Oreshnik missile system (IRBM)

Mysterious Oreshnik. Vladimir Putin announced a Russian complex that has no counteraction, by Dmitry Plotnikov, columnist for Military Pravda. 11.21.2024.

The Russian army in Dnepropetrovsk struck one of the industrial facilities with medium-range missiles in non-nuclear hypersonic warheads of the Oreshnik complex.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated this in his evening address.

"Russia considers itself entitled to use weapons against facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against Russian facilities," the head of state emphasized.

He particularly noted that there are no means of counteracting the Oreshnik missiles in the world today. And the speed of these missiles is 10 Mach.

The head of state also called the use of "Oreshnik" a response to the American plans to produce and deploy medium- and shorter-range missiles. But when using this weapon, our command will offer the civilian population of Ukraine to leave the danger zone in advance.

"We are ready for any possible development of events. There will always be a response," Vladimir Putin concluded.

What are we talking about?

What is characteristic here is that in open sources there is very, very little information about the Russian missile complex called "Oreshnik".

This title may refer to:

A promising or secret development, information about which is not yet publicly available.

Misinterpretation of the name or unofficial designation of an existing project.

If we are talking about new Russian military developments, then in recent years such systems as "Germes", "Osina-RV" and others related to high-precision and long-range weapons have been mentioned. However, there was no specific mention of "Oreshnik" among them.

Some experts have already stated that the Oreshnik complex is probably a development of the RSD-10 Pioneer missile systems, which were accepted into service in 1976. In fulfilling the INF Treaty, 58 missile regiments where the Pioneers were located were disbanded, analysts note.

Super Riddle

So today, the world (and many military observers) learned for the first time that the Oreshnik is a Russian medium-range ballistic missile, which became widely known after Vladimir Putin announced its use during the conflict in Ukraine. The missile is positioned as a high-precision weapon capable of penetrating existing missile defence systems.

Main characteristics (as far as known):

•Type: medium-range ballistic missile.

•Objective: to destroy ground targets, including military facilities.

•Speed: 10 Mach.

•Range: The exact range is not disclosed, but is believed to be significantly greater than that of traditional cruise missiles.

•Accuracy: high accuracy in hitting targets.

•Maneuverability: Capable of maneuvering at the end of its trajectory, making interception difficult.

•Anti-aircraft defence: designed to take into account modern anti-missile defense systems, which allows it to overcome them.

Conclusion

Of course, the world media immediately began to reflect. For example, the CNN channel immediately released the news that Russia probably has only a few experimental Oreshnik missiles, one of which was used against Dnepropetrovsk. This means that in order for the enemies to finally understand that the jokes are over, it is necessary to repeat as soon as possible...

https://military.pravda.ru/2138369-putin-anonsiroval-rossiiskii-kompleks/

So we have an IRBM with 6 MIRVs. It must be quite a large missile for a medium-sized one? Leaving the INF will be a disservice to the West, just like leaving the ABM treaty

Putin said it will be used but not deployed operationally until the US does the same... which is obviously a direct response to the US saying it will be basing missiles in Germany now the INF treaty is gone.

Being an IRBM this weapon could have a range of up to 5,000km, but obviously we don't know the details yet.

Excellent response... who is crying now?

he`s going to announce his own take on the SDI soon.
Like

Only Putin will do real SDI and not a bluff like the US. They already have better ABM systems

thegopnik wrote:

some on other forums are saying the kinetic force would be enough that adding tnt to it would be pointless which is why I am curious. also they said 6 elements 36 warheads

By the sṕacing of the warheads seen in the videos, it indeed seems possible that it has as a bus with 6 MIRVS, each of them able to divide into multiple warheads. Which is terrifyingly adequate to achieve two critical things: one, to hopelessly saturate AD, two, to devastate large targets with one go, unlike previous high precision weapons. This is a weapon the West cannot defend against, now or in 15 years, and can take out any target within its range, basically leaving Europe at Russia's gunpoint. LNG terminals at the ports or gas storage sites, military headquarters and AD assets, main airports or air bases, main nodes of transmission lines and power stations, dams... just take out some of them an see the economy of a country and its defence capabilities plunge into unseen crisis.

There is one more valid question - what is a maximal distance for independent targets?
Pioneer could operate against targets separated by no less than 100 km with it's 3 warheads.
I highly doubt it will be much different for this one, which means that a single missile can cover a shocking area of targets if needed.

ALAMO wrote:There is one more valid question - what is a maximal distance for independent targets?
Pioneer could operate against targets separated by no less than 100 km with it's 3 warheads.
I highly doubt it will be much different for this one, which means that a single missile can cover a shocking area of targets if needed.

In terms of cost and size compromises and from what we have seen, it would make sense to me if the 6 main blocks are maneuverable (means, not strongly restricted in regards of distance between their targets), while the apparently independent warheads can be some sort of area weapon, depending on the moment of separation programmed.

The biggest problem i have is where the **** is the aftermath damage!!!

The orcs are never going to show what damage was done and what was hit... remember the Russians launched 10 missiles and the Orc Air defence shot down 20 of them.

They have never shown damage from Kh-32 or Kh-22M or Iskander or Kinzhal attacks... why would they reveal to us or Russia how effective their attack was?

It was using dummy warheads.

Where does that stupid idea come from?

They were kinetic penetrators... why would they develop an intermediate range missile and have it carry dummy warheads?

This missile will carry kinetic warheads for specific hard targets... probably including ships at sea... imagine six 100 kg lumps of metal blowing a hole from the top of the deck of a carrier right down through to the sea below smashing everything on the way down... six well spaced impacts would sink any aircraft carrier ever designed.

