Russia unveils nuclear weapons Putin claims are immune to interception

Russia has developed a new set of strategic nuclear weapons that can’t be intercepted, Vladimir Putin claimed Thursday, marking a breakthrough that could dramatically increase the country’s military capabilities.

The Russian president made the bold claim during his state-of-the-nation speech and said the new weapons include a nuclear-powered cruise missile, a nuclear-powered underwater drone, and a new hypersonic missile.

Putin claimed the new weapons have made NATO’s U.S.-led missile defense system “useless,” and are a signal to Western powers that efforts to hold Russia in check have failed.

“I want to tell all those who have fueled the arms race over the last 15 years, sought to win unilateral advantages over Russia, introduced unlawful sanctions aimed to contain our country’s development: all what you wanted to impede with your policies have already happened,” he said. “You have failed to contain Russia.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives his annual state of the nation address in Manezh in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, March 1, 2018.  (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

The Russian leader also warned that Moscow would regard any nuclear attack on its allies as an attack on Russia itself, and the country would respond swiftly, according to Sky News.

“We would consider any use of nuclear weapons against Russia or its allies to be a nuclear attack on our country. The response would be immediate,” he told Russian politicians.

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Putin claimed the nuclear-powered cruise missile tested last fall has an unlimited range, high speed and maneuverability allowing it to pierce any missile defense.

The S-300 air defence system launches a missile during the International Army Games 2016 at the Ashuluk military polygon outside Astrakhan, Russia, August 7, 2016.  (REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov)

A missile defense expert told Fox News on Thursday that America’s missile defense is “limited” against Putin’s cruise missiles.

“U.S. missile defense efforts have been largely oriented to a limited ballistic missile-style threat,” said Tom Karako from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “But the threat from Russia is not just from ballistic missiles anymore. Cruise missiles and hypersonic-glide vehicles don’t follow predictable ballistic paths so we have to adapt to this emerging threat.” 

“The Pentagon’s forthcoming Missile Defense Review has been tasked with looking at just this sort of threat, namely the cruise missile threat to the homeland,” Karako added. 

A map from the Center for Strategic and International Studies showing the threat posed by Russian cruise missiles to the U.S.  (Center for Strategic and International Studies)

The Pentagon’s new nuclear posture review calls for the development of two new “low-yield” tactical nukes to match the Russian threat. Nuclear-tipped cruise missiles were removed from U.S. Navy warships during President George H.W. Bush’s administration, and fully scrapped under President Obama, according to defense officials. 

Congress had urged the Obama administration to take the cruise missile threat from Russia seriously, aides told Fox News on Thursday.

A decades-old arms treaty between Moscow and Washington only bans ground-based intermediate-range cruise missiles, but does not ban sea or air-launched cruise missiles in the U.S. military.  

Besides the cruise missiles, Putin also boasted to Russian lawmakers the development of a high-speed underwater drone has an “intercontinental” range, can carry a nuclear warhead, and target both aircraft carriers and coastal facilities.

He added to applause that the names for the two weapons had not yet been chosen, and suggested the country’s defense ministry could run a nationwide contest to pick the names.

The announcement of the new nuclear weapons comes as Putin is set to easily win another six-year presidential term in the March 18 election. He said the new weapons would help ensure global stability and draw a line under attempts to weaken Russia.

The new military systems also use physical principles, including laser systems, and multiply Russia’s opportunities in the defense sector, according to the TASS news agency.

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The Russian leader said that another new weapon called Avangard is an intercontinental hypersonic missile that would fly to targets at a speed 20 times the speed of sound and strike “like a meteorite, like a fireball.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives his annual state of the nation address in Manezh in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, March 1, 2018.  (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

The Russian leader emphasized that the development of new weapons that have no equivalent in the West came after the U.S. withdrawal from a Cold War-era treaty banning missile defenses and U.S. efforts to develop a missile defense system.

He said that the U.S. has ignored Russian complaints.

“No one has listened to us,” he said. “You listen to us now.”

Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.