President Vladimir Putin said that Russia will have a means of combating hypersonic weapons when other countries create such weapons. He told about this in an interview, a fragment of which was shown on the air of the program "News of the week".
“It (hypersonic weapons. - RT ) will appear. But I think that we will be able to pleasantly surprise our partners with the fact that when they have these weapons, with a high degree of probability, we will have a means of combating these weapons, ”Putin said.
The Russian leader recalled that today "no one can bring down hypersonic missiles."
“The speeds are such that it is impossible to take them. This is the uniqueness of our current situation. I repeat once again: with a high degree of probability we will have a means of combating hypersonic weapons by the time that the leading countries of the world have this very hypersonic weapon, ”Putin said.
Now Russia is the only country that has hypersonic weapons on alert.
- © Sputnik / Alexei Nikolsky / Kremlin via REUTERS
In December 2019, Putin during an extended meeting of the board of the Ministry of Defense pointed to a “unique situation in history”.
“Today we have a unique situation in our new and recent history: they are catching up with us. Not a single country today has hypersonic weapons at all, and continental-range hypersonic weapons even more so, ”the head of state said during an extended meeting of the board of the Ministry of Defense.
At the moment, hypersonic complexes “Dagger” and “Vanguard” are already on alert. As planned, work is underway on the Zircon anti-ship cruise missile.
The development of the Vanguard and Dagger became known from the message of the President to the Federal Assembly on March 1, 2018. Putin then said that the “Vanguard” is moving toward the target, like a “meteorite, a ball of fire,” and is carrying out deep maneuvering, making it invulnerable to any air defense and missile defense systems.
In addition, in November, the deputy head of the Russian defense ministry, Alexei Krivoruchko, reported that the Project 1155 Marshal Shaposhnikov large anti-submarine ship and Project 949A Irkutsk multipurpose nuclear submarine would receive 3M22 Zircon hypersonic missiles as a result of modernization.
- Missile system "Vanguard"
- © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
It is worth noting that the United States has repeatedly admitted that they lag behind Russia and China in the field of hypersonic technologies.
As stated in particular by Pentagon’s assistant director for hypersonic programs, Mike White, the United States fell behind Russia and China after the two countries moved from developing hypersonic technologies to their practical applications.
“In the past decades, we have been world leaders in hypersonic technologies, but our consistent position was not to transfer them to the weapons sector and not to create weapons systems based on the technologies that we worked in the laboratory. But both Russia and China did this, and already many years ago. And this transition to practical application gave a good incentive to their work. And in this area we are now building up the pace, ”said White.
In March, he announced that the United States will test supersonic weapons by the end of this year.
The head of the US Armed Forces Strategic Command Admiral Charles Richard announced earlier that active tests of American hypersonic weapons would begin in 2020.
Professor of the Academy of Military Sciences, an employee of the Center for Political Studies of Russia Vadim Kozyulin, in a conversation with RT, noted that Russia "has always been strong with air defense means."
“Including because overseas they were not really needed at one time, so the States did not really invest in them. One way or another, the best minds have always gone into the air defense system in the Soviet Union, and now it is all being restored. Here we have great technical engineering potential. Since this threat has become obvious to everyone today, we need to take this threat into account and develop appropriate countermeasures, and there is a certain reserve for this, ”he said.
The expert recalled that Russia at one time very successfully invested in hypersonic technologies, and existing developments can be used to create anti-missile systems.
“But we are naturally not alone here. Here the rivalry is ongoing, and President Trump is groundlessly saying that some breakthrough technologies have appeared in the US, ”he added.