US Air Force General Terrence O’Shaughnessy warned that the Avangard hypersonic missile may reach America within 15 minutes.
During congressional testimony earlier this week, O’Shaughnessy specifically focused on the advanced Russian Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, which he said travels at a reported 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometres) per hour — “fast enough to defeat current missile defenses and capable of striking the homeland within 15 minutes of launch atop a ballistic missile”.
O’Shaughnessy, who is also commander of the US-Canadian North American Aerospace Command (NORAD), admitted that Russia’s conventional and nuclear missiles pose “the most significant threat” to the US.
These missiles can be launched with “significantly greater standoff ranges and accuracy than their predecessors, allowing them to strike North America from well outside NORAD radar coverage”, he said.
According to O’Shaughnessy, the long-range Russian missiles include “highly capable” anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles carried by the Russian bombers Tu-95 Bears and Tu-160s.
This weaponry is backed by new Severodvinsk-class submarines “armed with advanced land-attack cruise missiles”, he said, adding that the Severodvinsk vessels are “much quieter and more lethal than previous generations of Russian attack submarines”.
The comments came after Russian President Vladimir Putin told the country’s Federation Assembly on 20 February that the significance of creating the Avangard hypersonic missile can be likened to the creation of the Earth’s first artificial satellite.
Source: Sputnik
