Former Defense Ministry institute head denies Bolton's claim of Russia stealing hypersonic weapon technology from U.S
MOSCOW. Aug 15 (Interfax) - Russia could not have stolen hypersonic weapon technologies from the United States because it designed such weapons long before the Americans did, acclaimed military expert Maj. Gen. Vladimir Dvorkin told Interfax.
"The hypersonic glide vehicle was developed in the Soviet Union. Back then, the Americans were doing nothing of the sort and did not need to," Dvorkin said regarding the opinion of U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton that Russian hypersonic weapon projects were largely based on technologies stolen from the United States.
Dvorkin is a former head of the 4th Central Research Institute of the Russian Defense Ministry (which gives scientific support to the Strategic Missile Forces and the Aerospace Forces).
"Hypersonic glide vehicles are based on Russian projects, Russian ideas, and Russian implementation technologies," Dvorkin said.
NPO Mashinostroyeniya started working on such weapons in the late 1980s in an effort to counter U.S. President Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" Strategic Defense Initiative, he said.
"We [Russia and the United States] are on equal footing in terms of completing projects and making samples. As for other elements, such as materials and electronic parts, it is true that we have always been lagging behind and had to compensate for our lag with other methods, for instance, by increasing the mass of structures," Dvorkin said.