Avangard: Russia’s nuclear-capable hypersonic missile enters combat duty

A new intercontinental weapon that can fly at 27 times the speed of sound became operational on Friday, Russia’s defence minister reported to President Vladimir Putin, bolstering the country’s nuclear strike capability. Putin has described the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle as a technological breakthrough comparable to the 1957 Soviet launch of the first satellite. The new Russian weapon and a similar system being developed by China have troubled the United States, which has pondered defence strategies. The Avangard is launched atop an intercontinental ballistic missile, but unlike a regular missile warhead that follows a predictable path after separation it can make sharp manoeuvres in the atmosphere en route to target, making it much harder to intercept. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Putin that the first missile unit equipped with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle had entered combat duty. “I congratulate you on this landmark event for the military and the entire nation,” Shoigu said later during a conference call with top military leaders. The Strategic Missile Forces chief, General Sergei Karakayev, said during the call that the Avangard was put on duty with a unit in the Orenburg region in the southern Ural Mountains. Putin unveiled the Avangard among other prospective weapons systems in his state-of-the-nation address in March 2018, noting that its ability to make sharp manoeuvres on its way to a target will render missile defence useless. “It heads to target like a meteorite, like a fireball,” he said at the time. The Russian leader noted that Avangard is designed using new composite materials to withstand temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Celsius (3,632 degrees Fahrenheit) resulting from a flight through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. The military said the Avangard is capable of flying 27 times faster than the speed of sound. It carries a nuclear weapon of up to 2 megatons. Putin has said Russia had to develop the Avangard and other prospective weapons systems because of US efforts to develop a missile defence system that he claimed could erode Russia’s nuclear deterrent. Moscow has scoffed at US claims that its missile shield is not intended to counter Russia’s massive missile arsenals. Trump vows US missile defence in space, as Chinese hypersonic tech advances Earlier this week, Putin emphasised that Russia was the only country armed with hypersonic weapons. He noted that for the first time Russia was leading the world in developing an entire new class of weapons, unlike in the past when it was catching up with the US In December 2018, the Avangard was launched from the Dombarovskiy missile base in the southern Urals and successfully hit a practice target on the Kura shooting range on Kamchatka, 6,000km (3,700 miles) away. Russian media reports indicated that the Avangard will first be mounted on Soviet-built RS-18B intercontinental ballistic missiles, code-named SS-19 by Nato. It is expected to be fitted to the prospective Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile after it becomes operational. The Defence Ministry said last month that it showed the Avangard to a team of US inspectors as part of transparency measures under the New Start nuclear arms treaty with the US The Russian military previously had commissioned another hypersonic weapon of a smaller range. The Kinzhal (Dagger), which is carried by MiG-31 fighter planes, entered service with the Russian air force last year. Putin has said the missile flies 10 times faster than the speed of sound, has a range of more than 2,000km (1,250 miles) and can carry a nuclear or a conventional warhead. The military said it is capable of hitting both land targets and navy ships. China has tested its own hypersonic glide vehicle, believed to be capable of travelling at least five times the speed of sound. It displayed the weapon called Dong Feng 17, or DF-17, at a military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese state. Why China’s hypersonic missile tech has the US dusting off Star Wars US officials have talked about putting a layer of sensors in space to more quickly detect enemy missiles, particularly the hypersonic weapons. The administration also plans to study the idea of basing interceptors in space, so the US can strike incoming enemy missiles during the first minutes of flight when the booster engines are still burning. The Pentagon also has been working on the development of hypersonic weapons in recent years, and Defence Secretary Mark Esper said in August that he believed “it’s probably a matter of a couple of years” before the US has one. He has called it a priority as the military works to develop new long-range fire capabilities.