Russia To Test New RS-26 Missile With Multiple Supersonic, Maneuvering Warheads

FYI.


Inside the Ring: Russia to test new missile (The Washington Times, Oct 16, 2013):

Russia will test launch a controversial missile over the next several weeks that U.S. officials say is raising new concerns about Moscow’s growing strategic nuclear arsenal and Russia’s potential violations of arms treaties.

The RS-26 missile is expected to be deployed with multiple supersonic, maneuvering warheads designed to defeat U.S. missile defenses in Europe, U.S. officials told Inside the Ring.

A House defense aide said the new missile appears to violate the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, based on recent tests and Russian statements that it is designed to thwart U.S. defenses. The treaty bans missiles with ranges of between 310 and 3,400 miles.

“The Russians are advertising this as a system capable of defeating U.S. missile defenses in Europe,” the aide said. “At the same time, the State Department is accepting Russia’s claim that this is an ICBM and doesn’t violate INF. It can’t be both.”

The Air Force National Space and Missile Intelligence Center reported recently that Russia’s June 6 test of an RS-26 was a test-firing of an intermediate-range missile disguised as an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Russian officials have denied that the RS-26 violates the INF Treaty, claiming it has a range greater than the treaty threshold of 3,410 miles.

However, Moscow officials in recent months have said the INF Treaty must be altered or scrapped to balance China’s growing arsenal of intermediate-range missiles. The Russians also have been quoted in state-controlled press reports as saying the new missile will be used to defeat and destroy U.S. and NATO missile defenses in Europe.

The Obama administration is deploying land- and sea-based defenses in and around Europe to counter Iranian long-range missiles.

Officials familiar with intelligence reports said the next test-firing of the RS-26 is expected in December.

In June, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin described it as a “missile defense killer” after a successful test flight with dummy warheads.

The new missile will be equipped with three multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles, or MIRVs. What is new is that the warheads are super-high-speed vehicles capable of maneuvering from missile interceptors. The maneuvering warheads are considered advanced technology that will increase the precision targeting of the missile system.

The missile also reportedly will be equipped with a high-performance fuel that boosts acceleration shortly after launch, a feature useful for avoiding anti-missile interceptors.

2 thoughts on “Russia To Test New RS-26 Missile With Multiple Supersonic, Maneuvering Warheads”

  1. Yup, with the bankrupt UNITED SNAKES (US/Israel/NATO) regurgitated colonists currently tormenting the world community for their oil/gas and strategic minerals (and soon water) with their advanced weapon systems technology and ‘iron fisted’ aggression, its surely is about time they were jointly and severally, bitch (((slapped))) into oblivion by an ‘opposing’ force.

    Certainly Papa Putin seems to be ‘the man for the job’ with China coming up with great enthusism as the Great Satan heads into SE Asia (See: South China sea, where China has dominated for 5,000 years). All this, while trying to make mischief over ‘rocks jutting up from the bottom of the sea’ that have served as bird nesting and fishing sites for 10,000 years and ‘egging’ on Japan, Vietnam, Filipino nationalisms while playing the ‘caped crusader’ – “coming to a near-by port ‘to save you all.”

    Conversely, It will be interestng (2025?) when the Chinese ‘Caped Crusader’ himself sails into the Carribean to liberate Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba and maybe even near-by Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala from the ‘neighborhood thug’ that has been tormenting them for 200 years, huh Pilgrims?

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