Russia Loads Nuclear-Capable Missile in Ominous Video

A Russian state-owned media channel broadcasting on behalf of its defense ministry reportedly aired footage of a hypersonic nuclear missile being loaded into a launch silo.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has exacerbated global tensions in the prospect of a potential third World War sparked by threats of nuclear escalation made by current and former Russian officials and political commentators. The largest nuclear stockpile belongs to Russia, edging out the United States in the number of warheads in its arsenal. Both countries combined possess roughly 90 percent of the total global stockpile.

In February, Russia suspended its participation in the Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, also known as the New START treaty. The 10-year agreement approved between the nation and the U.S. in 2011 was based on a commitment that neither nation be allowed to deploy more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads. After a five-year extension was agreed to in 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin pulled out of the treaty with no indication of rejoining in the near future.

Reuters reported that on Thursday the intercontinental and nuclear-capable "Avangard" ballistic hypersonic missile was glided into a launch silo and slowly raised into vertical position prior to being lowered into a shaft in the Orenburg region in southern Russia, near Kazakhstan.

The video of the maneuver was video broadcast by Zvezda, a state-owned TV network owned by the Russian Defense Ministry.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian Defense Ministries via email for comment.

Avangard was unveiled by Putin during a 2018 speech, one of six "next generation" weapons developed in response to countries like the U.S., China and others modernizing their arsenals. Russian officials touted it as being "impossible" to be intercepted by defense forces.

Footage of the missile, which travels at 27 times the speed of sound (about 21,000 miles per hour), was previously showcased in December 2022. It was being readied for combat deployment, also in the Orenburg region in the southern Ural Mountains. It can travel approximately 3728.2 miles, or roughly 6,000 kilometers.

"The Avangard is invulnerable to intercept by any existing and prospective missile defense means of the potential adversary," Putin said at the time.

Nikolai Sokov, senior fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, told Newsweek that the video presents nothing new and that Russia may be disingenuous due to the warhead in question being deployed on different types of Russian missiles.

It's more about strategic modernization and has less to do with the war itself, he said, adding that the Avangard is not typically classified as a hypersonic weapon as all strategic warheads are hypersonic at their terminal stage. The term hypersonic is used to describe a class of missiles that normally fly at lower speeds, such as short-range ballistic or cruise missiles.

"Avangard's speed does not stand out compared to other strategic warheads," he said. "It differs from the rest of the class because it maneuvers at the terminal stage whereas traditionally warheads fall along the ballistic trajectory.

"Accordingly, when the warhead follows ballistic trajectory, it is easier to intercept because its location is predictable in spite of very high speed. Avangard makes a few maneuvers, and hence its location is harder to predict while high speed of the warhead makes it a practically insurmountable challenge for an interceptor to react to these maneuvers."

Development of the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) dates back to the mid-1980s, when the former USSR began research on hypersonic warheads. Upon the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the project was later reinstated by Russian defense manufacturer NPO Mashinostroeniya in the mid-1990s and known as "Project 4202."

Photos of the missile itself have been deemed nonexistent.

While Russia has lauded the effectiveness of this missile, critics have described how Russian officials made similar statements regarding another hypersonic missile, the Kh-47 Kinzhal (or "Dagger"), one of which Ukrainian military officials reportedly downed in May by using the U.S.-provided Patriot air defense system.

As of early November, the U.S. has provided approximately $44.2 billion in military assistance toward Ukraine's efforts to defeat Russia in the air and on the ground.

As of June, Kyiv claimed to have successfully shot down 13 Kinzhal's in a two-month span. They mocked Russia for claims of the missile being "invisible" to air defense systems.

Avangard has very little in common with Kinzhal, Sokov said, as the latter missile is at its core more like an Iskander with a different mode of deployment. And while hypersonic the Kinzhal's speed declines with distance.