Someone reached out and wanted to know if this system is real? The answer is yes. Not only is the container system real, but the missile system in question is deployed and quite advanced when compared to western systems.
Before we all jump off the roof in a complete panic, consider the following: Just about every modern cruise, air defense missile, anti-ship missile are built to operate out of a standardized launch system. The the best example familiar with many of our readers is the US Navy’s Vertical Launch System (VLS) that literally racks and stacks
Nobody in the US media wants to really admit this, at least not until we change it, but our cruise missile weapons system are way, way, way out of date. As for why?
Some of it has to do with with the INF treaty. Some of it has to do with the MTCR. Some with the NPT. When looking at these systems under various treaties, one has to take into account if they are ground launched, sea launched, air launched and / or nuclear capable.
The Russians have been blatantly violating these treaties for a while. The West has been trying to do a balancing act between matching them, system for system. Or trying to take the moral high ground and politically shaming the Russians back into compliance.
With the US decision to adopt the likely nuclear capable LRSO, it is obvious we have decided to accept the realities of the modern battlefield with all kinds of supersonic and hypersonic weapons flying around with zero range limitations.
The Russian Argument
Now to be fair, here is what the Russians see, think and say.
Think: Russians as a culture are very insecure about lagging behind the West technology wise. They are also somewhat (historically justified by the way) paranoid that a large outside force is going to invade their country. See The Mongols, Napoleon’s Grande Armee’ and the Third Reich.
See: The Russians see very advanced hit-to-kill anti-missile systems all over the planet. They see Ground based interceptors (GBI) based in the US (Alaska and CA). They see the US Navy pushing these SM-2, SM-3, SM-6 missile systems further and further in capability.
Say: They wonder if these system are secretly nuclear capable? And they wonder if these systems are capable of first strike use against ground targets such as command and control nodes in Russia?
And then…they point to this: Aegis Ashore. Literally a warship superstructure, built on land, brimming with SM-series missiles sitting in Redzikowo, Poland.
Redzikowo, Poland strike range:
Distance to Moscow: 813 miles.
Distance to Kaliningrad missile facilities: 137 Miles
Distance to Naval C2 and radar nodes in Vileyka, Belarus: 393 miles
Distance to St. Petersburg, Russia: 621 Miles
For reference, the distance from New York city to Miami is 1094 miles.
Bottom line: The Russians hate how close US and it’s NATO allies are to Russian National Command Authority and senior leadership. In the US, we look at Russia as somebody way over the horizon. The Russians look at US nuclear weapons with the same fear we viewed nukes in Cuba.
They are always trying to hack that disadvantage.
Marky
www.John1911.com
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