Vladimir Putin has threatened the West with his deadliest hypersonic missile yet, amid claims it will be able to strike multiple global targets after speeding off into space.
The nuclear-capable Avangard missile, which is reported to be able hit targets at 27 times the speed of sound, is seen in new footage installed in an underground launch silo in Russia‘s Orenburg region.
The 20,000mph missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle will be able to leave the earth’s atmosphere before striking any target in the world in less than 30 minutes, according to Moscow.
Video shows the missile being slowly loaded onto a tanker, before a column of armed vehicles leads it to a launch site.
The Avangard is then seen being placed upright, before it launches upwards.
The video then cuts to a crude animation designed to show off the missile’s capabilities.
The video shows the Avangard missile being fired upwards, after it is taken to a launch site
Video shows the missile being slowly loaded onto a tanker on its way to a launch site
Vladimir Putin (pictured) previously boasted: ‘The Avangard is invulnerable to interception by any existing and prospective missile defence means of the potential adversary’
A column of armed vehicles was seen leading the nuclear-capable missile it to a launch site
The video then cuts to a crude animation designed to show off the missile’s capabilities
The Avangard is then seen being placed upright, before it launches upwards
It can be seen swerving around military ships in an ocean, and quickly evading defence missiles fired towards it.
Putin, who has just returned to Russia from a rare foreign trip trip to China, claims the West has no means to stop Avangard.
He has previously claimed the Avangard strikes ‘like a meteorite’ and is unstoppable by any defence system.
Putin previously boasted: ‘The Avangard is invulnerable to interception by any existing and prospective missile defence means of the potential adversary.’
A report by Pool Number 3 outlet said today that ‘the next Avangard hypersonic missile system has entered combat duty’.
It stated: ‘In the Orenburg region, work continues to re-equip the Yasnensky missile formation with the Avangard silo-based missile system.
‘An intercontinental ballistic missile is loaded into a silo launcher using a special transport and loading unit.
‘The infrastructure of the position area has been prepared for the deployment of the next missile regiment on combat duty, including facilities for preparing duty shifts, combat duty and personnel rest.’
The Avangard is then seen being placed upright, before it launches upwards
Putin, who has just returned to Russia from a rare foreign trip trip to China, claims the West has no means to stop Avangard
It can be seen swerving around military ships in an ocean, and quickly evading defence missiles fired towards it
It has been five years since Putin outlined the missile’s reported capabilities
![Putin claimed in 2018: 'When moving towards a target, the gliding winged unit….carries out extensive manoeuvring, both laterally to several thousand [miles], and manoeuvres its altitude'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/11/16/15/77886829-12757979-image-a-92_1700150384148.jpg)
Putin claimed in 2018: ‘When moving towards a target, the gliding winged unit….carries out extensive manoeuvring, both laterally to several thousand [miles], and manoeuvres its altitude’
It has been five years since Putin outlined the missile’s reported capabilities.
In a 2018 video, he stated: ‘When moving towards a target, the gliding winged unit….carries out extensive manoeuvring, both laterally to several thousand [miles], and manoeuvres its altitude.
‘This makes it absolutely impenetrable to any air and missile defence.
‘The use of new composite materials made it possible to solve the problem of long-term controlled flight of a gliding winged unit, practically under conditions of plasma formation.
‘It goes at a goal like a meteorite, like a burning ball, like a fireball.’
The latest video of the Avangard missile comes just weeks after Ukrainian intelligence claimed that two major Russian tests of nuclear-capable missiles went awry.
On November 1, Vladimir Putin’s forces ‘conducted an unsuccessful test of the RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, which is the main element of the ground-based component of the Russian strategic nuclear forces’.
The missile ‘went off course, as it did during the previous command and control exercises’ on 25 October, says the Ukrainian defence ministry’s main intelligence directorate.
‘Similarly, the test launch of the RSM-56 Bulava ballistic missile from a….missile submarine on 25 October 2023 was unsuccessful, once again proving its insecurity,’ it added.