A new report from the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DNI) assessed that Moscow is “expanding its nuclear forces by adding new capabilities, including nuclear air-to-air missiles and novel nuclear systems.”
Russia is also developing weapons for space including a “satellite capable of carrying a nuclear device,” the DNI stated.
“This military potential should be a cause for concern. Such missiles are relatively easy to develop. Almost all Russian fighters can be its carriers,” he said.
Russia’s nuclear weapon storage sites are spread across the vast country, according to research by Russianforces.org
What do we know about Russia’s new missiles?
The missiles are a variant of the R-37M model that was tested last year on MiG-31 fighter aircraft.
The R-37M is the fastest air-to-air missile in the world with a speed of Mach 6 (3,600mph) according to Military Watch magazine, as well as one of the longest ranges at about 250 miles.
No other country is known to possess an equivalent weapon. The US may have air-to-air missiles with similar capabilities, according to Dr Pavel Podvig, director of the Russian Nuclear Forces Project in Geneva. “But definitely not nuclear.”
Podvig and Starchak agree that the DNI reference to “novel nuclear systems” is likely to refer to two systems; the Burevestnik nuclear-armed cruise missile, and the Poseidon nuclear torpedo, both of which were first announced by Vladimir Putin in 2018.
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko with the remains of a Kh-47 Kinzhal Russian ‘hypersonic’ missile shot down by a Ukrainian air defence (Photo: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)But the programme has been beset with difficulties, according to a new assessment by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists journal, which cites “serious setbacks, including nearly a dozen failed tests.”
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Read More“The arms race is going on to a certain extent in the field of hypersonic weapons,” said Starchak.
“Without agreements to control these weapons, the hypersonic potential has become a symbol of the state’s military superiority.”
US officials also alleged last year that Russia is developing space-based weapons, potentially including nuclear weapons, which Moscow has denied.
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