everyone's interest.

[Rick777]

Hypersonic weapons are great until your enemy has lasers to defend against them.

[West Coast]

Mounted on sharks?

[Pontius Navigator]

Melchett, stealth and hypersonic strategic systems are both sides of the 'bomber will always get through ' argument. Both can be used for first strike but only stealth platforms are reusable. Stealth systems also lose the surprise element for an attack on a continental size target set. This suggests that stealth is a better system if you expect to be engaged in a protracted war or against a smaller rogue State.

The utility of a non-nuclear strategic missile was always in doubt as your opponent might counter with nuclear just in case. The same logic could be applied to a hypersonic missile if you detected a massive attack.

[ORAC]

Puts things in context. Ignoring the stroke to the UK ego, it places Russia 10th, below India in the “average” category......

https://order-order.com/2019/01/04/u...werful-nation/

UK Ranked as World’s Second Most Powerful Nation

The UK has been ranked the world’s second most powerful nation despite Brexit. The Henry Jackson Society‘s Audit of Geopolitical Capability used a model involving four attributes, 33 indicators and 1240 potential data observations and placed the UK after the US but slightly ahead of China.

The Audit’s Chief Analyst, James Rogers, said that the UK voting to leave the EU “has had no discernible impact on the UK’s fundamental ability to apply itself around the World”, but does recommend increased R&D spend and armed forces’ projection capacities to prevent the UK falling behind, particularly in light of China’s naval buildup. Politicians who like to call Britain a small island in the North Atlantic would do well to read the report in full…