The Express reported that Russia has introduced what it claims is the most advanced attack helicopter in the world, the “Night Hunter” gunship.
The Mi-28NM, the aircraft’s military designation, has been touted by Russian military commanders as a craft that can “substantially outperform” the best attack helicopters currently used by Western nations.
The officials insisted the gunships, which are armed with guided missiles and smart bombs, are superior to even the Boeing Apache attack helicopters, a staple of the U.S. military.
News of the new Russian attack helicopter comes in the wake of reports of the latest design for the replacement for the R-36M Voevoda (the original “Satan” weapon) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Dubbed the “Satan 2,” the RS-28 Sarmat will be ready for deployment in 2018.
As Sputnik News reported, the Satan 2 has been in development since 2009. Russian military officials say it will fully replace the original Voevoda missiles by 2020.
The Russia’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile, Sarmat, may render all current missile defense systems obsolescent, the Russian news network Zvezda reported.
Although there is very little information on the technical characteristics of the new missile, some sources said that the Sarmat is a two-stage missile with an estimated operational range of 10,000km and a mass of at least 100 tons, including a payload weighing from 4 tons up to 10 tons.
Russia’s Ambitious New ICBM Early Warning System The missile will be equipped with a MIRVed combination of a dozen heavy warheads, each individually steerable during reentry. MIRV is an acronym for a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle.
Sarmat warheads will have an array of advanced antimissile countermeasures meant to penetrate the US ABM shield. Speculation is rife that they would have a conventional hypersonic version like the US’s Advanced Hypersonic Weapon or the Chinese WU-14 and could be used as a precision intercontinental weapon in a non-nuclear conflict.
“In this sense, the Sarmat missile will not only become the R-36M’s successor, but also to some extent it will determine in which direction nuclear deterrence in the world will develop,” the Russian news network Zvezda reported.
“The development of the Sarmat silo-based missile system with a heavy missile is nearing completion,” Col. Gen. Sergei Karakayev, commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces told the Moscow-based TASS News agency. “It will replace the Voyevoda missile system in the Uzhur missile division and the Dombarovsky position area.”