President Putin’s list of new nuclear missiles was his way of throwing down the gauntlet to the US. Russia and the US are both modernising their nuclear arsenals and while both are still observing the New Start treaty limits on missiles and warheads, advancing technology has allowed for significant upgrades. Mr Putin, in a barely veiled warning to the US, boasted of a new intercontinental ballistic missile, a nuclear-armed underwater drone and a nuclear-powered, nuclear-tipped cruise missile capable of evading radar systems. The idea of a nuclear-powered cruise missile provoked scepticism among western experts. To miniaturise a nuclear reactor to fit into a cruise missile would indeed be a breakthrough, if true.

Source: The Times March 01, 2018 17:01 UTC