It will likely also carry nuclear warheads for area soft targets.

The whole purpose of this was to showcase to the West that they have weapons that they cannot counter.

The US has already said they will be stationing long range cruise missiles in a ground launched system in Germany in a few years time... Putin said Russia will not deploy weapons that violate the INF treaty until the US deploys similar land launched medium or intermediate range missiles anywhere on earth. A tomahawk would qualify for Russia to produce IRBMs like SS-20 and deploy them on Russian territory to hit any target in Europe or Asia. This is an IRBM and will be used to hit targets in Europe. Some targets will need a nuke warhead and others will send a message with a kinetic warhead...both moving at speeds western air defences would not be able to stop. There is no value in producing dummy warheads.

It wasn't just the atacms shit. It's the missile defense radar site in Pooland. It's a message that their methods are I'm vein and will be destroyed

Putin will be hoping the Europeans see this and shit themselves and demand the US halt deployment of long range ground launched missiles in Europe and restore the INF treaty as quickly as possible... but if they don't this Russian weapon will free up all their ICBMs and SLBMs for targets in the US as IRBMs can be used against closer ranged targets.

some on other forums are saying the kinetic force would be enough that adding tnt to it would be pointless which is why I am curious. also they said 6 elements 36 warheads

HE can accelerate metal fragments to speeds of 2km per second, but as you can guess an outer shell of heat resistant metal containing tens of thousands of steel cubes or balls that shatters on impact and scatters 2km per second shrapnel would be more effective than HE which is a gas whose blast wave will actually be slower than the impact of this metal lump. A bit of incendiary material like magnesium could be interesting too.... but HE will be lighter and have much less momentum on impact than the same volume of most types of metal.

some commentators are suggesting that Oreshnik is an evolution of the RS-26 Rubezh, perhaps a modified version with decreased fuel and increased warhead (MIRV) capacity

The easiest way to make an IRBM is to take one stage off of an ICBM or indeed just use a SLBM and put in extra warhead weight to reduce the range.

I hope Russian developers will add a secondary detonation function to these warheads, so that its Kinetic force will punch a hole to enemy underground bunkers, and then the secondary explosion will blow the area wide open, destroying everything inside the bunker.

An APHE could be created easily enough... would require lots of testing but would be worth it.

Only Putin will do real SDI and not a bluff like the US. They already have better ABM systems

They have high energy lasers and compact nuclear power sources, and with their new space tug design able to fly around orbit dragging cargo like satellites up to higher orbits or satellites in higher orbits down to lower orbits or collecting and disposing of space junk... an armed system that is constantly changing course and orbit would be almost impossible to deal with with most current interceptors.

LNG terminals at the ports or gas storage sites, military headquarters and AD assets, main airports or air bases, main nodes of transmission lines and power stations, dams... just take out some of them an see the economy of a country and its defence capabilities plunge into unseen crisis.

With that level of precision 6 x 150kg solid metal penetrator coming in at 2.5km/s you could hit the top of an aircraft carrier in six separate places and penetrate it from deck to the ocean... that will definitely sink it.... the heat of the metal fragments... well you saw the video... those penetrators didn't have running rocket motors... they were glowing white hot... and punching through dozens of decks of an aircraft carrier it is going to get even hotter without any explosive payload.

There is one more valid question - what is a maximal distance for independent targets?
Pioneer could operate against targets separated by no less than 100 km with it's 3 warheads.

I would guess that the warheads on this IRBM are MaRVs for the nuclear warhead version so widely separated targets can be nuked, while the kinetic warheads might be MIRVs or even MRVs following a pattern depending on the target.

In this attack the target was long and narrow and the warheads as they spread spread along the line of buildings of the target they were hitting... they didn't spread in a circle or a random pattern.

I have a sneaking suspicion this IRBM might be a great way of taking out HATO major airfields right at the start of a conflict before anything goes nuclear using kinetic warheads to crater the runways down hundreds of metres cracking the foundations making repair or operation of heavy aircraft like AWACS and JSTARS problematic or impossible.

GarryB wrote:

With that level of precision 6 x 150kg solid metal penetrator coming in at 2.5km/s you could hit the top of an aircraft carrier in six separate places and penetrate it from deck to the ocean... that will definitely sink it.... the heat of the metal fragments... well you saw the video... those penetrators didn't have running rocket motors... they were glowing white hot... and punching through dozens of decks of an aircraft carrier it is going to get even hotter without any explosive payload.

I would think with Kinzhal and Tsirkon Russia already had more than enough to finish off a CVN basically anywhere in the globe, though this is one additional tool. You don't need to punch 20 holes through the hull, one is enough...

Where it really brings a significant improvement in combat effectiveness is in the ability to saturate an extensive area and take out critical infrastructure in one, practically unstoppable blow. The combination of range, payload, precision and speed is unprecedented for a conventional weapon.

lyle6 wrote:
Nutella will be nuclear only. Same as how the SS-20 Sabers were all nukes. Europe has had enough warnings at the expense of Slavic blood.

Besides, what do the American police do in a similar situation? Oh that's right they shoot the dog dead, they don`t give it the benefit of a warning shot.

That is all good, but why to waste such a breakthrough weapon? You can shut down the economy of any West European country (or the EU if needed) without resorting to any doomsday weapon. This is the peak of escalation dominance, the ability to produce nuclear-like effects without using non acceptable weapons, due to joining for the first time such precision, invulnerability to countermeasures and firepower. I say let them give Russia the slightest opportunity to use it and enjoy the show