Will the US Be Able to Stop Russia's New Arsenal of Missile Defense-Piercing Nukes

Russia could soon be able to conduct nuclear strikes all over the world without any chance of being intercepted, President Vladamir Putin said Thursday (March 1).

Speaking on Russian television as part of his annual address, Putin announced a new class of weapons delivery systems designed to sneak past NATO's American-built ballistic missile defenses. As Putin spoke, computer-generated graphics and video footage playing behind him showed the capabilities of a new hypersonic missile, an underwater drone and a cruise missile with "unlimited range" designed to avoid detection systems.

Experts in nuclear weapons and their politics said the move was far from a shock, given a years-long deterioration of global arms reduction efforts and the recent Trump administration announcement that the United States plans to deploy its own new nuclear tech. [7 Technologies That Transformed Warfare]