Edited for brevity.
Russia has successfully tested a hypersonic anti-Star Wars weapon capable of penetrating any prospective missile shield, a senior general said Thursday. The prototype weapon proved it could manoeuvre so quickly as to make âany missile defence useless,â Colonel-General Yuri Baluyevsky, the first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, told a news conference. He said that the prototype of a new hypersonic vehicle had proved its ability to manoeuvre while in orbit, thereby making it able to dodge an enemyâs missile shield. âThe flying vehicle changed both the altitude and direction of its flight,â Gen. Baluyevsky said. âDuring the experiment conducted yesterday, we proved that itâs possible to develop weapons that would make any missile defence useless.â
Gen. Baluyevskyâs comment followed a statement by President Vladimir Putin, who said Wednesday after attending rocket launches from the Plesetsk launch pad in northern Russia that experiments conducted during the military manoeuvres had proved that Russia could build new strategic weapons that would be unrivalled in the world. Mr. Putin said the development of new weapons was not directed against the United States, and Gen. Baluyevsky reaffirmed the statement, saying that the experiment should not be seen as a Russian response to U.S. missile-defence plans. âThe experiment conducted by us must not be interpreted as a warning to the Americans not to build their missile defence because we designed this thing,â he told Associated Press. He said that Russia has no intention of immediately deploying new weapons based on the experimental vehicle. âWe have demonstrated our capability, but we have no intention of building this craft tomorrow,â he said.
Based on last weekâs performance--or, rather, lack thereof--I think Russia needs to go back to basics before contemplating any fancy new toys. |