Kremlin Hits Back at Trump's Claim That Russia Stole Missile Plans

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has dismissed former President Donald Trump's claims that Russia stole plans for America's "super-duper missile" during the administration of former President Barack Obama.

Speaking to supporters on Monday at a 2024 campaign rally in Derry, New Hampshire, the former president claimed that Russia had stolen information for the weapon before developing one of its own. During his administration, Trump had touted a military project that he said he named the "super-duper missile" that reportedly travels 17 times faster than other weapons on the market at the time.

"You know Russia stole the super—we call them the super-dupers, right, they go super fast—They stole that during the Obama administration," Trump told supporters Monday evening. "They stole the plans, it was all very highly classified. They stole the plans and they built it."

Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that Russia has "our own missile, an excellent one" in response to Trump's comment, and claimed that Moscow's weaponry "has no rivals in the world for now," reported the Russian state-run media outlet TASS.

"It's hard for me to say whether our missile fits in well with Mr. Trump's term 'super-duper,' but it is a good missile that has no rivals in the world for now," Peskov added. "And there is not just one."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign for comment via email on Tuesday.

Not much is known about the "super-duper missile" that Trump first introduced during a presentation in May 2020, but according to a report from CNN, Pentagon officials acknowledged a few months later that the hypersonic missile project was part of an effort to catch up to Russian and Chinese hypersonic weapons.

The U.S. has lagged behind China and Russia's hypersonic missile programs in recent years due to delays in testing and cost overruns. While testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee in May, Air Force General Glen VanHerck said that America's adversaries are continuing to aggressively pursue advanced hypersonic weapons designed to evade detection, according to a release by the Department of Defense.

"Hypersonic weapons are extremely difficult to detect and counter, given the weapons' speed and maneuverability, low flight paths and unpredictable trajectories," VanHerck told the Senate committee.

"I believe the greatest risk for the United States stems from our inability to change at the pace required by the changing strategic environment," he added.

In January, the Pentagon signed contracts with two companies—totaling around $277 million—to build prototype sensors able to track hypersonic weapons.