Russia successfully launches ‘invincible’ Avangard nukes and reveals they’ll be ready for war in 2019

VLADIMIR Putin fired his new hypersonic ballistic missile today in a final test before the "invincible" nukes enter service next year, according to reports.

The president was in the control room as the Avangard weapon was launched at a dummy target thousands of miles away in Siberia, the Kremlin said.

It comes weeks Russia's defence chiefs said the missiles will be ready for deployment in 2019, a year ahead of forecasts.

US intelligence analysts have warned the West has no defence against the nukes, which can hit anywhere in the world, reports claimed earlier this year.

Avangard is a believed to be a high-tech hypersonic glide vehicle which is mounted on board an SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missile.

Once launched from the rocket at high altitude, it is designed to use aerodynamic forces to sail on top of the atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound.

It could carry a warhead, experts say, but even without explosives its sheer speed - more than a mile a second - gives it the force to obliterate any target.

And it thought to be highly manoeuvrable and equipped with electronic countermeasures that can defeat the most sophisticated missile tracking systems.

Thomas Karako, director of the Missile Defence Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, told CNBC: "These kinds of boost glide vehicles attack the gaps in our missile defence system."

He added it was "unfortunate that we have let Russia come this far."

And Air Force General John Hyten, commander of US Strategic Command, has told the Senate Armed Services Committee: "Both Russia and China are aggressively pursuing hypersonic capabilities.

"We don't have any defence that could deny the employment of such a weapon against us."

Mr Putin boasted of his "invincible" arsenal of hypersonic weapons during a speech to the Russian parliament in March.

He claimed Avangard was capable of hitting targets at 20 times the speed of sound and strikes "like a fireball".

Reports then claimed Avangard had been tested four times, including a failure in October 2017 when it crashed before hitting its target.

Today's test was hailed a "success" and puts the advanced system on war footing, the Kremlin said.

Reports in Russia said the president personally ordered the launch from the Dombarovsky missile facility in the south of Russia near Kazakhstan.

It hit a mock-up target at the Kura range in Kamchatka in the far east.

"Putin thanked the creators of Avangard, the test participants and the Ministry of Defence for their excellent work," the Kremlin's press service said.

It added: "The flight test program has been completed, which allows the Avangard system to be put into service with the Strategic Missile Forces in due time."

Earlier this month state news agency Tass reported a senior commander saying the .

Colonel-General Sergei Karakayev said: "First complexes are planned to be put on combat duty at the missile regiment of the Dombarosky division starting next year."

Yesterday the Russian navy began sea trials of a nuclear drone that experts fear could trigger radioactive tsunamis.

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