on Diplomacy & Warfare ·
George Miller 19m

Did you know Russia used hypersonic missiles in Ukraine for the first
time? How effective are these missiles?

Russia consistently releases propaganda videos about high tech weapons
(as the Soviet Union did before its breakup). These have been useful for
projecting an image of power to the world and intimidating the West.

The truth is that Russia is a very poor country. They often develop
prototypes of weapons systems and then try to market them to other
countries. If they can get overseas sales they can then fund to actually
produce these weapons systems. They certainly don’t have the funds to
maintain advanced weapons systems and train soldiers in their use.

As the Russo-Ukraine war has demonstrated, the Russian military is in
terrible condition. They have very few of the high-tech weapons they had
led the world to believe they had; they don’t seem to have any precision
guided munitions left and are using World War 2 - style “dumb” bombs.
They don’t have enough fuel trucks. Most of their tanks are ancient.

The Russians prototype hypersonic missile has served its purpose by
impressing the world when it was tested. They can’t afford to actually
produce the things. There is no fleet of Russian hypersonic weapons and
probably never will be.

Russia’s economy is no larger than Belgium and the Netherlands combined,
and with the West’s sanctions, Russia will be lucky if they can keep up
with just one of these countries.

I think that in the coming year, Russia will be worrying more about
having enough potatoes than building hypersonic weapons.

191 viewsView 3 upvotes
2 comments from
Janet Shaw
and more