Russia won’t stop boosting its defensive capabilities with state-of-the-art weaponry, but it doesn’t mean that it’s going to threaten other countries with it, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, said.
“Hypersonic, laser and other state-of-the-art weapon systems, which no other country possesses, will be put in service,” Putin promised as he met with newly assigned military commanders and prosecutors at the Kremlin.
However, those futuristic arms “are no excuse for Russia to threaten anybody,” he pointed out.
On the contrary, we are ready to do everything in our power to promote the disarmament process in view of our latest weapon systems, which are developed with the sole purpose of guaranteeing security in the face of growing threats we face.
Last year, Putin caused frenzy in the Western media by announcing a whole of new range of Russian weapons, including hypersonic and cruise missiles, lasers and underwater drones with nuclear-powered engines.
Little was known about those weapons at the time, but the shroud of secrecy is being gradually removed, with the hypersonic systems, which are said to be able to bypass any existing missile defenses means due to travelling five times faster than the speed of sound, gaining the most traction.
The military already published footage for the successful tests of Avangard silo-launched hypersonic glider as it reached whooping 27 Mach (30,000 km/h). Air-launched Kinzhal supersonic missile was also shown to the public.
Earlier this month, Putin made another unexpected revelation on the country’s hypersonic missile program as he toured a new Russian navy corvette on the Baltic Sea – it turns out the country will also be putting such missiles on ships.
As the proud captain showed the commander-in-chief his vessel’s missile launcher, he said that it can already fire three types of ammunition, with plans to upgrade it to be able to use the currently developed Zircon hypersonic missile. It could’ve been just a slip of the tongue made in front of the cameras, but Putin didn’t make an attempt to correct the navy man. “The Zircons will certainly be there,” he affirmed, looking at the accompanying Defense Minister, Sergey Shoigu, who nodded in response.
Hypersonic missiles also prompted a curious exchange between the Russian President and his US counterpart, Donald Trump. The Americans are lagging behind Russia when it comes to the developments in the area, with Putin confessing a few months ago that he even offered Washington to buy Russian hypersonic gliders, instead of trying to make their own.
“I’ve told Donald [Trump]: Do you want us to sell it [hypersonic weaponry] to you? And we would balance everything by that,” the President said. It’s unclear how Trump responded, but no such Russia-US deal has been struck yet.
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