Russian Strategic Forces Chief Details New Hypersonic Weapons Programs: Assesses Prospects Against Latest NATO Missile Defences

<p >Commander of the Russian Armed Forces Strategic Missile Forces General Sergey Karakaev on December 17 elaborated on the development of new classes of hypersonic strategic missiles, and detailed how these could fare against new American missile defences. Speaking on the 65th anniversary of the creation of the Strategic Missile Forces in the Soviet Armed Forces, Karakaev stated that a wide range of new missile systems would have similarly high levels of effectiveness to the new Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle and Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile. These would be equipped with fundamentally new types of warheads that are virtually unstoppable, but “the time has not yet come to talk about them.” He elaborated that new U.S. AEGIS Ashore missile defence systems near Russia’s borders in Romania and Poland would not be capable of countering Russian hypersonic missiles, with new missiles having been specifically designed to counter these threats.  </p><p ><img src=" title="Anti-Ballistic Missile From American Ground Based Midcourse Defence System"></p><p >Russia from the late 1980s restricted its surface based missile arsenal to deploying only short and intercontinental range ballistic missiles, the former which had ranges of only 500 kilometres or less. Alongside acquisitions of large numbers of North Korean KN-23B ballistic missiles, which boast 800 kilometre ranges, the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile <a href=" on</a> November 21 provides a 4000km range. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry in early December assessed that Russia was <a href=" >able to produce</a> close to 300 Oreshnik missiles per year, with each able to carry six conventional or nuclear warheads. The missile provides a valuable means of targeting NATO forces across Europe and much of the Pacific, including targets from London to Guam. It is expected that an intercontinental range missile capable of launching tactical strikes against targets on the American mainland could also be developed, mirroring the American Conventional Prompt Global Strike program which is intended to provide a similar capability. </p>