Russia boasts a ‘completely new, unprecedented type of weapon based on hypersonic and laser technology’ will soon be rolled out to its military
- Russian defence minister said country has developed a completely new weapon
- System ‘based on hypersound technology and laser energy’, Sergei Shoigu said
- Weapons have been sent for combat trials and will be deployed in ‘near future’
- Russia has already developed hypersonic Zircon missiles which it claims are invulnerable to air defences and the Peresvet laser defence system
Russia is on the verge of deploying a completely new kind of weapon that combines hypersonic and laser technology, the country’s defence minister has claimed.
Sergei Shoigu said the new weapon system, which he declined to name, has already been sent for field testing and will be ready for deployment in the ‘near future’.
He spoke at a conference on Tuesday updating the nation on the state armaments program which is due to run from 2018 through to 2027.
Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, has boasted of a new weapon that combines laser and hypersonic technology which he says is already being tested in the field
Russia is already known to possess hypersonic missile technology in the form of the Zircon missile (pictured attached to a MiG jet) which it claims can travel up to nine times the speed of sound, making it virtually invulnerable to current missile defences
Mr Shoigu boasted of a range of weapon systems that he said would guarantee Russia’s national security into the future.
Speaking of the mysterious new system, he said: ‘In the near future, the army and the navy will receive a completely new, unparalleled weapon based on hypersonic technology and laser energy.
‘Its first samples have already been put on trial combat duty.’
Russia already possesses hypersonic missile technology in the form of the Zircon missile, which it claims can travel at up to nine times the speed of sound.
Moscow says this makes the weapon, which is designed to target ships, virtually invulnerable to current missile defences because they cannot keep up with it.
Earlier this year, Putin said the missile is also capable of effectively hitting land targets and has a range of more than 600 miles.
Russia has also revealed the development of a laser defence system dubbed Peresvet (pictured), which is thought to have been developed to bring down drones
The country is also known to possess a laser weapon system dubbed Peresvet, though its exact characteristics are far from clear.
It is believed to be some kind of anti-drone defence system, though exactly how it works is highly classified.
What we do know is that the system needs a large amount of energy to work, so it cannot be deployed remotely.
Mr Shogiu also spoke about a new communication system called Sagittarius, which is designed to link units in different branches of the military together in the field.
‘With the arrival of high-tech weapons and military equipment, the forms of use and methods of operations of the troops should be improved,’ he said.
‘Modern wars require new approaches.’