Russia Tests New Missile Designed to Overcome U.S. Defenses

On Saturday Russia successfully test-launched a missile designed to penetrate missile defenses. The commander of Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces, Nikolai Solovtsov, quoted by AP, said the K65M-R had been launched from a testing ground at Kapustin Yar in the southern Astrakhan region. The main purpose of the launch was to test “a uniform warhead for land- and sea-based ballistic missiles” and newly-developed elements of a system designed to penetrate missile defenses. The commander added that plans for a U.S. missile-defense system “could upset strategic stability.” He suggested that the test was part of an effort to ensure that Russian missiles are capable of foiling any U.S. shield. He said the test involved optic and radar measurement systems that reproduce similar U.S. systems. “The planned scale of the United States’ deployment of a ... missile defense system is so considerable that the fear that it could have a negative effect on the parameters of Russia’s nuclear deterrence potential is quite justified,” Solovtsov said. He added that the system being tested Saturday would make missiles more difficult to spot and their trajectories more difficult to predict.