Russia poses the main military threat to the United States, this opinion was expressed on Tuesday, August 17, by the head of the Northern Command of the United States Armed Forces, General Glen Vanherk.
"Russia is the primary military threat to our country, they are developing means that did not exist 20 years ago," Vanherk said during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), broadcast on Youtube.
He said that Russia and China "have developed very advanced tools" in the cyber and space spheres.
Earlier, on July 26, US Deputy Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins called for limiting the nuclear capabilities of Russia and China. According to her, the United States should develop norms of responsible behavior in space and fight against new technologies that threaten strategic stability.
On July 19, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called Russia's new hypersonic missiles a destabilizing factor, since they are capable of carrying a nuclear charge.
On the same day, the frigate "Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov" successfully fired a hypersonic missile "Zircon" at a ground target in the White Sea. The flight speed was mach 7, and the range was over 350 km. The Russian Defense Ministry plans to equip submarines and surface ships of the Russian Navy with the Zircon complex.
On July 17, the American magazine The National Interest wrote that the United States is experiencing serious difficulties in trying to catch up with Russia and China in developing hypersonic weapons. As the US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Research and Development Michael Griffin noted, the United States "does not have systems that could pose a threat to China and Russia to the proper extent." In addition, he stated the lack of means to protect against Russian weapons.
On July 10, it became known that the frigate of the project 22350 "Admiral Golovko "will become the first full-time carrier of shipboard hypersonic missiles"Zircon". According to the commander-in-chief of the Navy Nikolai Evmenov, these ships are the most modern warships of Russia. Russian hypersonic weapons were presented in 2018. It includes the Avangard, Dagger and Zircon missiles.
The United States has repeatedly noted the lag behind Russia in the creation of hypersonic missiles. On March 22, the Control and Budget Office of the US Congress (GAO) published a report in which the States recognized that they do not have enough developed technologies to create hypersonic weapons. In this regard, the program of its deployment can be implemented with a long delay.