in October of 1962 Russia our 12 and our
14 nuclear missiles were stationed in
Cuba a mere 90 miles away from the
Florida coastline
if launched they could have reached the
United States in minutes killing
millions meanwhile in Italy and Turkey
45 united states PGM 19 Jupiter missiles
had their nuclear-armed tips pointed
toward Russia had the conflict escalated
in both forces discharged their arsenal
it's very likely that human history
would have ended with a bang in 1962
this was the Cuban Missile Crisis it's
been 58 years since the incident
occurred since then Russia and the
United States have both developed a
missile technology that makes the arms
of the Cold War seem quaint by
comparison
while thankfully the US and Russia are
not currently at war it begs the
question who today has the superior
missile technology and would this give
them an edge if conflict were ever to
reignite today we're going to discuss
the respective Arsenal's of the two
countries including their air-to-air
missiles air-to-surface missiles
surface-to-surface missiles
surface-to-air missiles and the infamous
intercontinental ballistic missile and
see who comes out on top
firstly their air-to-air capabilities to
be clear air-to-air missiles refer to a
missile fired from one aircraft with the
specific purpose of destroying another
these weapons are most commonly used
during air combat maneuvering or ACM -
such missiles employed by the US Air
Force are the aim-7 sparrow in the aim-9
sidewinder the aim-7 is a medium-range
radar-guided missile with blast
fragmentation warhead designed for all
weather and altitudes it was used
heavily by pilots in the Persian Gulf
Wars and has an operational range of 43
miles the m9 is a supersonic missile
with infrared homing technology allowing
it to track the heat of its targets
deployed in its first iteration in 1956
with current operational range of 22
miles however for the last 30 years the
true backbone of the United States
air-to-air missile arsenal has been the
aim-120 amraam first released in 1991
the Amram is a lighter faster
improvement on the m7 with an
operational range of 86 miles it boasts
an active radar system and beyond visual
range capability this means that the
missile has greater independence for
the fire control system of the aircraft
that launched it allowing for greater
combat capabilities than previous
missile technology the two air-to-air
missiles at the heart of Russia's air
force are the r77 introduced in 2002 and
the incredibly new are 37 which was only
introduced last year the r-77 is
Russia's response to the American
aim-120 it's a medium-range missile with
active radar homing capabilities but can
it beat the aim-120 on technical specs
the AR 77m the latest iteration of the
missile boasts an operational range of
approximately 120 miles this surpasses
the aim-120 by a considerable 34 miles
while things are already looking bleak
for the u.s. here it is with the AR 37m
that the russians truly began to surpass
their American counterparts the r37 not
only has the active radar capabilities
of the aim-120 in our 77 it also has the
devastating maximum operational range of
almost 250 miles it also dominates the
aim-120 in terms of speed with a
shocking 1,500 mile per hour disparity
between the two in the AR 37's favour
when it comes to ACM Russia takes the
win but maybe not for long even now the
US Air Force is constructing storage
facilities to securely store the first
test batch of aim 260 missiles which
were fast tracked in development by
Congress in response to advances in
Russian but especially the Chinese
missile technology very little is known
about this new missile but it is rumored
to have some truly next-gen tech next
air-to-surface missiles are ASMs these
are missiles launched from aircrafts to
land or sea targets the United States
military's primary ASM is the agm-158
joint air-to-surface standoff missile or
Jassim this weapon has been in use by
the US Air Force since 2009 and in its
latest iterations boasts both anti-jam
GPS and infrared target acquisition
technology it also has a thousand-pound
penetrator warhead and an operational
range well in excess of 500 miles
meaning a fee off a Jassim coming at you
you're seriously out of luck the US
Navy's preferred ASM is the agm-84 HK
slammer or standoff land-attack missiles
expanded response
an older missile the slammer has been in
service since the year 2000 it has an
operational range of 170 miles but makes
up for its lower operational range with
vast improvements in control as a cruise
missile the slammer utilizes command
guidance meaning the missile can be
controlled and redirected by ground
units toward appropriate targets if for
example its intended target is destroyed
the slammer can be directed toward
another Russia's non-soviet
