Russia revealed its hypersonic weapon - The Avangard

Russia revealed its hypersonic weapon - The Avangard; making it the first military in possession of a new class of nuclear weapon against which other militaries currently cannot defend.

The Avangard can travel at 27 times the speed of sound and rapidly maneuver to dodge any missile defense systems that attempt to block it. It will be mounted on intercontinental ballistic missiles that, as part of a transparency initiative and/or major flex, Russia recently demonstrated for American inspectors.

President Vladimir Putin has described the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle as a technological breakthrough comparable to the 1957 Soviet launch of the first satellite. The new Russian weapon and a similar system being developed by China have troubled the United States, which has pondered defense strategies.

Avangard is designed using new composite materials to withstand temperatures of up to 2,000 Celsius (3,632 Fahrenheit) resulting from a flight through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.

It heads to target like a meteorite, like a fireball. It carries a nuclear weapon of up to 2 megatons.

The Avangard will first be mounted on Soviet-built RS-18B intercontinental ballistic missiles, code-named SS-19 by NATO.