Russia Tests ‘Missile Defense Killer’

[littleboy]

MOSCOW, June 7 (RIA Novosti) – The US
missile defense system is no match for
the new intercontinental ballistic missile
(ICBM) that Russia tested this week, a
senior Russian official said Friday.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin,
who oversees the defense industry,
hailed Thursday’s tests as a success and
dubbed the new ICBM a “missile defense
killer.”
“Neither current nor future American
missile defense systems will be able to
prevent that missile from hitting a target
dead on,” he said, during an event
organized by the ruling United Russia
party.
The Russian Defense Ministry was more
modest in its appraisal of the test,
carried out by the Strategic Missile
Forces at the Kapustin Yar testing site,
between Volgograd and Astrakhan, on
Thursday.
“The test launch was a success as the
[simulated] warhead hit a designated
target within the set time frame,” said a
Defense Ministry statement issued
Thursday.
The US missile defense system in Europe,
which NATO and the US say is aimed at
countering threats from North Korea and
Iran, has been a particular source of
friction in US-Russian relations for a
number of years.
Russia and NATO formally agreed to
cooperate over the European missile
defense system at the 2010 NATO summit
in Lisbon, but talks foundered, in part
over Russian demands for legal
guarantees that the system would not
target its strategic nuclear deterrent.
In mid-March, the US announced that it
was modifying its planned missile
defense deployment to Poland, dropping
plans to station SM-3 IIB interceptors in
the country by 2022.
Russian officials responded by saying
that this did nothing to allay their
concerns over US missile defense in
Eastern Europe, and reiterated their
demand for legally binding agreements
guaranteeing that Russia’s strategic
nuclear forces would not be targeted.
Although analysts were quick to
interpret the US change in plan as a
concession to Russia, possibly intended
to pave the way for further bilateral
talks on nuclear arms reduction, US
officials repeatedly refuted this
suggestion.
Speaking after a bilateral meeting with
the Polish foreign minister on Monday,
US Secretary of State John Kerry stressed
the United States’ continued commitment
to that element of the missile defense
system.
“We are on track to deploy a missile
defense site in Poland by 2018 as part of
NATO’s modernized approach to our
security,” Kerry said.
Russia Tests