Russia's New Space Bomber

Moscow, Russia -- The Russian press is reporting this morning that the Russian military has developed a new bomber that could attack the United States from outer space, penetrating any missle defense shield.

Col-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, told the Associated Press that the "hypersonic flying vehicle" can fly outside of the Earth's atmosphere and would be an "asymmetric response" to the proposed US missile defense shield.

Link

that was a good one, comments anyone?

Of course I have a comment or two:
That a nifty gadget...will it make it into the paper tiger arena like so much other projects have (Ka-58, Mig 1.42/44, etc)?
Actually, I'm looking forward to it being reality, will make fine target bait for those US laser equipped satellites to begin popping into service in 2010-2013+/-.
Laser Satellite Potentially Useful for Imaging, Surveillance

Don't bother to say that it can't be tracked. The US has a system to detect objects moving at Mach 6+:
Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL)

In addition to directing the high energy laser beam, the HELSTF SLBD has been used very successfully to passively track and image missiles in flight. The inherently precise pointing of the device and its ability to track very high speed targets make it an ideal platform for capturing in-flight imagery. The SLBD has been used as a sensor platform for tracking and imaging a number of Theater Missile Defense (TMD) launches and intercepts, including LANCE, ERINT, and LEAP. A 1000 frame-per-second, digital, infrared camera has been used to collect two-dimensional intercept measurements from targets and interceptors at over Mach 6 closure rates. Calibrated infrared sensors placed in the SLBD's optical train have been used to collect IR imagery for plume and hardbody thermal characterization.

seekerof

[Edited on 21-5-2004 by Seekerof]

This will or has already strated a space arms race...but a nice aircraft though.

Developed where (not which country but, which region where is it tested?) and by who (is there a paid scientist left in Russia?)? Which Russian (dare I say?) aerospace giant? Is this in early design stage? Reached the mock-up / scale testing phase? This is probably a ghost project, the public confirmation of it is designed to negate U.S. projects that are actually being developed, a bluff to be blunt. Not trying to rain on your parade but you asked, and overthrow.com would not be my first pick for substantiated reporting.

I don't understand the jew references in the article.

"The new weapons have US Jews frightened, and several, including David Horowitz, have run columns ridiculing Putin and the Russian missile forces, despite the fact that they are deathly afraid of them. "

Exactly the Jew Comment makes it all the more Suspect. Grain of Salt I say

That would probably be the Anti-Semitic slant of overthrow.com shining through, we all know how the Russians (and formerly the Soviets) wanted to be able to specifically target U.S. Jews.

Originally posted by Mirthful Me
overthrow.com would not be my first pick for substantiated reporting.

tell me why not??

Originally posted by titustell me why not??

Scaring me titus, note AZLS1 observation of the reference to Jews, does that seem relevant to an aerospace article? What no pictures? Not even a drawing? Every two bit paper airplane wannabe has got a stack of concept visuals. Read overthrow.com's own "about us", more scary stuff, the self confessed "I was a Communist" alone should give pause, then get your gun or run, depending on if your a �Red Blooded American" or a pacifist (it doesn't matter unless your in the Pit). Have fun with the site, there�s some pretty smart people out there in ATS land, and some great information, heck, some of it's even true!

Source seems very credible, I know what my homepage for news is set to now!

Buran could have been used as an orbital bomber, had the program been kept alive. As a functional clone of the US space shuttle, Buran would have had the similar payload and crossrange capability.

But, uh, as for that consipracy site in the original poster's link... funny stuff.

i think the ex-russian states will not aim anymore to the USA !!
most likely the new bull's eye targets are arabia and asia as potential dangers.

but,hey people,do not forget that it just takes up a small correction at
the I.S.S. to make it able to fire from out of space missiles to targets all over the planet !

The original statement was made by Col-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky to Associated Press on or about 19th Feb, a day or 2 after Putin witnessed the 'successful missile launchs' from the Plesetsk launch pad in northern Russia, and stated that experiments conducted during the military maneuvers had proven the country could build new strategic weapons that would be unrivaled in the world.

Col-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky was further reiterated in March by an unamed senior Defense Ministry official. The official, who was not identified by name, said tests conducted during the previous month's military maneuvers would dramatically change the philosophy behind development of Russia's nuclear forces, the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies reported.

However what was missing from the overthrow.com report was that Col-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky went on to say

The new weapons "are not going to be there tomorrow," he said, adding that between now and 2010-2015 Russia would be capable of piercing existing anti-missile systems.

"We are against the creation of anti-missile systems which threaten Russia," Baluyevsky told reporters.

Russia wants to modernise its strategic arsenal and plans to equip itself with "new nuclear missile systems," by 2010, he added.


Source: Wired News

Source: SpaceWar.com

Source: The Guardian

problem:where will the new-russian states find the money to do research and actually fabricate the stuff ??
sovjet air force is divided up now with older aircraft and not motivated
(unpaid / badly paid) militar service soldiers...

buran spaceshuttle project was one of the important projects cancelled in the past.


[Edited on 22-5-2004 by NOGODSINTHEUNIVERSE]

Black market, selling their technology to terrorist states and other communist countries like they have been doing since the 50s. China is also an ally of Russia for some time now.

hahahahaha
yep ! i would like to see the chinese driving up their wall with a..."ruskian" LADA !!

Buran as a space bomber?? LOL, I'd love to see that one. Spy sats would see Buran on the launch pad well before it got off the ground.

One word, four letters: ICBM. After a nuclear war, where's the runway gonna be for Buran?

hang on !

if you modify SLIGHTLY a spaceshuttle than you have a platform from
space that can reach any spot on earth with deadly force !

no triple A's to fear ! no SAM's coming up to you !

easy as 123 !

Originally posted by Lampyridae
Buran as a space bomber?? LOL, I'd love to see that one. Spy sats would see Buran on the launch pad well before it got off the ground.

One word, four letters: ICBM. After a nuclear war, where's the runway gonna be for Buran?

Agreed. However there will always be a need for bombers and fighters. Missles aren't always the best way to do something. Plus they cost a LOT of money for a 1 time use weapon.

hang on !

if you modify SLIGHTLY a spaceshuttle than you have a platform from
space that can reach any spot on earth with deadly force !

no triple A's to fear ! no SAM's coming up to you !

easy as 123 !

Not exactly... You have to take into account the fact that there is no bomb bay built into the bottom of a space shuttle. You would have to change all sorts of stuff because of the strain that shuttles go under, the bomb bay doors would lesson the structure of the shuttle. Plus it is not a single stage to orbit platform, which is what the military would want.

An aircraft thread without pictures is like having sex with your clothes on. Yeah it is nice to read about new and exciting developments, but it is much better to actually see a mockup or artists rendering, if not the actual photo.