New and effective
For the first time, Vladimir Putin reported on innovative weapons in his annual message to the Federal Assembly, backing up oral information with a video series. The movie allowed the audience to get a visual representation of the new winged blocks.
It was about the developed rocket complex, which passed several stages of testing. The president spoke about guided combat devices that can overcome dense atmospheric layers at hypersonic speed. At the same time, they are able to change the height and trajectory of the direction, thereby "deceiving" the enemy's missile defense system.
“Russia now possesses weapons that no one in the world has of equal,” said Vladimir Putin.
The new missile system, equipped with a heavy intercontinental ballistic missile "Sarmat", has virtually no range limitations. It will be able to hit even the most reliable systems. In addition, an enhanced nuclear power plant was developed. It is designed for cruise missiles: a small system will fit in the body of the device. The installation will allow the rocket to bypass the lines of interception, change the trajectory of the direction and provide an almost unlimited flight range.
The President of the Russian Federation noted that such a device is invulnerable to all existing air defense and missile defense systems.
Tests
The first unsuccessful launch of the Avangard was made in 2011 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. The second was held there in 2012. The third and fourth launches were carried out from the Kapustin Yar test site in 2012-2013, and the fifth in 2015. Thus, a total of 5 starts were carried out, 4 of which were successful.
American counterpart
It is noteworthy that the American weapons developers tried to create an analogue of Avangard and have been testing it since 2003. The last flight test took place in 2011: the aircraft successfully entered the flight path, but then crashed into the Pacific Ocean. The US military admits that they do not have the means at their disposal to effectively fight against Russian hypersonic guided military units.
According to TASS, on July 19, 2018, manufacturing enterprises began mass production of warheads.
