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                                                                                         WORLD NEWS Friday 28 december 2018


















            Official: Russian weapon 27 times faster than speed of sound




            By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV                                                                                              A smiling Ivanov likened the
            Associated Press                                                                                                    weapon’s  flight  through
            MOSCOW  (AP)  —  Russia’s                                                                                           the  atmosphere  to  a  peb-
            new strategic weapon has                                                                                            ble skipping off the surface
            rendered  any  missile  de-                                                                                         of water. Ivanov, who now
            fenses  useless  at  a  small                                                                                       serves  as  Putin’s  adviser,
            fraction  of  their  cost,  offi-                                                                                   said  the  Avangard  could
            cials said Thursday.                                                                                                be  fitted  to  the  Soviet-
            The  Avangard  hypersonic                                                                                           made  UR-100UTTKh  inter-
            glide  vehicle  flies  27  times                                                                                    continental  ballistic  missile,
            faster  than  the  speed  of                                                                                        which is code-named SS-19
            sound, making it impossible                                                                                         Stiletto by NATO.
            to  intercept,  Deputy  Prime                                                                                       He noted that Russia has a
            Minister  Yuri  Borisov  told                                                                                       stockpile  of  several  dozen
            Russian state television.                                                                                           such  missiles,  which  are  in
            The  new  weapon  “essen-                                                                                           a  factory-mint  condition
            tially  makes  missile  defens-                                                                                     and  not  filled  with  fuel,  al-
            es useless,” he said.                                                                                               lowing them to serve for a
            Borisov  spoke  a  day  after                                                                                       long time to come. Ivanov
            Russian  President  Vladimir                                                                                        added that they could be
            Putin oversaw what he de-    Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Chief of General Staff of Russia Valery Gerasimov oversee   put  in  existing  silos,  sharply
            scribed  as  the  conclusive   the test launch of the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle from the Defense Ministry’s control room   reducing the costs of Avan-
            successful test of the Avan-  in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018.                                          gard’s deployment.
            gard and hailed it as a reli-                                                                      Associated Press  He noted that Russia began
            able guarantee of Russia’s  The  Defense  Ministry  re-   Russia-U.S.  relations,  which  atmosphere.  He  empha-   to  develop  the  Avangard
            security  for  decades  to  leased  footage  from  the  have  been  strained  over  sized  that  unlike  previous  after the 2002 U.S. withdrew
            come.                        test  launch,  in  which  a  the Ukrainian crisis, the war  nuclear  warheads  fitted  from  the  1972  Anti-Ballistic
            In  Wednesday’s  test,  the  ballistic  missile  could  be  in Syria and the allegations  to   intercontinental   bal-  Missile Treaty and started to
            weapon  was  launched  seen  blasting  from  a  silo  of  Moscow’s  meddling  in  listic  missiles  that  follow  a  develop  defenses  against
            from the Dombarovskiy mis-   in a cloud of smoke, but it  the  2016  U.S.  presidential  predictable  trajectory  al-  ballistic missiles.
            sile  base  in  the  southern  hasn’t released any images  election.                   lowing  it  to  calculate  the  Moscow  feared  that  the
            Ural  Mountains.  The  Krem-  of the vehicle itself.      Sergei Ivanov, a former Rus-  spot  where  they  can  be  U.S.  missile  shield  could
            lin  said  it  successfully  hit  a  Putin said the Avangard will  sian  defense  minister,  said  intercepted, the Avangard  erode its nuclear deterrent,
            practice target on the Kura  enter  service  with  the  Rus-  in televised comments that  chaotically  zigzags  on  its  and  Putin  announced  in
            shooting  range  on  Kam-    sian Strategic Missile Forces  the  Avangard  constantly  path  to  its  target,  making  2004 that Russia was work-
            chatka,  6,000  kilometers  next  year.  The  test  comes  changes its course and al-  it impossible to predict the  ing  on  a  new  hypersonic
            (3,700 miles) away.          amid  bitter  tensions  in  titude as it flies through the  weapon’s location.         weapon.q
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