Russian hypersonic missile message to the West: What are the characteristics of “Oreshnik”?
Hassan Shokouhinasb: These days, there are many “firsts” in the Ukrainian war, such as Ukraine’s first attack on Russia with the American long-range Atacama missile and the European Storm Shadow, or Kyiv’s use of anti-personnel landmines.
These issues indicate the efforts of Europe and Biden’s America to ensure Ukraine’s victory on the battlefield before Donald Trump returns to the White House, in the hope that in the possible ceasefire agreement that Trump has promised, Kyiv will receive more territory or that the new US president will be unable to establish peace by escalating tensions.
There are also “firsts” on the Russian front; in retaliation for these Ukrainian attacks with new Western weapons, Russia used the latest medium-range non-nuclear hypersonic missiles called “Oreshnik” for the first time on Thursday, December 1, against one of Ukraine’s defense-industrial facilities in Dnipro.
This escalation, initiated by Kyiv’s European and American allies, has led to a change in Russia’s nuclear doctrine. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed a new nuclear doctrine that formally lowers the threshold for the use of atomic weapons. The doctrine also allows Russia to launch a nuclear attack even in response to conventional attacks by a country that has the support of a nuclear power.
Now the question comes to mind: What are the characteristics and features of the Russian Oreshnik missile, which was fired at targets in Ukraine for the first time after the country’s nuclear doctrine was changed?
Oreshnik’s characteristics: can the Russian hypersonic missile change the equation of war?
The Oreshnik missile (9M729 Oreshnik) is a Russian hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile. The rocket is said to be capable of reaching speeds equivalent to Mach 10 (12,300 kilometers per hour) and cannot be intercepted by NATO air defense systems.