Russia deploys Avangard hypersonic missile system
Mr Putin said on Tuesday the Avangard system could penetrate current and future missile defence systems, adding:"Not a single country possesses hypersonic weapons, let alone continental-range hypersonic weapons."It is hard to determine if Russia's new Avangard hypersonic missile system really has entered service, as Moscow claims, or if this is just an advanced phase of field testing. But President Putin's eagerness to claim bragging rights is to some extent justified.
Such"boost-glide" systems, as they are known , are launched like a traditional ballistic missile, but instead of following an arc high above the atmosphere, the re-entry vehicle is put on a trajectory that allows it to enter Earth's atmosphere quite quickly, before gliding, un-powered, for hundreds or thousands of kilometres.