The creator of Russia’s Avangard hypersonic glider ridiculed Donald Trump for claiming Russia stole the technology from the Obama administration, saying that hypersonic experiments in the country began long before his presidency.

“Barack Obama became US President in 2009. Our experiments with these types of things began in the Soviet times, when Obama was still a teenager,” Gerbert Yefremov, a renowned engineer, who played a key role in designing Russia’s newest missile systems, including Avangard glide vehicle, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

“He was still a schoolboy when we were already experimenting with hypersonic tech,” the 87-year-old designer added.

The conclusion, which can be drawn from Yefremov’s words, is that Russian scientists began developing hypersonic technologies sometime between 1974 and 1981 – when ex-President Obama used to be a teenager.

And their work wasn’t in vain as last year Russia’s Avangard became the first hypersonic weapon to be fielded by any military in the world.  The country’s other hardware, capable of travelling many times faster than the speed of sound, includes Kinzhal (Dagger) cruise missile and Zircon anti-ship missile, which is now undergoing tests