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“Russia Tests Hypersonic Glider”…Really?

Russia: Watch Successful Public Test-Launch of Avangard Hypersonic Missile

Sputnik Published on Dec 26, 2018

“On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry, on instruction from Russian President Vladimir Putin, successfully test-fired the Avangard missile equipped with a hypersonic winged glider unit.”

Interociter Exeter

Martin Comments:

Perhaps my Interocitor needs retuning, but I seem to have missed something in that clip? I saw a small hatch open in the ground. Check out the fence in the background for scale. Then I saw a lot of pyrotechnics and a small missile launch skywards…and then nothing. All that was missing was the theme music for The Thunderbirds! So, exactly when do we get to see this hypersonic glider? And if it’s deployed from that missile, just how big is it? Is this another example of Russian chest-beating bluffery and smoke and mirrors? Is this no more real than the hilarious Kalashnikov electric “supercar“? If this is a bona fide missile test, I’m even then doubtful that this is the Game Changer it’s being hyped as. I seem to recall the US having hypersonic glide missile tech several years ago (it came into the public eye when one of the prototypes went missing over the Pacific Ocean).

The big contrast between Russia and US is highlighted here. When US advanced military/defense technology becomes successful, it generally gets stamped “Classified/Top Secret” and vanishes from public view, like the Stealth jets that were tested in 1975, flew operationally since 1983 but weren’t revealed until Desert Storm in ’91. Russia on the other hand, tend to knock a rough and ready prototype together, get it to kinda work, then trumpet their superiority amid great pomp and ceremony. I very seriously doubt the US are at a disadvantage in the missile game; they’re just keeping quiet about it.

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Martin Harris


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