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Russia Releases Videos Offering Unprecedented Look at Its Six New Super Weapons

30 points by rishabhd 8y ago

toufka 8y ago
Here is a great podcast about the nuclear-powered cruise missile (the one that spews radiation as its exhaust, is >180dB loud from the ground, and has unlimited range) - and a public analysis of its testing in the arctic. https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1205364/russias-crashing-cruise-missile/ https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1205364/russias-cras... It comes with some strong shout-outs to Planet (satellite startup), and goes into some technical detail about how they've gone about geo-locating where the tests occurred. Very scary/crazy weapons here...
- mepian 8y ago
  Is this the first actual use of nuclear propulsion? I'd prefer it to be space exploration, but such technologies always end up in military toys first.
  - molszanski 8y ago
    Both US and USSR experimented with it in 60s. But since "traditional" ICBMs where good enough there was no need for nuclear propulsion. Complicated, radioactive and not ready for use. Even though nuclear propulsion was fairly advanced.
martythemaniak 8y ago
Are we sure they're the ones who released them? It could be them, I don't see why it wouldn't, could be anybody. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- molszanski 8y ago
  You should watch an amazing movie called "Doctor Strangelove". (: The whole point of those weapons is to show them off to achieve a balance of power.
ajross 8y ago
I keep looking for this analysis from someone serious and not finding it, but... frankly Putin is starting to look a little desperate. He's invading neighbors for fundamentally stupid reasons, he's directly intervening in the internal politics of basically every nation with white people in it. He's straight up engaging in assassinations on foreign soil (another nerve agent death just two weeks ago in the UK). Things just don't seem to be going his way, and he's taking risks that seem geopolitically absurd (and very much not in keeping with Putin's MO for the rest of his career). Even the guy he wanted for POTUS turns out to be a bumbling idiot who "says" the things Putin wants but doesn't seem to be able to effect much policy (though Trump did "ignorify" the most recent sanctions bill). Maybe the Magnitsky act and related actions really are having an effect, and this is Putin trying desperately to hold onto power locally in Russia? Not qualified to judge. But it feels right to me...
- mepian 8y ago
  I don't think there are any serious threats to Putin inside Russia right now. All "legal" political parties are under his thumb, and the "illegal" ones (mostly Alexei Navalny's followers) failed to display significant influence so far. The siloviki group behind Putin won't benefit much from replacing him, as he's doing a reasonably good job of representing their ambitions. These people seem to be too paranoid and power-hungry to change the political course of the country because of some economical sanctions.
  - ajross 8y ago
    That's the conventional wisdom. I'm just saying I find that hard to square with poisoning folks in London and issuing dick-swaggering videos like this. Those look like actions taken to boost local popularity and quiet internal dissent: "Look how great we are! Also if you cross me I'll find you wherever you may be hiding and poison your ass." I don't doubt that his position is mechanically secure. But he's still just one guy, and the oligarchs as a whole control more of the money, and they're all hurting right now.
    - danenania 8y ago
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
- echochamberhn 8y ago
  > Trump definitely seems compromised You can't be serious. I think it's time we all take a step back, take a look at all the accusations that have been made following Hillary's loss, and start reviewing the actual evidence. Of course, there is no evidence for any of it.
megaman22 8y ago
Well, I guess it'd been five or six minutes since I read something in the media trying to stir people up about Russia. I'm still trying to figure out just why this full-court press is being put on, when there seems to be so little to be gained by brinksmanship, but that's all above my pay grade. The Russian/Soviet/Russian defense industry has a pretty long history of fiddling with over-the-top weapons systems, very few of which ever are quite as successful as feared.
- _bxg1 8y ago
  Putin's motives are as simple as a playground bully. He has an inferiority complex; he wants to prove that he and his nation are rougher and tougher than the others. Not because there's anything rational to be gained by that; just because he wants it.
  - SuddsMcDuff 8y ago
    This is the stupidest comment I've read on HN for a very long time. Maybe ever.
    - _bxg1 8y ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12173823 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12173823 For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle. Thus pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. It is bad because life is permanent warfare.
gandhium 8y ago
As I can remember previous video of their 'super' nuclear-powered missile proved to be a complete render, since prototype flew without any nuclear propulsion and therefore for a short time.

