What flew to the Dnipro? Anyway, the heaviest ballistic missile fired in the war so far

The video captures several warheads that landed in a short distance in one place, in the area of ​​the Južmaš engineering defect, where rocket technology was developed and manufactured. However, it was not possible to determine the type of missile from the shot.

That it will not be an intercontinental ballistic missile is indicated by the fact that it was launched from the Kapustin Jar cosmodrome, which is about 850 km from the Dnipro. Given that Putin also talked about a medium-range missile, it was not an intercontinental ballistic missile. There is no need to use it for such a close target. But it was definitely a more powerful type of missile than the commonly used type of Iskander ballistic missile with a maximum range of 500 km.

Shortly after the impact, there were speculations that it was an RS-26 Ruběž missile. However, Putin talked about another rocket, which is to be named Orešnik (Hazelnut).

Since the development of missiles takes some time and the missiles must be tested before deployment, it is probably a derivative of the RS-26. The spokeswoman for the US Department of Defense, Sabrina Singh, said according to NBC television that it is a new experimental missile based on the RS-26 Rubez type.

“It is a new type of lethal (deadly, note red.) weapons that have been deployed on the battlefield, so it is certainly a cause for concern,” she said.

The fact that it is not the same missile also follows from the fact that the United States designates Rubez with its code SS-X-28, and another developed variant, which is apparently the aforementioned Orešnik, as SS-X-31.

The Ukrainian security forces provided CNN with footage of the debris that should have come from the aforementioned missile. The numbers stamped on one of the fragments No.B7120231 and ИРЦУ 306577.095 belong to parts for the R-30 Bulava ballistic missile fired from submarines, which were ordered in this millennium, according to documents from 2013, the Agency channel reported.

Both RS-26 and R-30 are produced by the MIT Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering. There were also speculations that the RS-26 was fitted with a block with warheads from the Bulava missile, included in the armament in 2018, which can carry six to ten of them with a total weight of over 1100 kg. But that would disprove the claim that the rocket carried hypersonic buoyant bodies.

The RS-26 rocket measures 12 meters, has a diameter of 1.8 meters and weighs 36 tons. It can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads, either one or more. It is the most powerful missile used in the war.

The 3M22 Cirkon naval anti-ship missile with a flat flight path has a diameter of 60 cm and a length of nine meters, a ballistic missile 9M723 Iskander with a diameter of 92 cm and a length of 7.3 meters weighs 3800 kg, missiles with a flat trajectory Kalibr with a diameter of 53 cm are, according to the version, six long up to nine meters and weighs 1300 to 2300 kg.

The RS-26 is powerful because it is derived from the 49-tonne RS-24 Jars intercontinental ballistic missile, which forms the core of Russia’s nuclear missile arsenal. Like her, it can carry one or more conventional or nuclear warheads. It can be launched from mobile devices.

Russia referred to the RS-26 as intercontinental, although Western experts doubted it. During the two last successful tests in 2012 and 2013, it flew two thousand kilometers, so it would fall among medium-range missiles, the development and production of which was prohibited by the INF Treaty (Treaty on the liquidation of medium- and short-range missiles, editor’s note). Russia defended that the RS-26 is an intercontinental ballistic missile, because in May 2012 it flew 5,800 km during a test.

Nevertheless, it was not heard about in the following years, apparently it really was a medium-range missile. It was one of the first cases of suspected violation of the 1988 INF Treaty by Russia.

Since several other cases of violations of the INF Treaty by Russia appeared at the end of the last decade in connection with the development of the Novator 9M729 cruise missile, the United States withdrew from the treaty in February 2019. Russia followed the steps of the United States, but Putin said that even if Russia withdrew from it, it would continue to unilaterally comply with its provisions. Orešnik clearly confirms that this did not happen.

Putin’s claims that the missile is hypersonic and unshootable are a typical attempt to praise one’s own weapons. Almost all ballistic missiles, including the Iskander, are hypersonic, because they too fly at a speed greater than five times the speed of sound.

Putin also talked about the Ch-47M2 Kinžal missile, which is an Iskander modified for launch from the MiG-31K, as hypersonic, which it is, and unshootable, which it is not. The American Patriot system was able to shoot it down over Ukraine. Due to its speed and flight trajectory, it belongs to the most difficult to shoot down Russian missiles.

The RS-24 Jars missile can also be shot down, although this did not happen in practice, as it was never deployed, and therefore also the RS-26 and its derivatives. The ability of American anti-missile systems to eliminate ballistic missiles was demonstrated by tests on American ballistic missiles Minuteman III.

However, the Patriot system, which destroys missiles in the last phase of flight, cannot be used against Russian missiles, but rather the THAAD system, which shoots down ballistic missiles just before they return to the atmosphere.

The Aegis system using the RIM 161 Standard Missile SM-3 with a range of 1,200 km and a range of 900 to 1,200 km can also be used against them, which can destroy ballistic missiles still in space.

In the final phase of the flight, the RIM 174 ERAM (Standard Missile SM-6) missiles, intended for the destruction of aircraft, drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles in the final phase of flight, could destroy the rocket.

These missiles can be fired by the new American NATO base in the Polish city of Redzikowo, which was officially opened at the beginning of November and is extremely annoying to the Russians. In Germany, the Typhon mobile launcher of the US ground forces is to be deployed, which enables the firing of Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-6 anti-missile missiles.