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posted by martyb on Friday March 02 2018, @04:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the duck-and-cover dept.

Putin, before vote, unveils 'invincible' nuclear weapons to counter West

President Vladimir Putin unveiled an array of new nuclear weapons on Thursday, 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. [...] His remarks were greeted with scepticism in Washington, where officials 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 weapons that Putin said were either in development or ready was a new intercontinental ballistic missile "with a practically unlimited range" able to attack via the North and South Poles and bypass any missile defense systems.

Putin also spoke of a small nuclear-powered engine that could be fitted to what he said were low-flying, highly maneuverable cruise missiles, giving them a practically unlimited range. The new engine meant Russia was able to make a new type of weapon - nuclear missiles powered by nuclear rather than conventional fuel. "Nothing like it in the world exists," Putin told the audience. "At some point it will probably appear (elsewhere) but by that time our guys will have devised something else."

Other new super weapons he listed included underwater nuclear drones, a supersonic weapon and a laser weapon. In one of his video clip demos, a weapon appeared to be hovering over what looked like a map of the state of Florida.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by NotSanguine on Friday March 02 2018, @06:06PM

    This speech is targeted at the Russian public. Saber rattling and looking tough is a great way to distract citizens from major economic problems. Russia has them in spades.

    True enough. At the same time, watch what the Trump Administration says (or, more likely, doesn't say) about Putin's saber rattling. I suppose your might try to make an argument for ignoring the announcement, but that's not really Trump's style is it?

    I think it's often more interesting what people *don't* talk about than what they do.

    These systems have been in design for a long time. Most if not all of them have been discussed or speculated about in the open press. It changes little. Russia already had the capability of easily getting past the US missile defense with the numbers and systems they already had and laying waste to it. You can't kill a target deader than dead.

    All true. And that feeds into Trumps greasy little paws as well. Time for more "Obama let our nuclear arsenal stagnate. Now we're at a huge disadvantage. But don't worry. I'm really strong with nuclear and we're going to have the best nuclear ever in the history of the world. Believe me!" Or some such bullshit, not mentioning (as another poster did) the almost US$400 billion Obama slated for updating the US nuclear arsenal.

    As I said. It's all just theater. For the Russians and for the US. Which goes back to what I was saying -- Trump is Putin's bitch. Whether it's intentional (because the Russians *own* Trump) or not (because Trump is a tyro who's easily flattered and even more easily manipulated).

    Either way, this ends up serving Putin well in Russia *and* in the US.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
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