Of ballistic missiles’ vulnerability

Missilemen on Saturday marked an important date: the 40th anniversary of the world's first interception and destruction of the front section of a ballistic missile by a special intercepting anti-missile, the press-service of the Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN) reported. On March 4, 1961 a medium-range missile was launched from the Kapustin Yar rocket test range (Lower Volga). After a short interval its front section was detected by tracking systems and then hit by an anti-missile. This system was deployed at the Sary-Shagan range in Kazakhstan (a former Soviet republic), according to RIA Novosti. The direct hit of the missile front section was not only of military and technical, but also of political significance, since in those days the ballistic missile was considered to be an "unputdownable" weapon, or absolute. It was stressed at the press-service that it was a landmark event, one which opened a new page in global confrontation between the two superpowers - the USSR and the US.