Russia deployed its first regiment of hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles on Friday, the Defense Ministry said, a move which President Vladimir Putin has boasted puts his country in a class of its own.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has informed Putin of the deployment, according to a ministry statement that did not disclose where the missiles were located.

The new system, called Avangard, comprises a hypersonic glide vehicle designed to sit atop an intercontinental ballistic missile, one of several new types of weapons Putin has touted as ahead of their time.

Putin has said Russia's new generation of nuclear weapons can hit almost any point in the world and evade a U.S.-built missile shield. Some Western experts have questioned how advanced some of the weapons programs are.

The Pentagon said in a statement that it "will not characterize the Russian claims" about the Avangard's capabilities. The United States has been developing hypersonic weapons since the early 2000s, according to a Congressional Research Service report published in July.

Russia said on November 26 that U.S. experts had examined an Avangard under inspection rules of the 2010 New START treaty.

A U.S. State Department official confirmed that inspectors examined an Avangard, but had no further comment.

Putin said on Tuesday the Avangard system could penetrate both existing and any future missile defense systems.

"Today, we have a unique situation in our new and recent history. They (other countries) are trying to catch up with us. Not a single country possesses hypersonic weapons, let alone continental-range hypersonic weapons," said Putin.

Hypersonic glide vehicles are boosted on a rocket to altitudes of between 40 kilometers (25 miles) and 100 kilometers (62 miles) before detaching to glide along the upper atmosphere towards their target, say researchers.

Control surfaces on glide vehicles mean they can steer an unpredictable course and maneuver sharply as they approach impact. They also follow a much flatter and lower trajectory than the high, arching path of a ballistic missile.

That makes them much harder to detect early with radar, giving missile defenses less time to respond, say researchers.

(Cover: Russia's President Vladimir Putin (C) speaks with Special Presidential Representative for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport Sergei Ivanov (2nd R), Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (L) and Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov (2nd L, back) as he visits the National Defense Control Center to oversee the test of a new Russian hypersonic missile system called Avangard, which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads, with Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov seen nearby, in Moscow, Russia December 26, 2018. /Reuters Photo)