30 points by rishabhd 8y ago

Here is a great podcast about the nuclear-powered cruise missile (the one that spews radiation as its exhaust, is >180dB loud from the ground, and has unlimited range) - and a public analysis of its testing in the arctic. https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1205364/russias-crashing-cruise-missile/ https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1205364/russias-cras... It comes with some strong shout-outs to Planet (satellite startup), and goes into some technical detail about how they've gone about geo-locating where the tests occurred. Very scary/crazy weapons here...

mepian 8y ago
Is this the first actual use of nuclear propulsion? I'd prefer it to be space exploration, but such technologies always end up in military toys first.
- molszanski 8y ago
  Both US and USSR experimented with it in 60s. But since "traditional" ICBMs where good enough there was no need for nuclear propulsion. Complicated, radioactive and not ready for use. Even though nuclear propulsion was fairly advanced.

martythemaniak 8y ago

Are we sure they're the ones who released them? It could be them, I don't see why it wouldn't, could be anybody. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

molszanski 8y ago
You should watch an amazing movie called "Doctor Strangelove". (: The whole point of those weapons is to show them off to achieve a balance of power.

ajross 8y ago

I keep looking for this analysis from someone serious and not finding it, but... frankly Putin is starting to look a little desperate. He's invading neighbors for fundamentally stupid reasons, he's directly intervening in the internal politics of basically every nation with white people in it. He's straight up engaging in assassinations on foreign soil (another nerve agent death just two weeks ago in the UK). Things just don't seem to be going his way, and he's taking risks that seem geopolitically absurd (and very much not in keeping with Putin's MO for the rest of his career). Even the guy he wanted for POTUS turns out to be a bumbling idiot who "says" the things Putin wants but doesn't seem to be able to effect much policy (though Trump did "ignorify" the most recent sanctions bill). Maybe the Magnitsky act and related actions really are having an effect, and this is Putin trying desperately to hold onto power locally in Russia? Not qualified to judge. But it feels right to me...

mepian 8y ago
I don't think there are any serious threats to Putin inside Russia right now. All "legal" political parties are under his thumb, and the "illegal" ones (mostly Alexei Navalny's followers) failed to display significant influence so far. The siloviki group behind Putin won't benefit much from replacing him, as he's doing a reasonably good job of representing their ambitions. These people seem to be too paranoid and power-hungry to change the political course of the country because of some economical sanctions.
- ajross 8y ago
  That's the conventional wisdom. I'm just saying I find that hard to square with poisoning folks in London and issuing dick-swaggering videos like this. Those look like actions taken to boost local popularity and quiet internal dissent: "Look how great we are! Also if you cross me I'll find you wherever you may be hiding and poison your ass." I don't doubt that his position is mechanically secure. But he's still just one guy, and the oligarchs as a whole control more of the money, and they're all hurting right now.
  - danenania 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

echochamberhn 8y ago
> Trump definitely seems compromised You can't be serious. I think it's time we all take a step back, take a look at all the accusations that have been made following Hillary's loss, and start reviewing the actual evidence. Of course, there is no evidence for any of it.

megaman22 8y ago

Well, I guess it'd been five or six minutes since I read something in the media trying to stir people up about Russia. I'm still trying to figure out just why this full-court press is being put on, when there seems to be so little to be gained by brinksmanship, but that's all above my pay grade. The Russian/Soviet/Russian defense industry has a pretty long history of fiddling with over-the-top weapons systems, very few of which ever are quite as successful as feared.

_bxg1 8y ago
Putin's motives are as simple as a playground bully. He has an inferiority complex; he wants to prove that he and his nation are rougher and tougher than the others. Not because there's anything rational to be gained by that; just because he wants it.
- SuddsMcDuff 8y ago
  This is the stupidest comment I've read on HN for a very long time. Maybe ever.
  - _bxg1 8y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12173823 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12173823 For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle. Thus pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. It is bad because life is permanent warfare.

gandhium 8y ago

As I can remember previous video of their 'super' nuclear-powered missile proved to be a complete render, since prototype flew without any nuclear propulsion and therefore for a short time.