Hypersonic Russian MIRVs

DEBKAfile -
At a news conference in Moscow, attended by more than a thousand pressmen, Russian president Vladmir Putin reported that last year Russia tested missile systems that no one in the world has and won’t have for a long time. “They are hypersonic and capable of changing their flight path.”

Last year, he showed the working principles of the system to French president Jacques Chirac during a visit to a Russian military facility. Live Russian television coverage of the Putin press conference was cut off before the last sentence.

DEBKAfile’s military sources add: For many years, Russian missile experts have been working on a hypersonic ballistic surface missile able to change its flight path and potentially outwit any anti-missile system in the United States and the West. However American and other Western experts strongly doubt if the Russian system has attained operational capability. Aside from last year’s test launch of a prototype, no further tests have been reported and they doubt the Russians have financial resources for bringing the system to completion.

Related posts:

• Iranian nuke by March 20?
• Putin suckers Bush, missile defense program effectively canceled
• Russian nuclear doctrine allows attack against “annoying” countries?
• DEBKAfile - Moscow Arms Assad with a Top-Flight Surface Missile
• [Proliferated] DEBKAfile - Moscow Arms Assad with a Top-Flight Surface Missile