Russia hypes nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicle on ICBM

The war in Ukraine is not going Russia’s way. Ukraine has established multiple beachheads along the Dnipro River in recent weeks. At the same time, thousands of Russian soldiers died in the war’s new meat grinder, Avdiivka.

As he is known to do when suffering a series of battlefield losses, Vladimir Putin is rattling his nuclear saber once again.

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“Zvezda” is a state-owned television network in Russia that’s run by the military. On Nov. 15, the network aired footage of Russia’s latest wonder-weapon: an intercontinental ballistic missile armed with the nuclear-capable Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle.

Russia unveiled the weapon in 2018 and claims it combines the speed of ICBMs with the maneuverability of cruise missiles. While on approach to the target, Russia says that the Avangard glide vehicle separates from the rocket and is able to maneuver outside the trajectory of the rocket at hypersonic speeds. If the weapon works as described, Russia would be able to launch a nuclear weapon that could avoid U.S. missile defense systems.

Putin said the new technology is in response to a new generation of weapons produced by the United States.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed the Avangard glide vehicle can travel 21,000 miles per hour. That’s 27 times faster than the speed of sound, and, if true, would mean Russian scientists were able to do what their U.S. counterparts have so far failed to do: figure out a way to build a weapon that travels so fast it turns the air molecules around it into plasma.

Concerns about the legitimacy of Russia’s claims aside, critics question whether Russia would be able to produce the Avangards at scale. Earlier this year, Straight Arrow News spoke with Dr. Tyler White, the director of the National Security Program at the University of Nebraska.

When asked about Russia’s potential use of nuclear weapons, Dr. White was quick to point out that Russia — and Putin in particular — often stretches the truth regarding the country’s weapons and nuclear capabilities.

“I think what Putin is doing is he’s trying to, with the limited resources he has, but with the nuclear weapons he has, make sure that Russia is always at the center of attention because that gives him power. And he does it by scaring people. And he does it through nuclear blackmail. And I think that’s what all of that stuff is about,” White said.

“How worried should we be? Honestly, I don’t know,” he continued. “You want to say you’re sort of skeptical of these new technological innovations when, you know, our satellite passes have shown a lot of these things have blown up on a test stand and they’re having all kinds of problems with them. But it only takes one for it to be a civilization-altering event. So, you have to take it seriously.”

Russia installed the newest Avangard-equipped missile at its military facility in Orenburg. It’s the same facility where another Avangard missile was installed in 2019.

Russia released the most recent video of the missile’s installation two weeks after Moscow withdrew from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Moscow said while it’s disappointed in the disintegration of arms-control treaties, the Russian Federation needs to take steps to reach a parity with the United States.

Reuters contributed to this report.