Here is what we know about this experimental missile, whose name means “hazel” in Russian.
“The new Russian missile could hit Brussels in 15 minutes, but Vladimir Putin is not suicidal”
Thousands of kilometers
According to Mr. Putin, it is an “intermediate range” ballistic missile, which can reach targets between 3,000 and 5,500 km.
A senior source within the Ukrainian general staff said that Russia only has “a few units”.
According to Vladimir Putin, the November 21 shot was a test in combat conditions, therefore implying that this weapon is still in development.
The Orechnik therefore does not fall into the category of intercontinental missiles (with a range of more than 5,500 km). But, if fired from the Russian Far East, it could theoretically hit targets on the US West Coast.
“The Orechnik can (also) threaten almost the whole of Europe,” noted Pavel Podvig, researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (Unidir) in Geneva (Switzerland), in an interview to the media Ostorozhno Novosti.
Until 2019, Russia and the United States could not field such missiles, under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed in 1987 during the Cold War.
But in 2019, US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from this text, accusing Moscow of violating it, which opened the way to a new arms race.
Intercontinental missile fired on Ukraine: Putin is intimidating, how worried should we be?
3 km per second
On November 22, during a televised meeting with military officials, Vladimir Putin assured that Moscow had a reserve of these missiles “ready for use”.
The commander of the Russian strategic missile forces, Sergei Karakayev, affirmed that the “massive use” of this missile “would be comparable to the use of a nuclear weapon”.
According to Mr. Karakayev, it was developed after an order given by Mr. Putin in July 2023.
The Orechnik “is based on the Russian model of the RS-26 Roubej intercontinental ballistic missile”, itself derived from the “RS-24 Iars”, explained Pentagon deputy spokesperson Sabrina Singh.
The RS-26 Roubej armament program, the first successful test of which dates back to 2012, was frozen in 2018, according to the Russian state agency TASS, for lack of means to carry out this project “simultaneously” with the development of new generation Avangard hypersonic systems, supposed to be able to reach a target almost anywhere in the world.
According to Vladimir Putin, the Orechnik missile, fired on November 21 without a nuclear charge, can reach the speed of Mach 10, “or 2.5 to 3 kilometers per second” (around 12,350 km/h).
According to Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR), the speed reached by the missile “on the final part of the trajectory” was “greater than 11 Mach” (around 13,600 km/h).
“The temperature of the impacting elements reaches 4,000°C,” Vladimir Putin boasted on Thursday, almost as much according to him as “on the surface of the sun”, between “5,500 and 6,000 degrees”.
“Decision-making centers in kyiv” could be targets of future Orechnik shots, he added.
“The West fears the fall of Vladimir Putin. It’s shocking”
Several heads
Finally, the Orechnik would also be equipped with maneuvering charges, which would further increase the difficulty of interception.
“The air defense systems currently available in the world and the anti-missile defense systems created by the Americans in Europe do not intercept these missiles. This is excluded,” Putin said.
Ukraine has asked the West to provide it with new, latest generation anti-aircraft systems. The Ukrainians have identified some of the new systems which would however allow them to counter them, a NATO diplomat said on Tuesday.
A video of the Russian launch on November 21, broadcast on social networks, showed six powerful successive flashes falling from the sky at the time of the attack, a sign, according to the Ukrainian GUR, that the missile “was equipped with six warheads”.
This configuration consists of equipping a missile with several warheads, nuclear or conventional, which each follow an independent trajectory upon entry into the atmosphere.
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