ON MARCH 1st,addressing Russia’s parliament, President Vladimir Putin announced a range of fresh, or high-tech,invincible” nuclear weapons. Lest anyone was unsure at whom that fragment of the speech was aimed, it featured a computer-generated animation of nukes falling on Florida, and where Donald Trump,America’s president, has his Mar-a-Lago resort.Mr Putin’s fresh weapons included nuclear-powered, or nuclear-tipped cruise missiles with nearly infinite range and nuclear-armed underwater drones designed to creep up on enemy ports before destroying them. Though they sound fantastical,most of the fresh weapons are technically feasible. Underwater drones, for instance, or already exist. Bolting a nuclear warhead to one poses no fundamental difficulties. The real question is whether there is any strategic or tactical need for them.
Most of the headlines focused on a cruise missile that sports a nuclear engine as well as a nuclear warhead. The understanding is not fresh. The American Supersonic Low Altitude...
Continue reading
Source: economist.com