Russian hypersonic missiles and defenseless America
Recently, the United States has been actively investing in the development of new types of weapons, including hypersonic weapons. But, as the American media emphasize, Washington is not surprisingly responding to Russian hypersonic weapons projects. And there is well-founded belief that the United States is at risk of being defenseless against new-generation Russian missiles.
Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was offering his American counterpart Donald Trump to purchase hypersonic weapons. But the US president refused the offer of the Russian leader, saying that America would soon have such weapons. It is clear that Putin’s proposal was rather sarcastic, but the meaning of the president’s statement is quite clear: Russia trumped that it developed the latest weapons before its main rival, the United States.
According to Vladimir Putin, so far no weapon in the world has such weapons that Russia has appeared. Apparently, we are talking primarily about the dagger hypersonic missile. It was first known about her after the president’s message to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in 2018. Then Vladimir Putin told. that a rocket is capable of achieving its goal in a matter of minutes. At the same time, the projectile’s flight speed is 10 times higher than the speed of sound, and the range is 2 thousands of kilometers. If required, the missile can be equipped with a nuclear warhead.
In March 2018, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported to the Supreme Commander on the successful launch of a new missile. Vladimir Putin, arriving in the Astrakhan region, was pleasantly surprised when he was shown a MiG-31 fighter with a dagger.
In February 2019, Putin, at a meeting with Defense Minister of the Russian Federation Army General Sergei Shoigu, stressed that Russia would begin to create medium-range hypersonic ground-based missiles. According to the president, this will be a response to the United States withdrawing from the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, which, despite the warning of the Russian president, took place in the summer of 2019.
Then, information appeared in open sources that the new hypersonic missile will be created on the basis of the 3М22 Zircon, and they can launch it from the same launchers from which the Caliber rocket is launched. This will significantly reduce the cost of research and development.
By the way, no less than Russian hypersonic missiles, Americans are worried about the development of China's arms. Beijing is currently investing tremendously in offensive weapons developments. For China, the task is simple and understandable - to achieve hegemony in East and Southeast Asia, displacing the United States from the Asia-Pacific region. It is for this purpose that the Chinese are developing new weapons.
The scale of Chinese developments is evidenced by the fact that even American publications admit that the United States is "possibly lagging behind" not only from Russia, but also from China in the creation of hypersonic weapons. And precisely in order not to be pushed to the third position, the United States is now going to develop offensive weapons. In Europe, Americans are still confronting Russia, and in the Asia-Pacific region, the main potential adversary is China.
In the United States, information about the appearance of hypersonic weapons in Russia was reacted as expected. Then the post of national security adviser to the US president was still held by John Bolton. And he immediately said that Russia’s technology of hypersonic weapons was stolen from the United States. Well, of course, how can Americans admit that somewhere they invented something earlier than in the USA! Similarly, the Americans blame the theft of technology and China, which has made a tremendous breakthrough in the manufacture of gadgets in recent years.
Commenting on the explosion at a training ground in the Arkhangelsk region, John Bolton emphasized that Russia uses American technology. But Bolton did not say what specific technologies could be stolen from the United States. And that also says a lot.
But besides statements about the theft of technology, the Americans, of course, announced to the whole world that hypersonic weapons were also being prepared for production in the USA. The head of the Missile Defense Agency, Lieutenant General Sam Greaves, stated that his subordinates had analyzed existing types of weapons and concluded that it was desirable and possible to create hypersonic weapons.
Director of the Department of Defense Advanced Research Programs (DARPA) Stephen Walker did not hide the fact that work on the creation of hypersonic weapons in the United States is underway. Prototype testing should be completed before the end of the 2019 year, and in the 2020 year, hypersonic missiles should already go into production. Such a rapid pace in the production of new weapons is explained by the need to ensure the national security of the States against the backdrop of rivalry with Russia.
- Stephen Walker admitted in one of his interviews.
Thus, the United States also engaged in the development of hypersonic missiles. As early as the spring of 2019, it became known that the military-industrial company Raytheon won the tender by the US Department of Defense for developing a program for new hypersonic weapons. The cost of the contract that this company entered into with the US military department is estimated at 63,3 million dollars, but we must understand that this is only a starting point, subsequently, the costs of developing and manufacturing hypersonic weapons will only increase.
The Pentagon believes that hypersonic missiles will allow the American army to strike at long range and with greater efficiency compared to the weapons that are used now. At the same time, the US Department of Defense adheres to an offensive strategy. This means that the military department and the military-industrial companies that carry out its orders are making the main efforts in the field of developing offensive weapons, and not defense systems against enemy missiles.
If we talk about the financial component, then the American budget for 2020 provides for the allocation of 2,6 billion dollars for hypersonic weapons. And only 6% of the sum will be allocated for development in the field of missile defense. Thus, in fact, the United States will only finance offensive weapons. The Pentagon explains this by the phased implementation of the development strategy of hypersonic weapons. That is, at first the USA plans to acquire offensive missiles and only then they are going to come to grips with improving the system of protection against hypersonic weapons.
Meanwhile, the head of the strategic command, General John Hayten, warned the US Senate that the country now does not have a reliable defense system that would prevent the use of hypersonic weapons against America.
