Doomsday Weapon: Russia’s New Missile Shocks and Dazzles US, China [US Missile Defense Useless]

Sputnik News ^ | 03/12/2016

[SeekAndFind]

Russia’s advanced RS-26 intercontinental ballistic missile has raised admiring eyebrows of military experts everywhere, the official Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper wrote.

Russia Successfully Test-Fires RS-26 Ballistic Missile

In a Chinese television program aired earlier this month a local defense expert hailed the unique characteristics of the Russian ICBM and the fear it had instilled in the hearts of foreign militaries, Rossiiskaya Gazeta wrote.

“Russia’s new RS-26 missile travels along a continuously changing trajectory and as such it has no analogues in the world,” the expert said.

When asked about the US missile defense system, he said that it was “absolutely useless” against the RS-26.

“This one is even better than the famous Topol-M missile… Its warheads are supersonic and change their course all the time. Some of them will penetrate any existing missile defense shield and will hit their target,” the expert added.

When asked whether the new Russian ICBM had caught the Americans flatfooted, the expert said that not only the Americans were clueless but that the Chinese too now had something to worry about.

“Russia is 100-percent safe now, unlike everybody else,” he emphasized.

What makes the RS-26 so special is that even though it weighs just 80 tons, compared to the 120-ton heft of its RS-24 Yars predecessor, the Rubezh packs a frightening 1,2 megatons into its four 300 kiloton warheads.

With a potential range of 11,000 kilometers the RS-26 can hit targets all across the United States.

Moreover, its booster stage is down to under five minutes, which means that NATO radars in Europe will have no time to register the launch.

Adding to NATO air defenders’ worries, during the descending section of its trajectory, with only a few hundred kilometers left to the target, the missile’s warheads suddenly take a dive, lose altitude, and continue the approach as a cruise missile.

These new Russian ICBM warheads were developed in response to America’s plans to deploy a global missile defense system along Russia's borders.

The RS-26 Rubezh is expected to become operational in 2016.

[stars & stripes forever]

[Maybe this will wake up our youth]

I doubt it. They are too busy fighting virtual wars on their computers.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: You do realize that Sputnik News is owned and operated by the Russian government...

I wouldn’t trust a word they print...

________________________

I already knew that this would be one of the responses.

My answer is “I don’t know” if this news is true or false.

[BobL]

This story is TOTALLY FALSE. According to armchair experts ON THIS SITE, the fact that we spend 10 times as much on our military means that the Russians CAN NEVER be a threat to us.

So don’t worry, they won’t have a chance against our (barely existent) missile defenses - THEY JUST DON’T SPEND ENOUGH.

(this was in context to the neo’s here wanting to start WW3 over the Ukraine)

[AFreeBird]

Seems to me the warhead would already be lit up from reentry. As for wings, even the hypersonic test bird has wings. Russia does have titanium. We had to buy it from them to build the blackbird. And then there’s ceramic coatings

As for how much they could control? Don’t know. But even small adjustments could be enough to make it hard to hit.

Hey I’m not an AS engineer, so what do I know.

[Fred Hayek]

Lifting body style reentry vehicle and micro thrusters.

[rdcbn]

Developed with all the cash gave Obama gave Russia when he killed NASA and outsourced our space programs to the Russians

[PreciousLiberty]

“Maybe this will wake up our youth, if they don’t scramble to their “safe” places.”

Probably not. ;-)

Anyhow, here’s more information:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/ss-31.htm

[ThunderSleeps]

...the fear it had instilled in the hearts of foreign militaries...

I don't see it. Most Countries have no means of defending themselves against any kind of ICBM. So in that regard this is no different than any other ICBM.

When asked about the US missile defense system, he said that it was “absolutely useless” against the RS-26.

Maybe. Maybe not. "absolutely useless" is an awfully big claim...

When asked whether the new Russian ICBM had caught the Americans flatfooted, the expert said that not only the Americans were clueless but that the Chinese too now had something to worry about.

