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Putin claims to have low-flying hypersonic missiles, the Oreshnik, they would be extremely difficult to detect and nearly impossible to intercept. The hypersoni
by zamalek 2y ago
Putin claims to have low-flying hypersonic missiles, the Oreshnik, they would be extremely difficult to detect and nearly impossible to intercept. The hypersonic part has been verified - I haven't seen any confirmations of its low-flying capability (meaning it can maneuver around terrain).
Of course, he claims that it can't be stopped, but he is making that claim in the midst of imperfect intelligence of his opponent. And it's Putin we're talking about, he'd claim Russia has flying pigs if he thought were advantageous to.
- kasHgabG 2y agoPutin is wrong. Even Ted Postol, who has been (falsely, I think!) accused of all sorts of loyalties in the Syrian missile drama, has said that the Oreshnik is a normal intermediate range ballistic missile (variant of the RS-26) and not a low flying hypersonic missile. He also rejected the claim that inert warheads can do the damage that Putin claimed. Which is obvious, since the warheads cannot have more kinetic energy than the total energy of the rocket fuel minus drag. Hypersonic, yes. All IRBMs have hypersonic warheads on reentry.
- ceejayoz 2y agoOreshnik is a ballistic missile. It was originally mistaken for an ICBM. Hypersonic, yes (as are ICBMs from the 1960s). Low altitude, no.
- lmm 2y agoAll ballistic missiles are hypersonic (except very short-range ones), when people talk about "hypersonic missiles" they mean ones that have a hypersonic glide phase during which they can manoeuvre enough to evade interception.