The situation for Putin’s forces in Ukraine may be dire, says Con Coughlin in today’s Telegraph, but we need to remain on our mettle should he decide to deploy his new generation of Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles – known as Satan II.
"With a range of 11,000 miles and carrying between 10 and 15 nuclear warheads apiece, Russia claims the missiles can fly at hypersonic speeds while bypassing existing European defence systems. The missile’s destructive force prompted one Russian television host, commenting shortly after Boris Johnson had made his second visit to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, to make the charming boast that a single Sarmat missile would be sufficient to destroy Britain “once and for all”.
Importantly, however, the newly-appointed Chief of General Staff Sir Patrick Sanders has strongly argued for an increase in its traditional war-fighting capacity (troops, planes and guns) precisely to act as a deterrent to the kind of state on state war that is currently taking place on Europe’s eastern borders.
Worryingly
“When Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, raised the issue of increasing defence spending with Mr Johnson at the start of hostilities in Ukraine, he is said to have got short shrift from Downing Street.
This attitude is short-sighted in the extreme. The reason Putin and his acolytes feel sufficiently confident to continue threatening the West is because they have invested heavily in new warships, warplanes, missiles and tanks. Major powers like Britain must do the same if they are to prevent any further acts of Russian aggression.”
The full article can be read below with a link to the original beneath it:
Daily Telegraph
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