air-to-surface arsenal is considerably
thinner on the ground
however in 2018 10 mig-31 supersonic
russian interceptor aircrafts were
released on an experimental basis
carrying the nuke a aged 47 m2 kinjal
missiles
due to being such recent additions to
the battlefield there's less concrete
information about the kinjal however
it's been reported that the kinjal has a
high-explosive warhead 100 pounds
greater than the american Jassim what's
more there have also been reports that
the kins y'all can sustain nuclear
capabilities hugely increasing its
potential lethality Russian state media
has also released claims that the most
advanced iteration of the kinjal has an
almost 2,000 mile operational range
however it's worth noting that many
American spectators have suggested these
claims are vastly exaggerated for
propaganda purposes in light of this the
more tried and tested American missiles
take the win next surface-to-surface
missiles this refers to missiles
launched from the ground source such as
a shoulder or vehicle mounted launcher
with the intention of eliminating a
ground target thanks to America's long
history of participating in ground
warfare there are numerous strong
contenders in this area in terms of
man-portable artillery you can't go
wrong with the fgm-148 javelin this is
one of the u.s. infantries most popular
missiles being introduced in 1996 and
having over 5,000 recorded firings by
January of last year the javelin is a
powerful anti-tank missile that destroys
targets with its high-explosive
anti-tank or heat warhead the javelin
has also proven highly effective against
enemy fortifications during ground
combat since the 1970s American
infantrymen have also made liberal use
of the bgm-71 tow this is a heavier
anti-tank missile fired from a portable
tripod rather than a shoulder mounted
launcher it's been utilized in almost
every
American conflicts since the Vietnam War
and is used heavily today by American
troops in the Syrian civil war the u.s.
infantry also used the MGM 140 Army
tactical missile system or 8a comes
these tactical ballistic missiles can be
blasted on them multiple rocket
launchers to eliminate short-range
ground targets these missiles were
particularly popular during the Iraq war
of 2003 with over 458 tackles being
fired during the conflict however by far
the deadliest US military ground missile
is the tomahawk land attack missile the
tomahawk is a devastating long-range
cruise missile employed by the u.s. Navy
since 1983 it's capable of striking land
targets within an eight hundred mile
range the tomahawk also boasts a
thousand-pound high explosive warhead
and in the past has even been equipped
with nuclear capabilities if a naval
ship armed with the tomahawk once you've
dead you don't really have much of a say
in the matter while a grand majority of
Russia's surface-to-surface missiles are
essentially Soviet hand-me-downs Russia
does have one missile that functions as
an answer to the tomahawk the 3 M 54
caliber first introduced in 1994 this
cruise missiles high-explosive warhead
is over a hundred pounds heavier than
its American counterpart has an almost
3,000 mile operational range and reaches
supersonic speeds the caliber is
designed mainly as an anti-ship missile
but is proven to be extremely effective
in eliminating ground targets in
conflicts like the Syrian civil war
while the United States is
surface-to-surface arsenal is more
versatile no missile in their collection
as quite the caliber of the caliber
Russia takes the way next surface-to-air
missiles these are largely defensive
ground or ship-launched missiles
designed to take out enemy aircraft and
cruise missiles the three tentpoles of
the u.s. surface-to-air arsenal are the
rim 170 for standard extended range
active missiles or Aram the Avenger air
defense system and the national advanced
surface-to-air missile system or NASA
amps each serves a highly specific
function the rim wants them before a
long-range ship launch missile takes out
high-speed air targets over land and sea
the Avenger air defense system uses
short-range fim-92 stinger missiles to
take out low-flying targets and the nasa
ames utilizes medium-range slammer and
missiles a surface launched variant of
the aim-120 we discussed earlier
Washington DC and other high priority
targets the Russian equivalent to these
systems are the 2k11 crew the 2k12 kub
and the 2k 22 Tunguska all three of
these technologies were first invented
by the Soviets prior to modernization
for use by the Russian Federation the
Tunguska is Russia's answered to the
Avenger air defense system taking on
low-flying targets with short-range 9m
311 missiles the cub functions on the
low to medium air target range utilizing
three m9 missiles and the crew gets
Russia's medium to long range air
defense missile system utilizing heavy
