Posted on 11/02/2005 12:32:53 PM PST by RDTF
The unpredictable flight trajectory of the Russian missile makes it immune to destruction
The successful test launch of the Topol-M missile has proved that the up-to-date Russian warhead is capable of subduing the USA's air defense, Russian military specialists say.
Russian strategic troops performed the test launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile RS-12M Topol on November 1. The chairman of the press service of the troops, Colonel Alexander Vovk, stated after the test launch that the missile successfully hit the conditional target on the Balkhash range ground in Kazakhstan.
It is worthy of note that yesterday's launch of the Topol-M missile became the sixth test of the system, which was created to subdue the US air defense. The Russian military command was keeping the entire flight data under control during the launch of the missile. The test showed that the maneuver, as performed by the missile on its flight trajectory, would not let foreign air defense troops intercept and destroy the missile.
According to the information obtained from the open sources, the arsenal of the Russian strategic troops currently has stationary Topol-M missile systems. It is planned to use the systems on both shaft and mobile bases in the future.
First shaft-based missile complexes RS-12M Topol-M (SS-X27 under the NATO classification) were added to the Russian defense arsenal in 1997. There are currently four missile units in the Russian troops working with Topol-M systems. Each of the units has up to ten intercontinental ballistic missiles, official sources say.
Bring it on. Want to try for 2 out of 3?
Unless they can exceed the speed of light, they cannot dodge a High Energy Laser (HRL). Our next generation trumped their next generation.
Yes we are worried about Russia, not in the sense that they would use this weapon against us, but that they would sell it to someone who would..
I don't think they've stopped being backrupt yet.
If they select after launch that would require active communication even if the trajectories are pre-programmed. Communication in a nuclear broadsides would be iffy. Doubly so if satellite and airborne RFI is on the right bands. But, that is something for strategists to worry about.
50 to 100 KT airbursted over a city is enough to end that city...
600 KT and higher would be for hardened, strategic, targets. A 600 KT warhead airbursted over a city.
The peackeeper missles I believe still pack warheads in the megatonnage range...and ten of them. I think there are a 100 active silos for peacekeepers.
I think the Iranians are working on a fission device...so the yields are much, much, lower than the thermo nukes we have in our arsenal...a ten kiloton nuke (Hiroshima style) nuke...detonated over Washington is still a bad day, but can be recovered from.
The ABM systems is betting that it will be some third world crackpot's poorly built delivery system that sends the fission bomb at us, which our system could handle.
If the Russian go for a nuke fight..again, MAD, it's all over for everyone. And that is never going to happen.
'Unpredictable trajectory' is about as close to an oxymoron as I can imagine.
I love the hubris in this statement.
Yeah, but they'd sell only 1, 2, 20.
We can deal with that, hard-to-hit or no.
A really awesome thing would be to take control of the warheads in flight. Have them all impact at the White Sands testing range. Art Bell could do the running commentary.
We could deal with 20 missles each with an unpredictable trajectory, all at once?
Wow! I'm impressed...
(steely)
Maybe not yet. But sooner than you think.
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