MOSCOW: Russia is boosting its ballistic arsenal with new strategic missile systems, plans maximum-range launches and may increase testing in response to growing external threats, a senior Russian military commander said on Monday.
\nIn a clear warning that Russia will respond if it deems its security is threatened, Sergei Karakayev, the commander of Russia\u2019s Strategic Missile Forces, said the country plans maximum-range test launches as part of testing new systems.
\n\u201cIn terms of range, there is no place where our missiles cannot reach,\u201d Russia\u2019s RIA state news agency cited Karakayev as telling the Krasnaya Zvezda, the Russian defense ministry\u2019s official newspaper, in an interview.<\/p>\n
He added that Russia may increase the intensity of tests of its advanced missile weapons if external threats grow.
\nConfirming for the first time publicly that Russia is developing a new intercontinental ballistic missile system, the Osina, Karakayev said the introduction into combat of Osina and a number of new missile systems is a priority.
\nHe said, without revealing details, that Russia is also completing the development of missile systems akin to its new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as Oreshnik, which President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia will mass-produce soon.
\nRussia struck Ukraine in November with Oreshnik in response to Kyiv\u2019s use of US and British missiles against Russia.
\nKarakayev said Russia\u2019s new state armament development program will consider various options for the development of strategic offensive weapons by Russia and will take into account similar moves by the US after the expiration of the New START nuclear arms treaty between the countries in 2026.
\nRussian media reported in October that Moscow will not sign a replacement for the START treaty, the last remnant of efforts to slow the nuclear arms race between the former Cold War superpowers and to increase transparency by imposing verifiable limits on the number of weapons.
\nKarakayev said that Russia had not ruled out increasing the number of warheads on deployed missiles after the New START treaty expires, in response to similar actions by the United States.
\nHe also said that Moscow and Washington continue to give each other a 24-hour warning of any planned test launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
\nRussia\u2019s armament program ensures that Russia\u2019s strategic missile forces are equipped with mobile missile systems, Karakayev said.
\n\u201cMissile divisions equipped with mobile-based missile systems will be a decisive means of inflicting devastating damage on the enemy in a retaliatory strike due to high manoeuvrability and survivability, especially in the context of the deployment of the US missile defense system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW: Russia is boosting its ballistic arsenal with new strategic missile systems, plans maximum-range launches and may increase testing in response to growing external threats, a senior Russian military commander said on Monday. In a clear warning that Russia will respond if it deems its security is threatened, Sergei Karakayev, the commander of Russia\u2019s Strategic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-449921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n