2024-02-23T15:08:39+00:00
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/ Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed today, Friday, that 95% of Russia’s nuclear weapons have been updated in the Russian strategic nuclear forces. While he indicated that the air force received four new hypersonic bombers capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the Russian president flew on board an updated strategic bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons, in a new challenge to the West.
Putin made his remarks in a recorded speech to mark the anniversary of Defender of the Fatherland Day in Russia, a celebration of the armed forces.
Artificial Intelligence Technologies
On the eve of the second anniversary of the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the Russian president praised the soldiers fighting there, describing them as heroes fighting for “truth and justice.”
“Today, the share of modern weapons and equipment in the strategic nuclear forces has reached 95%,” he said, adding: “Next is the development and serial production of promising models, and the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies into the military sphere.”
In January, state media quoted the head of the company that manufactures the Zircon hypersonic missile as saying that putting the missile into service was “not a quick procedure” and required “a certain amount of testing.”
“Secret” flight on a nuclear bomber
On Thursday, Putin flew on a modernized Tu-160M strategic bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons, in a move that the West is likely to see as a display of Russia’s nuclear capabilities, Reuters reported.
The giant, swing-wing bomber, codenamed “Blackjacks” by NATO, is a heavily updated version of a Soviet-era bomber that the Soviet Union intended to use in the event of a nuclear war with the West to transport nuclear weapons over long distances.
Putin, who is expected to easily win another six-year term as president next month, made the trip amid a rift between Russia and the West over issues such as the war in Ukraine and the death in prison of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
Russia’s nuclear weapon
Some Russian and American diplomats say they cannot remember a time when relations between the world’s two largest nuclear powers were worse than during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
State television broadcast the takeoff of the supersonic bomber from a runway at a factory in Kazan, with correspondent Pavel Zarubin enthusiastically describing it as a “unique event.” The TASS news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying the bomber’s flight path was a military secret.
The Tu-160M, which has a crew of four, can carry 12 cruise missiles or 12 short-range nuclear missiles and can fly 12,000 kilometers without stopping or refueling. Putin flew an older model of the bomber in 2005 during a training exercise. Under a contract signed in 2018, 10 upgraded Tu-160M nuclear-powered bombers are due to be delivered to the Russian air force between now and 2027 for 15 billion rubles ($163 million) each.