It’s the new ‘superweapon’ of Russian President Vladimir Putin: The 9M730-Burevestnik, translated as “Stormbird”. However, there are doubts about the added value of this weapon, as reported by merkur.de.
In early 2023, Putin announced a successful test of the weapon. It has a “practically unlimited range” and can operate on an “unpredictable flight path”. It has the ability to “bypass interception lines”, and it is invulnerable to all existing and future missile defense and air defense systems. Nuclear weapons expert Pavel Podvig believes that the weapon does not offer any advantage over existing systems that Russia already possesses. “Assuming it works as advertised, it’s just a cruise missile with a very long range,” is his assessment.
In the war in Ukraine, Russian hypersonic missiles of the Kinzhal type were already intercepted by the US Patriot air defense system. Putin had touted them as “invulnerable”.
Image: Mil.ru, VictoryDayParade2018-22, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image size modified)
