Russian SS-27 Missle....Wow if this is true.

I was looking around today and saw this article on www.rense.com. It talks about Russia's new missle technology, reported to be able to achieve speeds of 10,700 mph. Not only this, it does not have a set trajectory, and can be manuvered in mid-flight. This means bye-bye to current missle defense systems. If this is true, this is astounding/scary. Let me know what you think.

Here is the link:
www.rense.com...

I don't see why it's that scary.

The missile sheild they are trying to build is not meant to withstand a barrage from the soviet union, and MIRVs can already defeat what we have.

It also appears to be old news.

www.missilethreat.com...

ohh i just saw it today, thanks much for the link, that one is a lot more informative then the other. it makes you wonder though, if the soviet union has this type of technology its only a matter of time before other countries do.

This is the newest Russian ICBM, intercontinental Ballistic Missile, and it's sub-launched counterpart. It's not really new, it first tested in 1997. What is new, is a test of the maneuvering warhead, reported on November 2, 2005.

Maneuvering in the final approach phase, is news.

The missile is launched in typical ballistic fashion, into low earth orbit, and back down again. It is a single warhead design, no MIRVs. The speeds mentioned are typical of ballistic launches. Maneuvering normally takes place in mid-flight, in order to provide basic targeting.

Reports are that the warheads are also designed to resist lasers, nuclear blasts, energy weapons, etc. Whether or not missile defense systems are effective against these new design items, is unknown.

Basically, if anti-anti-missile defenses (the maneuvering part) have been incorporated, there would be a reason why. Logically, some one believes that anti-missile defenses (shoot it down) are going to do the task intended.

When lasers get powerful enough wouldn't they be able to destroy missiles instantaniously no matter how fast they maneuver?

Originally posted by thecry
When lasers get powerful enough wouldn't they be able to destroy missiles instantaniously no matter how fast they maneuver?

Well, yes and no. I wouldn't call it a laser anymore, if it could do that. Current experiments, are reaching maximum power levels, for what is considered LASER type of beams. Interest is now shifting to other frequencies, and combinations, of beam devices. (And more power.)

The incoming warhead, is a big chunk of metal, that doesn't want to be destroyed. The beam weapon, must disable it while in flight. The length of time to do so, is limited, and the degree of difficulty is high.

The original concept of a beam weapon, was to hit the rocket itself, during the boost phase, while it is still climbing to altitude. This is when the fragile, thin, fuselage of the boost rocket can be hit and destroyed.

Once the warhead is separated, it becomes much more difficult to destroy. This is why kinetic impact type high-speed rockets are being developed.

On the other hand, beam weapons to do exactly that, have been developed for use by the Israeli armed forces. Reports are that it can destroy mortar rounds in flight. So perhaps larger warheads at greater range (ballistic warheads), can be destroyed in the future.

Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)

reply to post by thecry


Problem is that these MIRVs alread have laser shielding. Look up SS-27 on wiki. It clearly states so.

Yup Ivan does make some serious missile hardware... That sunburn one was a mean piece of kit as well, that evaded and made up it's own flight plan with an evil last minute climb from sea level up and over straight into the deck of shatever ship it was going to destroy.

The scariest thing about it all is not just the hardware, it's who they are willing to sell it to - Russia can't go using these things against the west directly unless they really want to go to war... Better to sell it and fight war's by proxy (BTW I'm not saying Russia is the only superpower that plays that little game)