US Arms Treaty Pullout Fuels Race for Hypersonic Weapons
Intermediate-range arms are Russia's reason for development
Jason Ditz
Russia reports continued advancements with hypersonic weapons, which aim to circumvent, at least partially, the US missile defense systems. The Russian Defense Ministry report that they are testing launchers, and it may be deployed soon.
Hypersonic missiles, especially nuclear versions, are a potentially big problem for the US, as it reduces time to strike and increases the risk of nuclear exchanges as a result. Yet the drive by Russia, and to a lesser extent China, to get the hypersonics directly resulted from US policy decisions.
Russia, China, and the US all had the option of pursuing the hypersonics but didn’t for years. Russia kept theirs on the back-burner, in no small part because it is a foil to the missile defense systems that the US is always deploying.
The real push came in the past year, however, when the US withdrew from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Banning medium-range nukes was very important to Russia, and the end raises a risk for them that the US will put medium-range nukes in Europe, something the US has done nothing to assure them won’t happen.
Hypersonic missiles, especially nuclear versions, are a potentially big problem for the US, as it reduces time to strike and increases the risk of nuclear exchanges as a result. Yet the drive by Russia, and to a lesser extent China, to get the hypersonics directly resulted from US policy decisions.
Russia, China, and the US all had the option of pursuing the hypersonics but didn’t for years. Russia kept theirs on the back-burner, in no small part because it is a foil to the missile defense systems that the US is always deploying.
The real push came in the past year, however, when the US withdrew from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Banning medium-range nukes was very important to Russia, and the end raises a risk for them that the US will put medium-range nukes in Europe, something the US has done nothing to assure them won’t happen.
posted by Satish Sharma at
11:51
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