US Intelligence: Russian super missile can only fly a maximum of 35 km?
Information collected by the US shows that Russia's new nuclear-powered cruise missile has failed in four recent tests.
| Simulation of nuclear-powered missile operations announced by Mr. Putin. |
A recent US intelligence report said that from November last year to February this year, Russia conducted four tests of a new nuclear-powered cruise missile model, but each time the missile crashed shortly after launch.CNBCMay 21 news.
This cruise missile is one of the "super weapons" announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his federal message in early March. It is said to have unlimited attack range thanks to the use of nuclear engines and penetrate all current missile defense systems thanks to its ability to maneuver in flight.
Russian media confirmed that during the flight, the missile continuously changed direction to avoid early warning and air defense systems. This is considered an important feature, helping the missile fly around all defense complexes and hit the target from the most unexpected directions.
However, US intelligence said that in the tests, the farthest the missile traveled was only 35 km, the flight time was only two minutes before the missile lost control and crashed to the ground. The shortest test flight lasted 4 seconds with a flight distance of 8 km.
The report said the operating procedure of this missile line is to use a fuel-powered engine to launch, before switching to a nuclear engine. However, Russian engineers have repeatedly failed to activate the nuclear engine, the heart of the "super missile", making it unable to carry out unlimited flight as reported by the country's media.
According to sources, engineers on the project were against testing the "super missile" because it was still in its early stages, but senior officials in the Kremlin still ordered the test launches.
The video of the test of this "super missile" released by Russian media only shows the actual launch phase, while its subsequent "transcontinental" journey was recreated using computer graphics.
However, US intelligence also admits that a "super weapon"Another Russian hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) Avangard has undergone two successful tests and is likely to officially enter service as early as 2020. With a speed of 25,000 km/h and extremely high maneuverability, the AVangard can defeat all the most modern missile defense systems today.
