n late 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin personally monitored the ballistic tests of a new intercontinental missile, the Avangard, which will come into service with the country's missile troops this year. The Avangard marks a new phase in Russian rocket science. Unlike its predecessors and foreign counterparts, it can reach an incredibly high altitude and fly at hypersonic speeds while bypassing missile defense umbrellas. At present, no other missile in the world has the same capabilities. The missile is 130 times more powerful that the explosion that devastated Hiroshima and can travel to its target at a speed of about 24,000 km per hour.