In fact, these words of the general mean that the United States is defenseless against Russian hypersonic weapons. And if Russia decides to suddenly strike at American targets, then the US missile defense system will not be able to protect them from hypersonic missiles. The recognition is quite strong, but it didn’t really affect the US senators - it is obvious that the US leadership does not take as a serious risk the possibility of Russia striking American targets in Europe or on the territory of the United States itself.
The American magazine The National Interest has published an entire comprehensive article on the issue of the insecurity of the United States from the latest Russian hypersonic weapons. The authors of the article are political scientist Preston Lann and former deputy foreign policy adviser at the headquarters of ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Bishop Harrison. Experts believe that the Pentagon pushed to develop offensive weapons, firstly, cheapness considerations are easier and cheaper than creating a reliable missile defense system, and secondly, competition with Russia, as the US military saw the success of the potential enemy and was encouraged by them.
But the US Department of Defense, according to experts, has forgotten about the most important component of the country's defense - foreign policy aspects. The severance of the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles did not protect the United States at all, but untied the hands of potential adversaries - Russia and China, which now nothing stops before striking at American targets.
The risk of a possible US withdrawal from the Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty (START-3) also remains, but if this happens, again on the United States defense, a break in treaty obligations will most likely have a negative effect.
Following the breakdown of treaties, an arms race followed, with the emphasis on offensive weapons. But where there is an offensive weapon, there is a course for delivering a preemptive strike against objects of military infrastructure, first of all - against the weapon itself or their delivery vehicles. And this is now the main risk of the United States.
Therefore, American experts consider the course taken by the US military leadership to develop offensive weapons to the detriment of defense systems erroneous. In the opinion of Harrison and Lann, it is necessary, firstly, to abandon shifting costs and relying on the fact that if the enemy spends some amount on offensive weapons, then we must spend the same amount.
Secondly, the presidential administration and the Pentagon need to carefully control missile defense spending so that the allocated money does not “fly into the pipe” without real implementation in an effective and functioning missile defense system.
If the United States develops both offensive weapons and a missile defense system, then they will succeed in both directions at once, Harrison and Lann are convinced. Hypersonic defense will allow the States to quickly respond to any threats from the enemy.
Such publications reflect the general mood of American experts. The condescending and dismissive attitude towards Russia and Russian military developments is replaced by obvious anxiety and even uncertainty that the United States in the event of a conflict will be able to adequately protect its own facilities. This fact alone shows how much the modern world has changed. The era of American dominance is drawing to a close, and the Americans themselves have to admit it.
Hypersonic weapons of Russia
Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was offering his American counterpart Donald Trump to purchase hypersonic weapons. But the US president refused the offer of the Russian leader, saying that America would soon have such weapons. It is clear that Putin’s proposal was rather sarcastic, but the meaning of the president’s statement is quite clear: Russia trumped that it developed the latest weapons before its main rival, the United States.
According to Vladimir Putin, so far no weapon in the world has such weapons that Russia has appeared. Apparently, we are talking primarily about the dagger hypersonic missile. It was first known about her after the president’s message to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in 2018. Then Vladimir Putin told. that a rocket is capable of achieving its goal in a matter of minutes. At the same time, the projectile’s flight speed is 10 times higher than the speed of sound, and the range is 2 thousands of kilometers. If required, the missile can be equipped with a nuclear warhead.
In March 2018, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported to the Supreme Commander on the successful launch of a new missile. Vladimir Putin, arriving in the Astrakhan region, was pleasantly surprised when he was shown a MiG-31 fighter with a dagger.
In February 2019, Putin, at a meeting with Defense Minister of the Russian Federation Army General Sergei Shoigu, stressed that Russia would begin to create medium-range hypersonic ground-based missiles. According to the president, this will be a response to the United States withdrawing from the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, which, despite the warning of the Russian president, took place in the summer of 2019.
Then, information appeared in open sources that the new hypersonic missile will be created on the basis of the 3М22 Zircon, and they can launch it from the same launchers from which the Caliber rocket is launched. This will significantly reduce the cost of research and development.
By the way, no less than Russian hypersonic missiles, Americans are worried about the development of China's arms. Beijing is currently investing tremendously in offensive weapons developments. For China, the task is simple and understandable - to achieve hegemony in East and Southeast Asia, displacing the United States from the Asia-Pacific region. It is for this purpose that the Chinese are developing new weapons.
The scale of Chinese developments is evidenced by the fact that even American publications admit that the United States is "possibly lagging behind" not only from Russia, but also from China in the creation of hypersonic weapons. And precisely in order not to be pushed to the third position, the United States is now going to develop offensive weapons. In Europe, Americans are still confronting Russia, and in the Asia-Pacific region, the main potential adversary is China.
The Americans caught on and began to develop their missiles
In the United States, information about the appearance of hypersonic weapons in Russia was reacted as expected. Then the post of national security adviser to the US president was still held by John Bolton. And he immediately said that Russia’s technology of hypersonic weapons was stolen from the United States. Well, of course, how can Americans admit that somewhere they invented something earlier than in the USA! Similarly, the Americans blame the theft of technology and China, which has made a tremendous breakthrough in the manufacture of gadgets in recent years.
