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Thursday, Feb. 19, 2004

The prototype weapon proved it could maneuver so quickly as to make "any missile defense useless," Col.-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, said at a news conference.

He said that the prototype of a new hypersonic vehicle had proved its ability to maneuver while in orbit, thereby making it able to to dodge an enemy's missile shield.

"The flying vehicle changed both the altitude and direction of its flight," Baluyevsky said. "During the experiment conducted yesterday, we proved that it's possible to develop weapons that would make any missile defense useless."

Baluyevsky's comment followed a statement by President Vladimir Putin, who said Wednesday after attending rocket launches from the Plesetsk launch pad in northern Russia that experiments conducted during the military maneuvers had proven that Russia could build strategic weapons unrivaled in the world.

Uh Huh

Putin said that the development of weapons was not directed against the United States. Baluyevsky, reaffirming the statement, said the experiment shouldn't be seen as Russia's response to U.S. plans for missile defense.

"The experiment conducted by us must not be interpreted as a warning to the Americans not to build their missile defense because we designed this thing," Baluyevsky told The Associated Press.

He said that Russia had no intention of immediately deploying new weapons based on the experimental vehicle. "We have demonstrated our capability, but we have no intention of building this craft tomorrow," he said.

Baluyevsky said that Russia had informed the United States about its intention to conduct the experiment and said that U.S. officials issued no objections.

He said that the new vehicle had "ceased to exist" after the experiment, presumably burning up in the atmosphere.

Baluyevsky refused to comment on what kind of engine the vehicle had, how long its flight lasted and how exactly it maneuvered. He said that it had been designed by several Russian companies, but refused to name them.

As part of the massive military maneuvers described as the largest in more than two decades, the military launched a Molniya-M booster rocket with a Kosmos military satellite from the northern Plesetsk launch pad and two ballistic missiles: a Topol from Plesetsk and an RS-18 from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Baluyevsky refused to say which of the rockets had carried the vehicle into the orbit.

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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