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Putin’s nukes: Here’s a breakdown of Russia’s new weapons, and what they mean for the US

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Last week, Russia President Vladmir Putin delivered an address that included quite a bit of nuclear rhetoric that was as reminiscent of the Soviet era as Putin himself. From new intercontinental ballistic missiles designed specifically to circumvent U.S. defenses to cruise missiles with nuclear propulsion and near limitless fuel reserves … it would seem that Russia has just dropped a bomb (of sorts) on the Geopolitical arena. As Putin said himself, “Russia still has the greatest nuclear potential in the world, but nobody listened to us. Listen now.”

Well, the world is listening now, Mr. Putin – but then, we always were. While plenty of news outlets are eager to market the end of the world to you, the nuclear “announcements” made by Putin last week weren’t really announcements at all. Let’s break down the four nuclear programs Putin outlined, and what we already know:

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  • Susan B

    I read his speech from March 1. All of the military parts of the speech were interesting and I’m glad you gave us a better breakdown of what he mentioned. A reassuring one, for sure.
    It was also very interesting, for me anyway, of all the reassurances he was giving regarding the economic state of Russia. It must be in pretty bad shape considering the improvements he is promising. It sounds like the higher ups have all the perks while the lower and lower-middles are lacking a lot of amenities that even our poor take for granted. No wonder he is touting his military hardware in Syria. Their economy needs the money pretty badly if my take is correct.

  • Thomas S

    Out of all of these the hypersonic missiles are the largest threat.
    The nuke stuff is interesting, but not terribly worrisome coming from Putin. He isn’t stupid. He wants Russia to be a top power, not a sea of glass.
    Nuclear engines of sorts have long been interesting. We gave them up as “not needed” for missiles back in the day and we were never comfortable with using them in manned systems. I know that in recent times there has been renewed interest in their use for space flight and I find that an interesting road to investigate.
    The new sub posses no more threat than any other nuke that Russia has. If they are going to take that step our defenses won’t mean a great deal, and neither will theirs. This idea of wildlife and sub hunters is only useful if the drone was supposed to sit around and wait in the first place. If it was launched to be used, it will have done its job by the time the sub hunter has started really looking for it.
    Hypersonic missiles though… A missile that we aren’t capable of reliably intercepting that is basically conventional in nature. How long until Russia starts selling those to places like Iran, or they fall into the hands of fanatical groups who would love to take out one of our ships. Right now Russia may be keen to keep a closer grip on them, but how many years until they do decide to sell some.
    I would also point out that we have been working on the idea of hypersonic flight, including missiles since at least the mid 90s. Much like many of our other programs though we saw little need given the “reduced” threat posed by top national powers so we underfunded or shelved the research. We have had this idea for too long now that nobody can touch us, and it is a mistake.