The deployment of Russian Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missiles in Belarus has triggered a wave of panic-stricken predictions about a super-fast strike on Kyiv. Some sources have spread information that the missile could reach the Ukrainian capital in 1 minute and 41 seconds. However, military analysts at Defense Express call such calculations absolute nonsense, based on ignorance of flight physics, UNN writes.
Details
The figures of "111 seconds" appeared as a result of simply dividing the distance by the maximum speed of the missile (12300 km/h). This approach is fundamentally flawed, as a ballistic missile does not move in a straight line, but along a steep arc. It reaches its maximum speed only for a short moment after acceleration, and covers the rest of the path by inertia. Therefore, the actual flight time is significantly longer than primitive mathematical predictions.
The paradox of minimum range
The most important factor ignored by the "scaremongers" is the technical limitation of the missile. Like its Soviet counterpart, the RSD-10 "Pioneer", the two-stage "Oreshnik" has not only a maximum but also a minimum flight range. According to Ukrainian intelligence services, this threshold is 700 km.
The "Oreshnik" cannot hit Kyiv from the territory of Belarus at all, because the distance from the farthest point of this country to the Ukrainian capital is 660 km.
Why the missile cannot shoot "under itself"
The design of solid-propellant medium-range missiles implies that the engines must operate for a certain time. If the target is closer than 700 km, the missile simply will not be able to build a trajectory for impact: it will either overshoot the object or go beyond controlled flight.
Thus, despite the fact that the "Oreshnik" remains a serious threat to distant European capitals in the event of a global conflict, most of Ukraine, including Kyiv, is paradoxically in a "dead zone" for launches from Belarusian training grounds.