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Yeah, they never exagerate<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>...

<i>Russia Says New Missile Will Beat Any U.S. Defenses
Thu February 19, 2004 06:42 PM ET

By Tom Miles
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has developed ballistic missile technology that can outwit any defensive system, a top Russian general said on Thursday, in a clear challenge to the United States' planned $50 billion anti-missile shield.

The declaration came a day after President Vladimir Putin, eyeing nationalist votes for elections next month, promised to equip his armed forces with a new generation of long-range weapons matching those of the United States.

First Deputy Chief of Staff Colonel-General Yury Baluyevsky said that during large-scale military exercises on Wednesday, Russia had test-launched a missile system that could maneuver in mid-flight, allowing it to dodge defenses.

"The test carried out yesterday confirmed that we can build weapons which will render any anti-missile system defenseless against an attack by Russia's strategic forces," he told a news conference.

"It's part of our unilateral response to the creation or future creation of a missile defense system by any state or bloc of states," he said.

Moscow and Washington agreed not to develop large-scale missile defenses in the Cold War, but President Bush pulled out of the treaty in 2002, saying the United States had to ward off threats from terrorists and "rogue states."

Washington appeared unperturbed by the Russian missile test.

"I don't think it has any impact on U.S.-Russian relations. They've got to design a missile force that they think is sufficient for deterrence, just like we do," Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Washington.

MISSILE SETBACKS

Baluyevsky said Russia was not opposed to missile shields and reiterated remarks by President Putin, who said on Wednesday that Russia was not too worried about the U.S. plan and cooperation between the two countries was good.

Russia's maneuvers have not gone entirely smoothly over the last week.

A Russian ballistic missile self-destructed after a failed test launch from a submarine in the Arctic north on Wednesday. On Tuesday, two ballistic missiles failed to take off in a test on another nuclear submarine.

The U.S. defensive shield remains in its early stages.

The initial system, being built by Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Orbital Sciences, is designed only to protect against a limited attack.

Critics of the U.S. effort, budgeted at $50 billion over the next five years, worry it could trigger an international arms race to overwhelm anti-missile defenses. They also say it faces an impossible task, likened to "hitting a bullet with a bullet."

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency said last month the system being built would be able to defend all 50 states against a limited ballistic missile attack by the end of 2004.
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"The declaration came a day after President Vladimir Putin, eyeing nationalist votes for elections next month, promised to equip his armed forces with a new generation of long-range weapons matching those of the United States."

Yeah, the new Russkie Mk1 I wish i could pay for it Missile.

ABM isn't for full scale war anyway...just rogue states with an itchy trigger finger.

<img src="http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/sigs/snipersig.jpg " border=0>

Anyone know if that Air Force has actually tested the 747 with the ABM laser on it? Seems to me that maneuvering an UCBM in flight is good but lasers travel pretty fast..............like at light speed, silly commies...............I think the only real offense against a good ABM defense would be to over saturate the airspace thus ensuring a couple good licks in before we lit up their world.

By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a pearage or Westminster Abbey........Nelson

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YGBSM !

I got a way to make Russia deplete their military-strength: Let them keep testing their equipment.

Here's a follow up,

<i>Russian missile launch goes wrong - again
Putin's much-publicised appearance at military exercises is marred by missile malfunction on two days running

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin oversaw one of Russia's largest strategic military exercises in years for a second day on Wednesday, and, for a second day, something went wrong.


President Putin looks on during the missile tests. His appearance at the exercises is seen as highlighting his role as the commander-in-chief of a revived military. -- REUTERS
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fired from the nuclear submarine Karelia in the Barents Sea veered wildly off course 98 seconds after launch and then self-destructed, a navy spokesman said.

The cause of the malfunction would be investigated.

The missile was supposed to cross the Arctic and land in a missile range in the Far Eastern region of Kamchatka. Instead, it exploded in the upper atmosphere over the Barents.

On Tuesday, the launch of two missiles from the submarine Novomoskovsk in the Barents failed - for reasons that are still in dispute - as Mr Putin watched from the deck of another submarine.

Officials had described the planned launches on Tuesday as a centrepiece of the exercises, which involved Russia's strategic nuclear forces.

On Tuesday, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov denied initial reports that the missiles had malfunctioned. He said the missile tests had always been planned as simulations, not as live firing exercises.

But Kommersant and Izvestia reported on Wednesday that the launches were aborted because of a malfunction in one of the missiles. Both newspapers reported that the navy was trying to cover up an embarrassing failure.

Mr Putin's much-publicised visit to the exercises came 3 1/2 weeks before the presidential election on March 14 and appeared to highlight his role as the commander-in-chief of a revived Russian military.

Mr Pavel Felgenhauer, a military analyst and journalist, said the glitches in the exercises reflected the ageing of Russia's ICBMs, many of them nearly 30 years old.

Mr Putin on Wednesday announced plans for deploying a new generation of strategic weapons, which some analysts said may be weapons with warheads that zigzag on their way to a target, an idea dating to the Soviet era.

The new weapons would be 'capable of hitting targets continents away at hypersonic speed, with high precision and the ability of broad manoeuvre both in terms of altitude and direction of their flight', Mr Putin said. -- New York Times, AP


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[url="http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,236105,00.html"]Link[/url]



Edited by - Tritonal on Feb 20 2004 09:56 AM

The ABL is only for boost phase intercept of the missles. It heats up the motor case and lets the missle blow itself up.

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us". George Orwell

Fighting For Justice With Brains Of Steel !
<img src="http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/atengun2X.GIF" border=0>

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The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

didnt know where else to stick this, and I didnt think it needed it's own thread so:
was just reading on the newsgroup that the AF is testing deployment of the BAT submunition from a C-130 as a possible replacement for the 105 howie on the AC-130. Apparently they figure if one BAT fails, no biggie but if the 105 fails it is a big problem( a single point failure kind of idea I guess).

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us". George Orwell

Fighting For Justice With Brains Of Steel !
<img src="http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/atengun2X.GIF" border=0>

_________________
The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.