Russia's Fancy New ICBM

By John

First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Russia tested an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple independent warheads, and it also successfully conducted a "preliminary" test of a tactical cruise missile that he said could fly farther than existing, similar weapons.

"As of today, Russia has new tactical and strategic complexes that are capable of overcoming any existing or future missile defense systems," Ivanov said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. "So in terms of defense and security, Russians can look calmly to the country's future."

Oh. Well in that case, they have no reason to fear a missile defense base in Eastern Europe.

Aside: there's no such thing as a "tactical cruise missile." Not when the payload is nuclear. Now I'm no fancy big city repoter, but I'm pretty sure that bumps you up into some sort of "strategic" category.

Hotel Tango: The Tank

May 30, 2007 04:25 AM Strategery

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Comments

Well now,
the eastern corridor is clear of bases...hhmm
me thinks new gamin be afoot in the bunker
somewhere near "K" st.

JUST in case mind ya.......

Richard · May 30, 2007 08:22 PM

as i understand, cruize missles are subsonic.

"interceptors" (f-15s, f22s, eurofighters etc.) are supersonic. the zoomies have had supersonic air to air stuff for quite a few years.

perhaps things might not be exactly what the press releases infer them to be???

c · May 30, 2007 10:01 PM

There are individuals who argue that the Cold War is coming back.

I say it never went away.

William B. · May 31, 2007 05:15 AM

Actually I think the Soviets made supersonic cruise missiles. They tend to be a lot bigger than subsonic cruise missiles because they have to carry a lot more fuel, since supersonic flight is less efficient (more drag, basically). I believe their supersonic cruise missiles use ramjets rather than turbojets. They're accelerated to supersonic speed with a rocket motor and then cruise on the ramjet. Examples of such missiles would be the "Sunburn" (which I think is SS-N-22 - but I could have the number wrong). They developed this technology for their SAMs I believe. I think it was the SA-6 or a derivative which pioneered the rocket boost/ramjet cruise technique (and cleverly, by re-using the rocket chamber as the combustion chamber for the ramjet to save space and weight).

Still, cruise missiles are going to be much easier to intercept than ballistic missiles. A high speed SAM like SA-10 or Patriot (hypersonic) may be able to take out a supersonic cruise missile if in range. Plus, those things have big heat signatures so they may be easier to detect than subsonic missiles.

Nicholas · June 1, 2007 05:03 AM