MWM: Russia now has its first ground-launched missile capable of conventional hypersonic strikes on the U.S. mainland

The Americans seem to have figured something out. The ‘Military Watch Magazine’ writes: “Oreshnik range provides Russia with its first conventional strike capability against targets on the United States mainland”.

Following its introduction into service in December 2025, a growing number of assessments have been published in the Western world regarding the capabilities of the Russian Oreshnik ballistic missile, which is the first with an intermediate range to have been introduced in Europe since the 1980s.

The missile has been combat tested twice in the Ukrainian theatre, the first time in late 2024 when its development was first announced, and the second time on January 8 in a major show of force aimed at targets the Lviv region near Ukraine’s western borders. Recent Western assessments have indicated that the missile is likely to have a range of approximately 5,500 kilometres, contrary to prior estimates of a range of around 4,000 kilometres, which has significant strategic implications for Russia’s ongoing military standoff with NATO.

A 5,500 kilometre range allows the Oreshnik to strike targets in Washington DC, Chicago and other major cities on the continental United States if launched from Russia’s increasingly heavily militarised Arctic regions, allowing it to potentially contribute to strategic deterrence against the United States.

This range provides Russia with its first conventional strike capability against targets on the United States mainland, as the Oreshnik can carry conventional warheads, unlike intercontinental range ballistic missiles which are only equipped with strategic nuclear warheads.

While the United States had previously planned to achieve a conventional ballistic missile strike capability against targets across Russia under the Prompt Global Strike program, the Oreshnik program has realised this capability years before the American program materialises.

The Russian Armed Forces previously had only very limited options to launch tactical non-nuclear strikes on the American mainland, primarily by launching cruise missiles from nuclear powered attack submarines such as the Yasen-M class, and from intercontinental range bombers such as the Tu-95MSM and Tu-160M.

Each Oreshnik ballistic missile carries six hypersonic glide vehicles which can manoeuvre and alter their approach vectors in flight, which combined with their extreme speeds makes them highly challenging to intercept.

The fielding of a missile which can launch hypersonic non-nuclear strikes on up to six targets on the American mainland is a major development for the strategic balance of power between the two countries, and introduces a greater degree of mutual vulnerability that counters the significant enhancement of American warfighting capabilities across Russia’s borders.

The possibility of Russia proliferating the Oreshnik to other clients has been raised by lawmakers in the past, with the possibility remaining significant that further investments will be made to develop assets capable of launching tactical strikes against targets on the American mainland.

read more in our Telegram-channel https://t.me/The_International_Affairs