Weapons of War America Should Fear

COL Ted Mc — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 01:07:03 -0500

From "The National Interest"

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/5-russian-weapons-war-america-should-fear-12016

5 Russian Weapons of War America Should Fear

Even with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and heightened tensions, it is very unlikely that the United States will ever directly face off against Russia. A shooting war with Russia would almost certain end poorly for all concerned.

Modern Russia is not the Soviet Union, but it is still possesses a very formidable arsenal of both strategic and tactical nuclear weapons. Moreover, given the uneven state of Russia’s conventional forces—which have greatly atrophied since the Soviet collapse—the country relies much more heavily on its strategic deterrent to ward off enemies than the USSR ever did. Indeed, in November 1993, Russia dropped the Soviet Union’s pledge not to be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into any conflict. Instead Russia reserves the right to use its nuclear weapons under a doctrine that it paradoxically calls "de-escalation."

The bottom line is that the United States is not going to engage Russia in a war—however it might face Russian weapons during a conventional conflict where ...

[EDITORIAL COMMENT:- Sometimes one wonders if having a $1,000,000,000 "Wunderwaffe" makes sense if the other guys can defeat it with a 1,000,000 (or less) weapons system. You naval types who are lurking here might want to take a real close look at the last two in the article.

5 Russian Weapons of War America Should Fear

Moscow's military machine is certainly evolving at a time of tensions with the West. Washington might want to make note of these five lethal weapon systems.

Response by TSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 13 at 2015 2:10 AM

TSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 02:10:51 -0500

Some of those are credible threats (wake homing torpedo, SU-35), some appear a bit exaggerated (T-90, at its core it's still an upgraded T-72), and the others are yet unproven.

But cause for fear? No. They're threats but not ones to make us mindlessly craven, just ones to be aware of and work towards mitigating.