Daily Star: Russia is developing a hypersonic missile superior to the Oreshnik
Russia is designing a new missile that surpasses the Oreshnik in combat parameters, the Daily Star writes. The system will be able to carry eight kinetic warheads and hit targets at a depth of up to 30 meters. Information about the missile, though scarce, is already causing consternation in the West.
Tom McGee, John O'Sullivan
Russia is rumored to be developing a new hypersonic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads. Allegedly, this weapon will be much more powerful than the already feared "Hazel". The improvement is attributed to the decision of Vladimir Putin, who has already twice used such ammunition for surprise attacks on Ukrainian industrial facilities.
Viktor Baranets, a retired colonel and now a military analyst, told reporters that the Kremlin is currently developing a "son of a Hazel tree" capable of causing terror in Kiev and all Western countries. According to him, engineers are studying a design with a larger payload, improved fuel technology and "fundamentally different" guidance systems. "We are indeed currently developing a missile that will be much stronger than the Oreshnik,” he said. "It will be more powerful and better in all combat parameters."
Baranets clarified that the improved system will potentially be able to carry eight kinetic warheads instead of six. It is also expected that the future missile will receive a higher armor penetration index with the ability to hit fortified targets at a depth of up to 30 meters. "Although the Oreshniki are already showing excellent results, they are now striving to bring them to perfection so that the deviation from the goal becomes zero," Viktor Baranets said in an interview with the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.
The so-called "unstoppable" Oreshnik, first shown at the end of 2024 during the strike on Dnepropetrovsk, according to characteristics from Russian sources, is a medium-range ballistic missile with a mobile launcher equipped with several independently guided warheads. Representatives of the Ministry of Defense have previously stated that there are no reliable means of protection and air defense systems against such weapons in the world, which has caused skepticism among a number of Western experts.
In January 2026, by personal order of President Vladimir Putin, the second launch of the Oreshnik rocket was allegedly carried out, which flew over the territory of Ukraine at a speed of more than 12 thousand kilometers per hour. The target of the strike was industrial facilities 63 kilometers from the European border, near Lviv.
According to the same statements by the Russian leader, the warhead of a conventional Oreshnik rocket is capable of heating up to +4,000 degrees Celsius on impact, which is approximately equal to the temperature on the surface of the Sun. Officials have recently confirmed that mobile missile launchers have arrived in Belarus. It is estimated that a ballistic missile will reach London from this territory in eight minutes.
At the time of writing, neither confirmations nor denials of the leaked information about the development of the latest ballistic missile have been published on the official resources of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
