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Russia and Strategic Conventional Weapons

Russian political leaders and military strategists are growing increasingly concerned about strategic conventional weapons, particularly long-range, hypersonic weapons. Some fear that strategic conventional weapons could prove decisive in a major conflict and that Russia is lagging behind in their development.

by James M. Acton
published by
Nonproliferation Review
 on February 3, 2016

Source: Nonproliferation Review

Russian President Vladimir Putin must have a special place in his heart for the US Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS) program. Since they were first unveiled in 2006, he has publicly decried US plans to develop hypersonic, long-range, non-nuclear munitions on at least five occasions—including at such high-profile occasions as his State of the Nation address in December 2013. In that speech, he criticized the CPGS program by name and stated that, in combination with US ballistic missile defense, it “could negate all previous agreements on the limitation and reduction of strategic nuclear weapons, and disrupt the strategic balance of power.” ...

This article was originally published in Nonproliferation Review.

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