[FPSPACE] Re: Missiles for everybody

[Nathanael Horsley]

The following is an excerpt from www.defensetech.org

    No details were immediately available, but Defense Minister Sergei 
Ivanov said earlier this month that Russia expected to test-fire a mobile 
version of its Topol-M ballistic missile this year and that production of 
the new weapon could be commissioned in 2005.

    News reports have also said Russia is believed to be developing a 
next-generation heavy nuclear missile that could carry up to 10 nuclear 
warheads weighing a total of 4.4 tons, compared with the Topol-M's 1.32-ton 
combat payload.

    Topol-Ms have been deployed in silos since 1998. The missiles have a 
range of about 6,000 miles and reportedly can maneuver in ways that are 
difficult to detect.


Anybody wanna bet how long it'll take for the White House or the Pentagon to 
say this proves the need for its missile defense array -- even though the 
system is so lame, it can't be tested?

THERE'S MORE: "This is not something that we look at as new," White House 
press secretary Scott McCllelan now says. "We are very well aware of their 
long-standing modernization efforts for their military. ... We are allies 
now in the global war on terrorism."

AND MORE: The Russian military has been working for a number of years, now, 
on missiles that can juke American interceptors, Jeffrey Lewis notes. In 
December 2003, "a source on the Russian General Staff told Interfax that 
every Topol-M [missile] will be outfitted with... the capability of 
launching decoys."

Last February, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists observes, the Russians 
successfully tested "a new hypersonic 'Crazy Ivan' warhead that follows a 
nonclassical scenario, changing flight altitude and course repeatedly, 
making it nearly impossible to track and target. Putin declared Russia able 
to penetrate any missile defense system with ease."