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.
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