Oh, sure. Because being under development for years and having the Topol-M predecessor wasn't clue enough. I'm sure the US Missile Defense types have just ignored those developments for years. :-/

“Russia is 100-percent safe now, unlike everybody else,” he emphasized.

Perhaps someone should explain M-A-D to him.

Moreover, its booster stage is down to under five minutes, which means that NATO radars in Europe will have no time to register the launch.

Funny, I thought launch detection was handled by satellites. As far as I know, most of the European missile defense stuff is going to be more terminal mode. So they really won't care about boost or ballistic phases anyway.

Adding to NATO air defenders’ worries, during the descending section of its trajectory, with only a few hundred kilometers left to the target, the missile’s warheads suddenly take a dive, lose altitude, and continue the approach as a cruise missile.

JLENS. Seems like this would also put them in the engagement envelope for lower-tier systems like Patriot. Shrug. Ok by me.

[ThunderSleeps]

Yeah, you can do supersonic coast - our (now retired) Phoenix air-to-air missile did that. Some of the Navy's SAMs (SM-2s) do that (I think). The trick is, you gotta be up high, where the air is thin. Down low, "like a cruise missile" as they claim the air it far too thick and you'd scrub off all speed. Then you'd be a slow, hot target with a decent RF signature too - easy pickings.

Even up high you're going to generate a lot of heat and more than likely scrub off any ablative RAM coating. So you're still going to stand out. Maneuvering scrubs energy. You'll also be well within the engagement envelopes of standard SAMs. These are relatively cheap and plentiful compared to missile defense interceptors. You can volley fire a dozen SAMs at these things. Your typical SAM is designed to intercept maneuvering targets and thus can pull tremendous Gs itself turning to the intercept point.

Is this a threat? Sure. Is it unbeatable? Not in the least. Just a different set of problems, all solvable.

[Cvengr]

But General, Can they evade the air defenses?

[Paco]

Yep and that’s what IBM thought when a couple guys in a garage changed the world...

[fella]

The Doomsday Machine

[libertylover]

Would love to learn how they pull that trick off

I don't know, but it may be like the zig-zagging of a naval vessel, computer controlled of course to be fairly random. It would create some misses I'm sure.

[PIF]

We put all our money into either weapons that will not float or will not fly - but they are very expensive and we need more like them if we ever hope to equal the Russians ...

[BobL]

You don’t need to tell me that. We also have self-imposed taxes (like racial quotas and similar contract requirements) which results in an army of well-paid but TOTALLY INCOMPETENT people driving up the cost of hardware - to the point where we are likely to get CRUSHED if we get into a shooting war with either Russia or China (or maybe even North Korea).

We could keep the dollar spending on the military CONSTANT, and get triple our value - if we would elect someone that would take that path...

[justa-hairyape]

Laser defenses. Instant hit no matter the path.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Its warheads are supersonic

Every ICBM warhead has reentry speed of about 4 miles/second (about 14,000 MPH)--supersonic is 650-750 MPH depending on altitude. That's by definition, you schmuck. If it didn't have those flight characteristics, it wouldn't be an ICBM.

This is the word of an "expert"? In media language, "military expert" is "journalist who gets put on that desk because it was vacant when he showed up his first day of work". And I use the term "journalist" because it always gets a laugh.

“Russia’s new RS-26 missile travels along a continuously changing trajectory and as such it has no analogues in the world,” the expert said.

The Advanced Maneuverable Reentry Vehicle was fielded by McDonnel-Douglas in the 1970s and has been carried by the Minuteman missile since then.

Have I been the only person to notice that the media has been flooded by these bogus Chinese and Russian "killer weapon that nobody has ever seen before" stories? I doubt it. What's sad is that the American news media just parrots this garbage because having any military knowledge is taboo among them. Judging by the response on FR, the average person isn't much better.