US shrugs at Vladimir Putin's boast of nuclear-powered cruise missile with unlimited range

 Speaking at his annual state-of-the-nation address in Moscow, Putin boasted about an array of new weapons -- including underwater drones capable of launching nuclear strikes and hypersonic missiles -- that he said would make Russia’s nuclear arsenal “invulnerable” to interception.

Putin said the nuclear-powered cruise missile had been successfully tested in late 2017 as he showed a video apparently of the test.

“The missile's test-launch and ground trials make it possible to create a brand-new weapon, a strategic nuclear missile powered by a nuclear engine," Putin told an audience in a hall by the Kremlin. "The range is unlimited. It can maneuver for an unlimited period of time.”

 The video showed the missile’s firing into the sky and then flying, before switching to a graphic that simulated the rocket’s meandering around the globe, headed toward the United States before turning south and flying toward the South Atlantic, and then around South America and ending up somewhere toward the U.S. West Coast.

But U.S. officials say they have been following the missile’s development for some time and that, in reality, it was not operational.

The missile was still in research and development and had crashed in testing more than once, including during a test in the Russian Arctic, a U.S. official told ABC News.



Source: abcnews.go

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