Putin Tests Hypersonic Intercontinental Missile Carrying 24 Nuclear Warheads
new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile
© pres
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has tested his new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of carrying 24 nuclear warheads according to reports.
Video footage shows the 'invincible' hypersonic weapon launching from an underground silo at Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia.
US officials have become worried about Russia's growing arsenal as the potential threat from hypersonic weapons has become a reality.
The Avangard is capable of an altered trajectory, and also enable to execute high-speed evasive maneuvers.
© press
The DailyMail reports: 'This new test at the Plesetsk spaceport confirmed its characteristics during the pre-launch and initial flight phases,' the ministry said in a statement published in its Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) newspaper.
Putin said during his annual state of the nation parliamentary address this month that Russia had begun actively testing the Sarmat - known to NATO as the SS-X-32 SNOWFLAKE.
It is expected to go operational in 2021 with the the Uzhur-based strategic missile force division.
In order to intercept a Sarmat, at least 500 American ABM missiles would be needed, according to Viktor Bondarev, chairman of Russian senate's Defence and Security Committee and until recently commander of the country's aerospace forces.
'That is the conclusion of Western experts,' he claimed.
After Putin boasted about the Sarmat, Western experts had expressed skepticism on how close Moscow was to operational use.
