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Russia developing new capacity to counter U.S. missile shield in Europe: officer

Xinhua, May 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

Russia is developing new capacity to counter U.S. missile defense systems in Europe, a senior military officer said Tuesday.

The U.S. missile shield in Europe does not present a major threat to the Russian Strategic Missile Forces (RSMF), as the RSMF has kept ramping up its capabilities, said RSMF commander Lieutenant General Sergei Karakayev.

He said the new missile systems of the RSMF have been equipped with warheads with hard-to-predict flight paths and other devices capable of overcoming missile shields.

He said the effectiveness of Russia's heavy intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) will be four times higher by 2021 than that of the current ICBMs.

The future ICBMs of Russia will be able to deliver strikes from different directions, which would force the opposing side to provide an all-around air defense systems, he said.

The commander revealed that the new RS-24 Yars ICBMs, in both their road-mobile and silo-based versions, will constitute more than half of the effective combat strength of the RSMF by the end of 2021.

Russia has repeatedly voiced concerns over NATO's military buildup in Russia's neighboring countries. Endi