As the world enters 2020 on dramatically increased geopolitical tension, there was an extra chill to the boast coming from Moscow that Russia had deployed its "Avangard" hypersonic missile.
A US concept rendering of a boost-glide vehicle and 'air-breathing' scramjet powered hypersonic missile Credit: Northrup Grumman
President Putin claimed that the super-fast weapon, believed to be located in the Urals mountain range in Western Russia, can deliver warheads at 27 times the speed of sound and is essentially unstoppable.
"Not a single country possesses hypersonic weapons, let alone continental-range hypersonic weapons," he said, claiming that the West was now "playing catch-up".
"The Avangard is invulnerable to intercept by any existing and prospective missile defence means of the potential adversary."