'US ICBM missiles are still far from being comparable to Sarmat'

According to RIA Novosti, the US is still a long way from creating a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) comparable to Russia's Sarmat missile.

The US military plans to completely replace the 450 Minuteman 3 ICBMs received since the 1970s by 2027.

The total cost of this "blood transfusion" plan will cost about 62.3 billion USD.

Along with that, the US Air Force also replaced the AGM-86B air-to-ground strategic cruise missile units, received since the 1980s, with a new generation of cruise missiles.

RIA Novosti quoted expert Sivkov, president of the Academy of Political Studies in Moscow, as saying that the US is still a long way from creating a new ICBM comparable to Russia's Sarmat missile.

Minuteman 3 ICBM in launch silo.

According to Russian experts, Washington has been talking about the new missile for a decade, but the development stage has only just begun to outline the technical specifications. Therefore, Mr. Sivkov believes that it will take at least another 10 years for the US to create a missile on par with the Sarmat.

Russian experts also predict that the new US ICBM will use solid fuel, have a range of 12,000km and carry 3-10 warheads, capable of attacking multiple targets at the same time with an error of 50 to 100m.

Not only does it claim that the US ICBM is 10 years behind Russia, Lenta newspaper also believes that it is very likely that the US will learn from Russia in developing a missile to replace the Minuteman 3 ICBM.

According to this source, the Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is the mainstay of the US land-based nuclear deterrent. However, all of the US ICBMs are deployed from fixed underground launch silos. This makes the ability to keep the launch location secret relatively limited.

Therefore, analyst James Hasik - senior fellow at the Brent Scowcroft Center for International Security said that to increase the combat readiness of the nuclear missile force, the US needs to mobilize them similar to Russia's mobile ICBMs. Missiles placed on mobile launchers or on railways will be less expensive than missiles placed on submarines.

Moving missiles also reduces the risk of nuclear attack because the launch site is constantly changing, ensuring secrecy. Placing missiles on mobile launchers is certainly not too difficult a problem for the US, as even North Korea can do this.

Russia maintains several types of silo-based and land-based ICBMs. Typical examples include the silo-based R-36 Satan and the mobile RT-2PM2 Topol-M. Recently, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces introduced the new RS-24 Yars road-mobile ICBM, capable of carrying up to 10 nuclear warheads.

Mobile ICBMs give Russia the ability to retaliate in the event of a nuclear attack on its fixed silos, while ensuring secrecy in force deployment and concealment of launch locations.

According to Baodatviet