Dossiers

Dossiers are in-depth background pages on geopolitical, military, and strategic topics. They contain maps, technical profiles, actor profiles, topographical assessments, infrastructure overviews, and supplementary materials that are important for understanding an analysis but would interrupt the flow of the main text. They are intended for readers who do not merely want to know what is happening, but also want to understand the structures behind it.

  • ZIRCON

    The 3M22 Zircon is Russia’s most technologically ambitious sea-launched hypersonic cruise missile: not a ballistic weapon reaching hypersonic speed during re-entry, but a system designed to sustain hypersonic flight in the atmosphere through a booster-and-scramjet propulsion concept. Militarily, the Zircon is aimed primarily at high-value naval targets and the vulnerability of Western carrier strike groups;…

  • ORESHNIK

    The Oreshnik is not a technological myth, but a strategic signal: a Russian ground-launched intermediate-range ballistic missile with MIRV capability, whose real significance lies less in its conventional destructive power than in its range, possible nuclear payload, and deployment in Belarus. The system demonstrates Russia’s ability to reach European targets with fast, difficult-to-intercept intermediate-range technology…

  • KINSHAL

    The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is Russia’s air-launched sister system to the Iskander: not an entirely new class of weapon, but a ballistic missile whose launch from fast aircraft such as the MiG-31K, Tu-22M3M or Su-34 extends its operational reach and shortens the defender’s warning time. Its significance lies less in the label “hypersonic” than in the…

  • ISKANDER

    The 9K720 Iskander is not a single missile, but a mobile Russian short-range ballistic missile system designed for operational deep strikes against high-value targets such as airfields, ammunition depots, command centers, air-defense sites and transport nodes. Its military relevance lies in the combination of mobility, a depressed quasi-ballistic trajectory, high terminal speed, in-flight maneuverability and…