9m eight missiles with three hundred
thirty pound high-explosive warheads to
blast planes and cruise ship missiles to
kingdom come
on this front the United States takes
the win for their significantly more
modern and advanced surface-to-air
defense systems finally the
intercontinental ballistic missiles or
ICBMs these are the missiles to end all
missiles with unparalleled speed range
and raw destructive power while the
previous missiles can also be useful
assets in conventional warfare ICBMs can
turn the tide or end a conflict
altogether before we discuss the United
States isn't russia's ICBM technology
let's first quickly explain how an ICBM
works an ICBM is a land launched missile
with an operational range of three and a
half thousand miles at minimum they
carry conventional or nuclear payloads
into low-earth orbit traveling at
incredible speeds when positioned above
its intended target the missile
fractures dropping the nose cone which
contains the deadly warhead down onto
the target from this point the target is
mere minutes away from being struck
often to utterly devastating results
some ICBMs are even capable of holding
multiple warheads giving them unmatched
destructive power compared to any weapon
ever invented by human beings the
quintessential United States ICBM is the
LG and 30-minute man which comprises the
land portion of the US nuclear triad the
first iteration of the Minuteman entered
service in 1962 the same year as the
Cuban Missile Crisis and has undergone
substantial technological improvements
since then it offers an operational
range in excess of 8,000 miles travels
at approximately 17,500 eight miles per
hour and is accurate to a mere 800
meet the current iteration the Minuteman
3 is equipped with W 78 and W 87
thermonuclear warheads America's current
ICBM arsenal consists of approximately
450 Minutemen stationed across Montana
Wyoming in North Dakota however the
Russian ICBM arsenal is both larger and
considerably more diverse
for starters due to massively
overproducing ICBMs during the Cold War
the modern Russian Federation has a
stockpile of legacy missiles from their
Soviet predecessors these missiles many
of which are still in use today
include 20 silo-based rs18 a s 46
silo-based RS 36 s and 45 road-mobile RT
2 p n tuples but of far greater interest
is Russia's modern ICBM stockpile which
falls into three main categories first
the RT 2 p.m. 2 topol-m this missile has
an operational range of 6800 miles and a
speed of 16,000 400 miles per hour and
is accurate to approximately 660 feet
Russia currently operates 18 mobile and
60 silo-based topa lamps secondly the
rs-24 yars an improvement to the topol-m
this boasts a maximum operational range
of 7500 miles a speed of 15,000 220
miles per hour and is accurate to an
insane 492 feet russia has 14 silo-based
and 135 road-mobile rs.20 Force finally
Russia's latest ICBM the RS 28 sarmat or
the Satan 2 according to NATO code names
this terrifyingly named weapon was
announced by Russian President Vladimir
Putin in 2018 and concludes its final
testing phases this year with 46 of the
missiles expected to be produced by the
end of 2021 with testing still underway
the full capabilities of the Tsar MOT
are not yet fully clear and the Russian
military is playing its cards close to
its chest
the missiles operational range is
expected be in excess of 6,000 miles but
considering the Tsar mots development
history is marred with delays the weapon
is still surrounded in uncertainty the
question of whether the United States or
Russia has the superior arsenal of ICBMs
is still up for debate Russia does
indeed have a larger and more diverse
force of missiles in the
area however even the most
technologically advanced Russian ICBM
currently available can't match the
technological capabilities of the
modernized Minutemen 3 though it goes
without saying that if either country
ever deployed its ICBM stockpile there
would be truly devastating results even
more so than during the Cuban Missile
Crisis America and Russia individually
possessed the nuclear capabilities to
end all human life they have two of the
largest Arsenal's in the world with only
China rising to meet them it's worth
revisiting our initial question one more
time who has the better missile
technology overall by metrics of this
video bear about even with their
strengths and advancements resting in
different areas one thing we can be
Grimley sure about though if America and
Russia ever entered another full-scale
war who ever came out on top
nobody would win enjoyed learning about
how the United States and Russia's
missile technology measure up great if
you want to learn even more about
potential conflict with these two modern
superpowers click on what if there was a
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