There are military experts in the West who agree with the Russians that it is impossible, or nearly so, to defend against the Oreshnik. An unnamed French military source told Le Monde that Western air defense systems are capable of detecting the launch of a Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile, but they are unlikely to destroy it. “[Ukrainian] allies are capable of detecting this type of threat using warning systems, but it is unlikely that they will be able to neutralize this threat. There is only about 30 minutes left to respond,” the French daily quoted its unnamed military source as saying, reported TASS.
Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Defense One: “If it is indeed a MIRV [Multiple Independently-targeted Re-entry Vehicle], that’s going to be a wicked hard problem to hit multiple things, if it’s coming in super fast, especially if it’s an [intermediate-range ballistic missile] on a lofted trajectory.” Karako said if the multiple warheads “are maneuverable, then that’s going to complicate the job of the defender…. It would certainly be a hard thing to defend against.”
