In 2025, we witnessed a clear acceleration of the global arms race. Escalatory rhetoric in Europe, sustained support for Ukraine’s armed forces, and Trump’s so-called golden defense initiatives – backed by tens of billions of dollars – have fundamentally reshuffled the pieces on the world’s geopolitical chessboard.
Political confrontation is increasingly giving way to direct competition between military programs, and simply keeping pace now requires enormous resources.
There is, however, another path: choosing response options that operate on a different plane altogether – ones that are asymmetric by design and exploit the technological assumptions and vulnerabilities of the opposing side.
Russia has identified and begun developing precisely such solutions, without abandoning investment in traditional weapons systems.
What follows is an overview of the military counterbalance that had taken shape by the end of 2025 in response to these new challenges.
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A fully asymmetric – and fundamentally strategic – answer to Trump’s “golden” initiatives lies in Russia’s development of next-generation weapons systems.
In late 2025, two major announcements drew attention to strategic systems powered by onboard nuclear energy sources: the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile with effectively unlimited range, and the Poseidon nuclear-powered unmanned underwater vehicle.
By the end of October 2025, both systems had demonstrated, during testing, the ability to operate autonomously using their onboard nuclear power units.
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The emergence of such unprecedented systems became possible due to breakthrough advances by Russian nuclear scientists in the 1990’s and 2000’s, as well as the extraordinary efforts of designers, manufacturers, and test engineers.
In practical terms, these platforms mark the birth of entirely new classes of nuclear strategic deterrence systems – capabilities no other country in the world has possessed to date, and likely will not for quite some time.
This is a decisive trump card in the new phase of confrontation.
Russia’s nuclear-powered Poseidon Super Torpedo System speeds @ 110 miles p/h
At the same time, more traditional missile technologies remain a powerful tool for shaping the political landscape without crossing the threshold into actual launches.
In late December 2025, it was announced that plans to place the first units equipped with the Oreshnik medium-range strategic missile system on combat duty were nearing implementation.
Minsk has stated that up to ten such systems will be deployed in Belarus. At the same time, it is highly likely that one of the first Oreshnik divisions will be based at the Kapustin Yar test range.
Russia likely placing new Hyper-sonic Missiles @ Airbase in Belarus
Deployment is expected to occur at the brigade level, most likely both in Belarus and in the European part of Russia. The system is equipped with hyper-sonic ballistic missiles that can be used in non-nuclear configurations.
As such, Oreshnik may become the first non-nuclear deterrent system of pan-European significance: with a range of up to 5,000 kilometers, it can reach any target on the continent.
Work also continues on preparing the deployment and completing testing of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile – a heavy, liquid-fueled ICBM designed to replace the legacy Voevoda system and widely regarded as the most powerful missile of its kind in the world.
In parallel, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology is likely developing new solid-fuel missiles to replace both mobile and silo-based Topol-M ICBMs.
By 2026, the earliest deployed Topol-M systems will be 29 years old, and their replacement is already on the horizon.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2026.
Russia didn’t start this –remember years ago Mr.Putin said to the USA many times – “Russia doesn’t want to start an Arms Race but if pushed into it it will do so “. This was ignored by the USA as after the collapse of the Soviet Union Russia was very poor for a while hardly affording to deploy or fight a major war and had to stop any costly new military equipment being designed or manufactured but due to America and the west pushing towards Russia’s borders while denying they were doing so to attack Russia ( remember the ex… Read more »
Incredible, NZ should ban those thugs, and I think they do in some way, forcing restrictions and social contributions upon them. But they all are part of the Five Eyes nations block.
After many complaints about rich Americans buying up homes and land in New Zealand the NZ government did act and placed restrictions on the ability of foreigners buying up land and property.
Although NZ is part of the Five Eyes it does not posses any nuclear weapons and as it is remote in relation to the rest of the world it was thought to be a safe bet not to be nuked as well as being a civilised nation .