Tag Archives: Hypersonic weapons

If Putin is not bluffing about Russia’s new weapons, then they are going to be game-changers, to employ a tired phrase. From Tom Luongo at tomluongo.me:

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s State of the Union address may be the most important speech since his address to the U.N. in September 2015 on the eve of Russia’s intervening in the War on Syria.

Putin’s sober analysis and admission of demographic constraints on the Russian economy’s growth was welcome.  It highlights the real challenges for Russia over the next fifteen years.  The shift for those of us analyzing the Russian economy is to look at it purely in terms of per capita growth, not absolute growth.

But, that admission of Putin’s highlights the backdrop of his publicly outing Russia’s new and formidable weapons technology.

That he did this during the height of his re-election campaign should bring a smile to the cynic’s face. Well played, sir.

Now, about those new weapons.  I defer to Alex Mercouris at The Duran for the only in-depth look at these new weapons.  The Saker, who is absolutely one of the best analysts of Russia’s military capabilities, considers these new weapons, “Game, set, match for The Empire.”

No More Parallel Aggression

Putin has played the game very well over the past few years.  Employing the strategy of ‘parallel aggression’ when responding to a U.S. escalation, he’s kept a lid on hostilities in Syria and Ukraine, while grinding out small victories, playing for time.

The announcement of these new weapons, however, change that game plan.  Putin is now going on the attack.

Here are some early thoughts on this implies:

1. Announcing these weapons begs the question, “What is Putin not telling us about?”  That should scare many in the Pentagon and civilians who believe the U.S.’s response should be to escalate.
2. Arming Ukraine with more heavy weapons to take back the Donbass will be countered because there is no reason not to.
3. Now we know (versus suspect) why the U.S. Deep State has been so adamant about pushing an anti-Russian narrative now.  The window has closed on any potential regime change in Russia.
4. U.S. forward deployments in Afghanistan and Syria and backing proxy armies such as ISIS and the Kurds is part of a subversion strategy to soften the underbelly of Russia forcing them to fight expensive, conventional warfare while extending U.S. logistical supply lines, its core competency in warfare.

To continue reading: Putin’s Ultimatum Is The Next Stage Of The War

This is the best analysis SLL has found so far of the weapons recently unveiled by Vladimir Putin. From Alexander Mercouris at theduran.com:

By far the greater part of President Putin’s State of the Nation address on 1st March 2018 was devoted to economic issues.  However inevitably it was the part of his address which touched on new weapons systems which attracted the most attention.

Here they

(1) Sarmat heavy ICBM

This is the best known of the new strategic nuclear weapons systems that President Putin touched on in his State of the Nation address.  In fact we have discussed it previously.

Here is what President Putin had to say about it

Sarmat will replace the Voevoda system made in the USSR. Its immense power was universally recognized. Our foreign colleagues even gave it a fairly threatening name.

That said, the capabilities of the Sarmat missile are much higher. Weighing over 200 tonnes, it has a short boost phase, which makes it more difficult to intercept for missile defence systems. The range of the new heavy missile, the number and power of its combat blocs is bigger than Voevoda’s. Sarmat will be equipped with a broad range of powerful nuclear warheads, including hypersonic, and the most modern means of evading missile defence. The high degree of protection of missile launchers and significant energy capabilities the system offers will make it possible to use it in any conditions…..

Voevoda’s range is 11,000 km while Sarmat has practically no range restrictions.

As the video clips show, it can attack targets both via the North and South poles.

Sarmat is a formidable missile and, owing to its characteristics, is untroubled by even the most advanced missile defence systems.

Sarmat’s range has previously been disclosed to be 17,000 km.  Putin says it weighs 200 tonnes – roughly the same as its predecessor Voevoda – and double what had been reported previously.

One aspect of the Sarmat which Putin did not touch on is that it may have revived a 1960s Soviet concept referred to in the US as ‘FOBS’ (‘Fractional Orbital Bombardment System’).

The idea behind FOBS was that an ICBM would place its nuclear warheads in low earth orbit from where, after orbiting for a short time, they would fall upon their targets on earth.

Such a system would have no range limit, whilst the orbital flight path of the warheads would not reveal the target location.

To continue reading: Vladimir Putin just revealed 6 brand new Russian weapons – and they are impressive

The Pentagon responds to Vladimir Putin’s announcement (see previous article). From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

The United States accused Russia of being an “irresponsible player” for boasting about an array of new, mostly hypersonic weapons, that President Putin said would make its nuclear arsenal invulnerable to interception by the US.

State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters it was “unfortunate” to watch a video animation depicting “a nuclear attack on the United States” that accompanied Putin’s state-of-the-nation speech Thursday, calling the video “cheesy” and “irresponsible.”

Vladimir Putin delivers his annual Presidential Address

“We don’t think that kind of imagery, in a cheesy video, as being a responsible action.” She also said Putin’s announcement confirmed, “what the US has known for a long time that Russia has been developing destabilizing weapons systems for more than a decade in direct violation of treaty obligations.”

She then proceeded to ignore Russian reporters at today’s press briefing.

As reported earlier, in his speech which took the west by surprise with the scale of Russian military accomplishments, Putin unveiled the latest additions to the country’s nuclear arsenal, including underwater drones capable of launching nuclear strikes and hypersonic missiles. The Russian president made the announcement at his annual state of the nation address in Moscow, Putin’s last speech before Russia’s presidential election on March 18.

“We don’t regard that as behavior of a responsible player,” Nauert said.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon urged calm and expressed it was “fully prepared” to handle the advanced Russian nuclear threat.

“We’re not surprised by (Putin’s) statement. And the American people should rest assured that we are fully prepared,” Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White adding that she was “very confident” in America’s ability to react to “anything that may come our way.”

“We are prepared and we are ready,” she said. “This is not about defense. This is about deterrence.”

To continue reading: Pentagon: We Are “Fully Prepared” For A Russian Nuclear Attack