On December 27th the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has issued a statement confirming the first active deployment of the first batch of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) with new Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), which is of a regiment strength, in the southern Ural’s Orenburg region, part of the Volga-Ural military district. The regiments name or numerical designation was not published but it is presumed to be the 13th regiment of the Dombarovskiy (Red Banner) missile division in the Orenburg region.
The regiment is said to have received two retrofitted UR-100NUTTkH (NATO designation: SS-19 Stiletto) ICBMs with Avangard HGV warheads. The regiment is expected to receive four more SS-19 ICBMs with Avangard warheads.
The Avangard HGV is integrated with the SS-19 ICBMs as a multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV), it is to be noted that Russia’s Strategic Missile Force has up to twenty SS-19s operationally deployed at this time with its arsenal consisting of thirty SS-19 missiles.
Also, a second regiment is planned to be raised by 2027 composed of six SS-19 missiles armed with Avangard HGV warheads. President Putin back in 2018 claimed that the Avangard warheads have entered serial production, and the Russian Armed Forces are expected to have 60 operational Avangard warheads in the coming years.
U.S. intelligence estimates outline that the Avangard HGVs will not achieve operational capability until 2020 and it is to be noted that the operational deployment of the regiment equipped with Avangard warheads was done without additional flight tests. Previously only two test flights of the Avangard were reported in 2017 and 2018. The December 2018 test launch of the Avangard HGV was deemed a success but the one carried out earlier, in October 2017, ended in failure. No other known tests of the weapon have been revealed.
The role of the Avangard HGV has been one of strategic nuclear delivery and has been developed specifically to counter the U.S. ballistic missile defense systems as the warhead is capable of maneuvering in the upper atmosphere at speeds more than Mach 5, which is 5 times the speed of sound. U.S. inspectors has seen the Avangard HGV warhead in November 2019 as the new hypersonic warhead is accountable in compliance to the New START Treaty as the delivery vehicle is the SS-19 ICBM.
[Source: The Diplomat]