The key breakthrough of the Russian Oreshnik missile is that it succeeds where ballistic missiles and other kinds of rockets or aircraft have failed: namely, flying at hypersonic speed in the atmosphere, without disintegrating through the heat induced by friction within the atmosphere. ICBMs have not solved the problem, so that they can fly at over 20,000 kph outside of the atmosphere, but must slow down greatly to Mach 3-4 at re-entry, in order to avoid being vaporized. Oreshnik is not a ballistic missile of the usual sort; it flies in the atmosphere at Mach 10 speed! It does this through the successful application of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), a breakthrough with which the West needs several years to catch up.
Some of the principles were explained in a broadcast with mathematician and philosopher of science Jobst Landgrebe, in a podcast with the German Kontrafunk program. An aircraft or a missile, flying at a certain speed, generates an ionized atmosphere, i.e., a charged plasma. The plasma “insulates” the vehicle from the “shock wave,” allowing frictionless flight—and, in principle, continual acceleration. The Oreshnik uses its electric dynamo to produce a magnetic field, with which it can manipulate and direct the plasma.
Russia has been pioneering MHD science since the Soviet era, under the leadership of scientist Yevgeny Velikhov, who died December 5, 2024 . MHD is also key for fusion energy research, about which Marsha Freeman wrote extensively for EIR, Fusion and 21st Century Science & Technology.
To listen to the longer explanation, from min. 20 in, the following podcast (in German).
