What does Russia’s use of an “experimental” weapon in Ukraine mean for its allies?

Russian forces fired a so-called “experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile” against Ukraine on Thursday that had the characteristics of an intercontinental ballistic missile but did not carry a nuclear warhead. The test has some Russian observers worried about what this launch could signal.

In response to the launch, the United States is providing Ukraine with “hundreds of additional (Raytheon-built) Patriot and AMRAAM missiles to bolster its air defenses,” the White House announced Thursday. “Many of these are anti-aircraft missiles that have already been delivered as a result of the President’s decision to redirect air defense exports to Ukraine, and the delivery of additional anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine is underway.”

Russian officials did not provide details on the exact type of missile fired at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, but Middlebury professor and missile expert Jeff Lewis believes it was “a variant of the long-standing RS-26 Rubezh IRBM,” he wrote on X. His There are two reasons for this, he wrote: “(1) Russia has indicated it has resumed development of the RS-26 this summer, and (2) that is what the Ukrainians predicted a day ago, right down to the starting position.”

However, Tom Karako, director of the missile defense project at CSIS, said Defense One The New details suggest it’s “probably not” an RS-26, “so it’s unclear what it is.”

Footage of the explosion suggests the new weapon likely has a multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle, or MIRV, payload, Karako said, based on the secondary rockets fired by the original missile.

“If it is indeed a MIRV, hitting multiple things when it arrives super fast is going to be an incredibly difficult problem, especially if it is a medium-range ballistic missile on an elevated trajectory,” he said.

The attack comes at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped up his threats against Western nations over their support of Ukraine, particularly in light of the United States’ recent decision to allow Ukraine to attack targets in Russia using U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles and the UK’s decision to allow this. Ukraine wants to deploy Storm Shadow missiles with a range of 155 miles. Ukraine has already introduced both.

Putin bragged about the weapon on Russian television on Thursday, directly linking the launch to recent decisions by the United States and Britain

“The tests were successful,” Putin said, noting that they took place “in combat conditions.” In addition, he said: “Modern air defense systems that exist in the world and the missile defense systems created by the Americans in Europe cannot intercept such missiles.”

Ukraine previously intercepted very new hypersonic missiles that Russia had described as invincible.

Referring to the latest missile, Karako said if the multiple warheads “are maneuverable, then that will make the defender’s job more difficult…It would certainly be difficult to defend against.”

However, he warned against drawing false lessons from Russia’s demonstration of aggression.

“I don’t think we should fall for that… The response should be to not only give Ukraine the ability to fire back with ATACMS, but also give it other things that it needs in a full-scale joint arms deployment, not kidding a successful one Develop strategy and put them in a better position to negotiate a position of strength.”