assistant secretary of defense), explains that some have been tested, but “none of them have been so successful that they can claim to have operational capability.”īut that doesn’t mean Coyle is not worried, especially about hypersonic threats. They may be ready in the next year or two, but “none of them are fully operational,” says Philip Coyle, a board member of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Currently, American defenses are designed to knock an incoming nuke out of the air before it can hit its target-but this was already a complicated and difficult task before the development of hypersonics.Īlthough Russia’s new weapons sound frightening, none has actually been deployed yet. These three are the crown jewels in Russia’s aggressive new nuclear policy, capable-according to Putin-of circumventing U.S. The most impressive, according to nuclear experts, were the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, the nuclear-powered cruise missile Skyfall and the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Last year Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled six new weapons during a governmental address. So there’s a whole battery of Russian programs-from the doomsday torpedoes, to nuclear-powered cruise missiles, to hypersonic reentry vehicles, to anti-satellite weapons.” “They really don’t like the possibility that they might be outmatched technologically. “The Russians really hate missile defense,” says Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear policy expert and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, Calif. As tensions rise, both countries are looking to modernize their nuclear weapons, and Russia in particular is teasing terrifying new missiles that-if they work-could bypass the U.S.’s elaborate system of ground- and satellite-based defenses.
Without it, for the first time since 1972 there would be no limit on how many warheads either nation can build and deploy. and Russia deploy, with an eye toward reducing the overall number of nuclear weapons in the world. New START limits the number of missiles the U.S. That agreement limited just one class of weapons, but it is not the only accord poised to end: The much-broader New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) will expire on February 5 next year, unless both parties agree to extend it-which they may not do. It is being republished because of Russia’s claim, reported this past weekend, that it has used hypersonic missiles for the first time, striking targets in Ukraine with its Kinzhal missiles.īoth the United States and Russia last month pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), a Cold War–era pact that prohibited land-based ballistic or cruise missiles with ranges between 311 and 3,420 miles. Editor’s Note (3/21/22): This article was originally published on March 27, 2019, when Russia’s hypersonic nuclear weapons were still in development.