What Are Russia's Avangard Missile Systems? Putin's 'Invincible' Weapon

Russia has put another deadly Avangard weapons system into service, according to the country's Ministry of Defense.

The ministry on Saturday shared footage of the Avangard, a nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicle, being readied for combat. It was deployed in the Orenburg region in the southern Ural Mountains, the state news agency Tass reported on Saturday.

It was fitted with intercontinental ballistic missiles which took a few hours to install, the report said.

The ministry shared footage of the second regiment to be equipped with the Avangard.

"Another regiment with the Avangard silo-based missile system went on combat duty in Orenburg region," the ministry said in a statement alongside the footage on Telegram.

The Avangard was one of several advanced weapons systems that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in March 2018.

Russian officials have said the weapon is capable of flying at 27 times the speed of sound and are impossible to intercept.

In his 2018 speech presenting the Avangard, Putin described the system as "invincible" and likened it to a "meteorite" and "fireball." He said it was capable of making sharp maneuvers on its way to a target, meaning it is "absolutely invulnerable to any air defense and missile defense weapons."

Putin again hailed its capabilities following a test launch from the Dombarovskiy missile base in December that year.

"The Avangard is invulnerable to intercept by any existing and prospective missile defense means of the potential adversary," the Russian leader said, adding that it would guarantee Russia's security for the forseeable future.

At the time, former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Russia had 12 newly manufactured Avangard systems, which were developed at a relatively low cost.

The Avangard weighs about 2,000 kg, has a range of over 6,000 km and is able to carry a nuclear or conventional payload, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Missile Defense Project.

"As a boost-glide weapon, the Avangard is carried to its apogee by a ballistic missile," the project says. "Once boosted to its suborbital apogee of around 100 km, the glide vehicle separates from its rocket. It then cruises down towards its target through the atmosphere."

The first Avangard missile system went into service in late 2019, Russia's Ministry of Defense has said.

The Avangard is one of two systems Russia has developed that are "capable of flying trajectories over the south pole to approach the continental US from the south," the National Air and Space Intelligence Center said in a 2020 report. The Avangard "is designed to penetrate the US missile defense system and strike at critical targets with a nuclear warhead."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Department of Defense for comment.