Stanislav Krapivnik, a former US Army officer, notes the silence of Washington’s EU allies when the US withdrew from the INF Treaty under Donald Trump.
According to Stanislav Krapivnik, a former US Army officer, Moscow’s successful test of a hypersonic ballistic missile with continent-wide range sends a strong message to the US and the incoming Trump administration.
In a Thursday interview with RT, Krapivnik discussed the Kremlin’s described “combat test,” where Russia’s new ‘Oreshnik’ (‘Hazel’) hypersonic missile struck a military facility in Dnipro, Ukraine.
“This is a powerful message to the United States, especially considering Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which prohibited a whole class of missiles capable of reaching Europe. Remarkably, the European allies remained silent,” he observed.
Krapivnik claims the US was already developing its own intermediate-range ballistic missiles and used Russia’s alleged development as a pretext for withdrawing from the treaty.
“Russia responded by quickly developing a hypersonic missile – a Mach 10 missile. That’s three kilometers per second; its speed is almost impossible to perceive,” Krapivnik explained.
The exact specifications of this new nuclear-capable missile are classified, but Krapivnik estimates its range at least 3,000 kilometers, carrying approximately a dozen multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles.
“The payload deploys multiple glide vehicles traveling at around Mach 10. Not all carry nuclear warheads; some are decoys. This forces any defense system to prioritize targets,” he added.
The problem is that it doesn’t matter what a defense system targets. No anti-missile system globally – except possibly Russia’s S-550 – can intercept a hypersonic missile.
The Kremlin reported giving Washington 30 minutes’ notice of the strike via a dedicated communication line for nuclear risk reduction. Krapivnik stated that while the US likely informed Kiev, Ukrainian authorities remained unaware of the impending strike.
“This was the missile’s first operational demonstration,” he said. “Two years ago, the US and its Western allies doubted Russia possessed hypersonic missiles, believing their superior wealth precluded Russia’s development of such technology. This reveals a profound misunderstanding of Russia’s economic and military potential.”