Commenting on the explosion at a training ground in the Arkhangelsk region, John Bolton emphasized that Russia uses American technology. But Bolton did not say what specific technologies could be stolen from the United States. And that also says a lot.
But besides statements about the theft of technology, the Americans, of course, announced to the whole world that hypersonic weapons were also being prepared for production in the USA. The head of the Missile Defense Agency, Lieutenant General Sam Greaves, stated that his subordinates had analyzed existing types of weapons and concluded that it was desirable and possible to create hypersonic weapons.
Director of the Department of Defense Advanced Research Programs (DARPA) Stephen Walker did not hide the fact that work on the creation of hypersonic weapons in the United States is underway. Prototype testing should be completed before the end of the 2019 year, and in the 2020 year, hypersonic missiles should already go into production. Such a rapid pace in the production of new weapons is explained by the need to ensure the national security of the States against the backdrop of rivalry with Russia.
There is a real race between the two blocks, which will determine which of them will be the first. In fact, they are planned at about the same time ... I can’t predict now which of them will win,
- Stephen Walker admitted in one of his interviews.
Thus, the United States also engaged in the development of hypersonic missiles. As early as the spring of 2019, it became known that the military-industrial company Raytheon won the tender by the US Department of Defense for developing a program for new hypersonic weapons. The cost of the contract that this company entered into with the US military department is estimated at 63,3 million dollars, but we must understand that this is only a starting point, subsequently, the costs of developing and manufacturing hypersonic weapons will only increase.
The Pentagon believes that hypersonic missiles will allow the American army to strike at long range and with greater efficiency compared to the weapons that are used now. At the same time, the US Department of Defense adheres to an offensive strategy. This means that the military department and the military-industrial companies that carry out its orders are making the main efforts in the field of developing offensive weapons, and not defense systems against enemy missiles.
If we talk about the financial component, then the American budget for 2020 provides for the allocation of 2,6 billion dollars for hypersonic weapons. And only 6% of the sum will be allocated for development in the field of missile defense. Thus, in fact, the United States will only finance offensive weapons. The Pentagon explains this by the phased implementation of the development strategy of hypersonic weapons. That is, at first the USA plans to acquire offensive missiles and only then they are going to come to grips with improving the system of protection against hypersonic weapons.
The US does not have a hypersonic weapon protection system
Meanwhile, the head of the strategic command, General John Hayten, warned the US Senate that the country now does not have a reliable defense system that would prevent the use of hypersonic weapons against America.
In fact, these words of the general mean that the United States is defenseless against Russian hypersonic weapons. And if Russia decides to suddenly strike at American targets, then the US missile defense system will not be able to protect them from hypersonic missiles. The recognition is quite strong, but it didn’t really affect the US senators - it is obvious that the US leadership does not take as a serious risk the possibility of Russia striking American targets in Europe or on the territory of the United States itself.
The American magazine The National Interest has published an entire comprehensive article on the issue of the insecurity of the United States from the latest Russian hypersonic weapons. The authors of the article are political scientist Preston Lann and former deputy foreign policy adviser at the headquarters of ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Bishop Harrison. Experts believe that the Pentagon pushed to develop offensive weapons, firstly, cheapness considerations are easier and cheaper than creating a reliable missile defense system, and secondly, competition with Russia, as the US military saw the success of the potential enemy and was encouraged by them.
But the US Department of Defense, according to experts, has forgotten about the most important component of the country's defense - foreign policy aspects. The severance of the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles did not protect the United States at all, but untied the hands of potential adversaries - Russia and China, which now nothing stops before striking at American targets.
The risk of a possible US withdrawal from the Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty (START-3) also remains, but if this happens, again on the United States defense, a break in treaty obligations will most likely have a negative effect.
Following the breakdown of treaties, an arms race followed, with the emphasis on offensive weapons. But where there is an offensive weapon, there is a course for delivering a preemptive strike against objects of military infrastructure, first of all - against the weapon itself or their delivery vehicles. And this is now the main risk of the United States.
Therefore, American experts consider the course taken by the US military leadership to develop offensive weapons to the detriment of defense systems erroneous. In the opinion of Harrison and Lann, it is necessary, firstly, to abandon shifting costs and relying on the fact that if the enemy spends some amount on offensive weapons, then we must spend the same amount.
Secondly, the presidential administration and the Pentagon need to carefully control missile defense spending so that the allocated money does not “fly into the pipe” without real implementation in an effective and functioning missile defense system.
If the United States develops both offensive weapons and a missile defense system, then they will succeed in both directions at once, Harrison and Lann are convinced. Hypersonic defense will allow the States to quickly respond to any threats from the enemy.
Such publications reflect the general mood of American experts. The condescending and dismissive attitude towards Russia and Russian military developments is replaced by obvious anxiety and even uncertainty that the United States in the event of a conflict will be able to adequately protect its own facilities. This fact alone shows how much the modern world has changed. The era of American dominance is drawing to a close, and the Americans themselves have to admit it.
Information