WASHINGTON, November 25. /TASS/. None of the current missile defense systems worldwide can intercept Russia's new intermediate-range ballistic missile, the Oreshnik, Theodore Postol, a leading US missile technology expert and retired MIT Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy, told TASS.

He dismissed claims that existing missile defense systems, including Aegis, Aegis Ashore, THAAD, Patriot, and Iron Dome, could counter the Oreshnik. "No, no, absolutely not," said the expert, who is a former science adviser to the US Navy chief of staff and has also worked at Stanford University and Argonne National Laboratory. "There's nothing available that can engage that system and offer any meaningful defense against it," Postol emphasized.

'A highly advanced system'

The expert also vehemently rejected suggestions that the Oreshnik system represents previous outdated developments of Moscow. "I have to say that my reaction is that anybody who would make that claim either has no idea what they're talking about, or they're just lying. <...> My guess is these statements are all being made by political people who don't know one rocket from another," Postol said.

According to him, "this is a very advanced system" which "uses very advanced technology." "It's like comparing one of the first automobiles that people made that were steam driven to a modern, advanced car, and saying, Well, they're both the same. They're both cars. Well, that's in some sense true, but from a point of view of a technologist <...> it's totally ridiculous comparison," Postol commented.

Furthermore, he suggested that the Aegis, THAAD, Patriot, and Iron Dome systems "are fundamentally flawed in their concept, so they can’t even defend against a standard ballistic missile, let alone something as sophisticated as this Oreshnik system."

In his televised address to the nation on November 21, Putin stated that the United States and its NATO allies had authorized the use of long-range high-precision weapons before US and British missiles struck Russian military facilities in the bordering regions of Kursk and Bryansk. According to him, Russia retaliated by launching its latest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile with a non-nuclear payload at a Ukrainian defense plant, Yuzhmash, in Dnepropetrovsk. The West’s provocative stance could lead to major consequences in the event of further escalation, the Russian leader warned.

There are currently no systems capable of countering such weapons, the Russian leader emphasized. He stated that existing global air defense systems and US missile defense systems in Europe cannot intercept these missiles. He also warned that Moscow would target further missile tests based on threats to Russia's security.