Tag Archives: new weapons

Putin says Russia is ready to deploy new hypersonic nuclear missile

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) visits the National Defence Control Centre (NDCC) to oversee the test of a new Russian hypersonic missile system called Avangard, which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads, with Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov seen nearby, in Moscow, Russia December 26, 2018. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia would deploy its first regiment of hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles next year, saying the move meant his country now had a new type of strategic weapon.

Putin was speaking after overseeing what the Kremlin said was a pre-deployment test of the new missile system, called Avangard.

“This test, which has just finished, ended with complete success,” Putin told a government meeting.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (5th L) visits the National Defence Control Centre (NDCC) to oversee the test of a new Russian hypersonic missile system called Avangard, which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads, in Moscow, Russia December 26, 2018. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (5th L) visits the National Defence Control Centre (NDCC) to oversee the test of a new Russian hypersonic missile system called Avangard, which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads, in Moscow, Russia December 26, 2018. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

“From next year, 2019, Russia’s armed forces will get the new intercontinental strategic system Avangard … It’s a big moment in the life of the armed forces and in the life of the country. Russia has obtained a new type of strategic weapon.”

Russia has said the new missile system, one of several new weapons Putin announced in March, is highly maneuverable, allowing it to easily evade missile defense systems.

Putin remotely observed Wednesday’s test from a Russian defense ministry building in Moscow. The Kremlin described the test in a statement, saying that an Avangard missile, launched from a location in south-west Russia, had successfully hit and destroyed a target in the Russian Far East.

Putin announced an array of new weapons in March, including the Avangard, in one of his most bellicose speeches in years, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a U.S.-built missile shield.

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Polina Nikolskaya; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Russia names Putin’s new ‘super weapons’ after a quirky public vote

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin stands with a gun at a shooting gallery of the new GRU military intelligence headquarters building as he visits it in Moscow November 8, 2006.

By Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has unveiled the names for a new generation of nuclear-powered missiles touted by President Vladimir Putin as invincible after more than seven million people took part in a quirky public vote organized by the Russian military.

The names chosen include ‘Peresvet,’ after a medieval warrior monk, for a laser and ‘Burevestnik,’ after a seabird, for a cruise missile.

The arms systems, which Putin revealed in a bellicose state-of-the-nation speech this month, include a nuclear-powered cruise missile, an underwater nuclear-powered drone, and a laser weapon.

Putin has often used militaristic rhetoric to mobilize support and buttress his narrative that Russia is under siege from the West, and some critics complain that public discourse increasingly resembles that of a country at war.

The culmination of the “name that weapon” vote comes amid fears in both Russia and the West about a new arms race, something Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump have said they don’t want, and after Putin won a landslide re-election victory.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence asked the public to name the weapons systems in an online vote, something it has never done before, and unveiled the results late on Thursday on state TV.

After the results were announced, Deputy Defence Minister Yuri Borisov explained on state TV, to ripples of applause, what the new weapons were capable of.

WARRIOR MONK, GREEK GOD AND SEABIRD

The defense ministry said Russians had voted to name the new military laser ‘Peresvet’ after a medieval warrior monk, Alexander Peresvet, who took part in a 14th century battle against the Mongols. Peresvet is revered by some clerics in the Russian Orthodox Church, whose influence has grown under Putin.

The winning name for the underwater nuclear drone was more conventional – ‘Poseidon’ after the Greek god of the sea, drawing criticism from some Russians who complained the name was too foreign.

The new nuclear-powered cruise missile, which Putin has boasted could hit almost any point in the world and evade a U.S.-built missile shield, will be called ‘Burevestnik,’ Russian for the Storm Petrel bird, the defense ministry said.

The Storm Petrel is a seabird whose presence mariners believe foretells bad weather.

Putin’s boasts about the new weapons have been greeted with scepticism in Washington, where officials have cast doubt on whether Russia has added any new capabilities to its nuclear arsenal beyond those already known to the U.S. military and intelligence agencies.

Among the suggested names for the weapons systems that did not make the final cut: ‘Stalin,’ after the Soviet dictator, and ‘Palmyra,’ after the Syrian city which Russian forces helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad take back from Islamic State.

(Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)