Why Russia's Not HAPPY with US Missile Defenses_
- 2 years ago
The Mark 41 missile launcher, also known as the MK 41, has been fired more than 4,000 times since first entering service in the 1980s by the United States and its allies and over three decades has become the Defense Department’s weapon of choice for retaliatory strikes, used everywhere from Iraq and Syria to the former Yugoslavia. Now Russia is worried that it could be the next target.
The United States also uses the MK 41 in a defensive capacity as launchers to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles in mid-flight. The Pentagon has set up missile defense batteries, known as Aegis Ashore, on former Soviet turf in Romania and will soon do so in Poland. The Kremlin smells a U.S. cover-up. It fears the United States could covertly adapt the defensive batteries to fire Tomahawks into Moscow’s airspace.
The theoretical possibility of MK 41s being used on European soil for offensive purposes has become a subject of increasing heartburn for Russia as NATO and its missile defenses have crept deeper into Eastern Europe. These missile defenses are a protective shell of sensors and batteries, the Americans say; the Obama administration said they were needed to defend against Iran before inking the 2015 nuclear deal.
Especially galling to the Russians is that starting in 2013, the Obama team raised concerns about Moscow’s compliance with Cold War-era arms control treaties, arguing that Russia’s development and deployment of ground-launched cruise missiles went beyond the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. That treaty forbids both sides from developing land-based missiles and launchers that could hit targets between 310 and 3,400 miles away.
In response, the Kremlin began calling out perceived INF violations—including the MK 41 launchers creeping closer to Russia’s borders. (The United States withdrew from the treaty in 2019 at the direction of then-President Donald Trump.)
Experts said Russia’s argument against the MK 41 deployments is partly grounded in a hard-learned historical lesson. Ever since the United States went back on promises not to expand NATO in the 1990s, particularly by extending the alliance into the Baltic states, Russia has fought back hard against the possibility of Western military hardware creeping up toward its border.
DISCLAIMER: Information, Facts or Opinion expressed in this Video are Presented as Sources and do not reflects views of Ultimate US Military and hence, Ultimate US Military is not liable or responsible for the same. The Sources are responsible for accuracy, Completeness, suitaibility and Validity of any information in this Documentary.
Title 17, US Code (Sections 107-118 of the copyright law, Act 1976):
All media in this video is used for purpose of review & commentary under terms of fair use.
All footage, & images used belong to their respective companies.
The United States also uses the MK 41 in a defensive capacity as launchers to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles in mid-flight. The Pentagon has set up missile defense batteries, known as Aegis Ashore, on former Soviet turf in Romania and will soon do so in Poland. The Kremlin smells a U.S. cover-up. It fears the United States could covertly adapt the defensive batteries to fire Tomahawks into Moscow’s airspace.
The theoretical possibility of MK 41s being used on European soil for offensive purposes has become a subject of increasing heartburn for Russia as NATO and its missile defenses have crept deeper into Eastern Europe. These missile defenses are a protective shell of sensors and batteries, the Americans say; the Obama administration said they were needed to defend against Iran before inking the 2015 nuclear deal.
Especially galling to the Russians is that starting in 2013, the Obama team raised concerns about Moscow’s compliance with Cold War-era arms control treaties, arguing that Russia’s development and deployment of ground-launched cruise missiles went beyond the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. That treaty forbids both sides from developing land-based missiles and launchers that could hit targets between 310 and 3,400 miles away.
In response, the Kremlin began calling out perceived INF violations—including the MK 41 launchers creeping closer to Russia’s borders. (The United States withdrew from the treaty in 2019 at the direction of then-President Donald Trump.)
Experts said Russia’s argument against the MK 41 deployments is partly grounded in a hard-learned historical lesson. Ever since the United States went back on promises not to expand NATO in the 1990s, particularly by extending the alliance into the Baltic states, Russia has fought back hard against the possibility of Western military hardware creeping up toward its border.
DISCLAIMER: Information, Facts or Opinion expressed in this Video are Presented as Sources and do not reflects views of Ultimate US Military and hence, Ultimate US Military is not liable or responsible for the same. The Sources are responsible for accuracy, Completeness, suitaibility and Validity of any information in this Documentary.
Title 17, US Code (Sections 107-118 of the copyright law, Act 1976):
All media in this video is used for purpose of review & commentary under terms of fair use.
All footage, & images used belong to their respective companies.