Russia wants to develop a new hypersonic rocket in the long-range in 2019-2020. In the same period, Russia must also build a version of the Kalibr missile system, which should now be launched on land instead of the original launch at sea.
That is what the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Sjojgoe said. After the United States, Russia withdrew from the 1987 INF convention last week.
The INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) agreement between Russia and the United States provides for the destruction of all nuclear and cruise missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometres to be launched on the ground.
“In 2019-2020 we have to develop the soil version of the Kalibr system launched at sea with the long-range cruise rocket, which has proven its worth in Syria”, says Sjojgoe. “In the same time-limit, we have to develop the system with the long-range hypersonic rocket based on the ground.”
In a press release, Sjojgoe explained that the decision follows the US suspension of their participation in the INF Convention. President Vladimir Putin had announced Saturday at a working meeting with Sjojgoe and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Russia would also step out of the treaty.
Besides, Putin announced that Russia would work on a new hypersonic missile on the medium distance, which is launched on the ground. At the same time, he stressed that he did not want Russia to be dragged into an ‘expensive arms race’.
Russia used the Kalibr rockets for the first time in the autumn of 2015. A warship in the Caspian Sea launched 26 missiles aimed at Syrian areas, 1,500 kilometres away. A distance that thus corresponds to the weapons that the INF treaty prohibits, but that treaty only applies to missiles that are launched on land.
Sjojgoe said that the United States is currently actively working on rockets launched on land with a range greater than 500 kilometres. “The Russian president has instructed the Ministry of Defense to take mutual measures.”
