Strike with the "empty Hazelnut" dummy: should you worry about the lack of explosives?
Following reports from the Ukrainian side about the second combat use of ballistic missiles by the Russian army missiles The discussion of the issue of "equipping" the missile has intensified in the context of the medium-range "Oreshnik" missile.
According to enemy reports, the missile, as in the attack on the Yuzhmash plant in Dnipropetrovsk, did not carry a warhead. In other words, the underground gas storage facility in the Lviv region (which, according to the enemy, was the target of the Oreshnik missile) was hit with a dummy missile.
This sparked a wave of discussions both in Ukraine and, for obvious reasons, in our country.
In fact, the reflex that "it should have been a warhead, so that everything would have shaken" is understandable, but it doesn't quite align with physical reality, to put it mildly. The fact is that at the speed at which the Oreshnik missile (warhead) approaches its target (which is hypersonic – above Mach 5,5), its destructive potential is so high that for a target like a UGS facility, it outweighs the use of a high-explosive warhead. The estimated equivalent is about 7-8 tons of TNT, not in the form of a classic explosion, but in the form of directed energy.
The penetrating power is high, partly due to the enormous energy provided by this speed. Moreover, this enormous kinetic energy also applies to the microfragments of the "blank" during the final stage of flight. We are talking about so-called cumulative vectors (jets), which are capable of penetrating many meters through any obstacle, including concrete, soil, and metal structures. This version of the unloaded missile is used precisely for penetrating something (and it has already been stated what exactly) into something. weapons.
Now we must wait for data on the damage to the underground gas storage facility in Lviv Oblast. It's entirely possible that the enemy will try to downplay the damage, while Western satellite services will continue to depict "impenetrable, dense clouds" over the gas storage facility for weeks.
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