16 November 2023 , 15:09
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Russia is threatening the West with its most deadly “meteorite” hypersonic missile Avangard as footage shows it being readied for combat.
The nuclear-capable weapon - delivered to targets at 27 times the speed of sound - is seen in new footage being installed in an underground launch silo in Russia’s Orenburg region. The 20,000mph missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle is fired outside the earth’s atmosphere before striking multiple targets in the world, in less than 30 minutes.
It is the only weapon of its kind in the world and Russian president Vladimir Putin says the West has nothing that could stop it. Footage shows the Avangard being installed in its launch silo at the base of the 31st Missile Army, part of Russia’s strategic rocket forces, at Yasny, close to the country’s border with Kazakhstan.
The Russian defence ministry said: “An intercontinental ballistic missile is loaded into a silo launcher using the hydraulic mechanism of a special transport-loading unit. The most complex technological operations last for several hours.” Putin has previously claimed the Avangard strikes “like a meteorite” and is “invincible” - unstoppable by any defence system.
The missile has been repositioned (MoD Russia/e2w)Putin has boasted: “The Avangard is invulnerable to intercept by any existing and prospective missile defence means of the potential adversary.” The Yasnensky missile formation is gradually being re-equipped with the Avangard system. The deployment will “increase the combat capabilities of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces”.
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Putin said in 2018 as it was being developed: “It goes at a goal like a meteorite, like a burning ball, like a fireball.” He called it a “new type of strategic weapon”, which was first deployed in 2019.