Russian President Vladimir Putin. Picture: Sputnik
There will not be any analogues of Russia's new intermediate-range ballistic missile, Oreshnik, in the world soon, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
"And finally, the newest hypersonic strike system Oreshnik in a non-nuclear version. We were forced to test it in combat conditions, forced, as I already said, in response to the Western weapons strikes on the territory of the Bryansk and Kursk regions with ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles. Of course, there are no analogues of Oreshnik in the world. And I think such analogues will not appear soon," Putin said at a session of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Astana.
According to military and technical experts, in the event of a massive use of Oreshnik missiles in one strike, its power will be comparable to the use of nuclear weapons, the president said, adding that Russia has several ready-to-use Oreshnik missile systems.
"The missile can hit even highly protected and deep-lying targets," Putin said, noting that it is not a weapon of mass destruction, but it is a high-precision weapon and does not have nuclear charge.
Everything that is in the epicentre of the explosion caused by the missile is divided into elementary particles, and in essence, turns into dust, the leader said, adding that the temperature of striking elements reaches 4,000 degrees Celsius (7,232 degrees Fahrenheit).
Russia has already launched mass production of the Oreshnik missile, but ultimately the means of destruction will be chosen depending on the nature of the selected targets for destruction and the threats created for Russia.
Sputnik