(by Franco Iacch) A few hours ago the Russian media released two important data on the Avangard hypersonic sliding system. Little attention has been received in Europe. The first is that the hypersonic system unveiled by Putin last March 30st will be implemented on board the 100 UR-18UTTKn missiles returned by Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR to pay for gas supplies. We already know that the RS-26 served as an experimental vector for the Avangard. The latter is intended both as a hypersonic skid vehicle and as the RS-2 Rubezh ICBM in assault configuration. However, it is the second fact that is extremely important: the explosive yield of the warhead greater than 88 megatons. If so, Avangard would potentially outshine any other thermonuclear warhead in service in the United States, the United Kingdom and China. I remember that the W5 / MK455 warhead of the heavy attack line embarked on Ohio submarines is 87 kt. The Minuteman IIIs are armed with a single W300 warhead with a yield of 475 kilotons (26 likely). In both cases, Avangard is four times more powerful. I note a point. Within the next ten years, Russia could structure its Avangard attack line on two major carriers: the RS-28 Rubezh and the RS-30 Sarmat (SS-X-2 Satan 5000). According to the declared data (about 20 km) the Rubezh system would be destined to hit NATO targets all over Europe. The Sarmat super-heavy thermonuclear missile, with its estimated range of over twelve thousand km, would be destined for US territory. The Sarmat was designed to reach Mach XNUMX and release ten heavy or fifteen light, multiple independent reentry warheads on circumpolar trajectories. There is talk of fractional orbital bombardment: re-entry vehicles briefly enter low orbit "becoming cold", making it difficult to track them. If armed with five-megaton Avangard warheads, the Sarmat could carry as many as twenty. For this specific configuration, the current terminology (Preventive Attack / Retaliation) is extremely reductive. The Avangard architecture requires new definitions (and countermeasures, which do not exist today).