Popular Mechanics – We’ve heard plenty of bombastic claims about new Russian weaponry in the past few years. But U.S. intelligence believes that the development of new arms—many of them nuclear-capable—is experiencing decidedly mixed success.
According to MSNBC, the Avangard and Kinzhal hypersonic weapons could be operational by 2020, but the Buresvestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile won’t be ready for at least a decade. These weapons were announced in May 2018 as part of a package to modernize Russian tactical and strategic nuclear forces.
Avangard (seen above) is a so-called boost-glide hypersonic weapon system. Traditional ballistic missiles carry their nuclear warhead payloads into space, which then streak back down through the atmosphere onto their targets. Under the boost-glide concept, the missile stops short of delivering its payload into space, instead aiming the warhead into a depressed trajectory. The boost glide weapon then glides through the atmosphere on a relatively flat trajectory, avoiding U.S. missile defenses such as the Ground Based Interceptor.
