Russia To Arm Its Fighter Jets New Hypersonic Cruise Missiles In Addition To The KH-47m2 Kinzhal

In an interview with the newspaper of the Russian Defense Ministry, Sergei Kobylash, the Russian commander, said that the development and delivery of all aviation weapons, including new cruise hypersonic missiles, are for long-range aviation.

The scramjet engines make it possible for the missiles to move at very high speeds, which makes them harder to stop than regular cruise missiles. Russia’s nuclear triad includes a fleet of long-range bombers that can fire both nuclear and regular missiles.

But the Russian commander did not say everything about the new hypersonic missile, such as how far it could travel.

The Kinzhal KH-47M2 hypersonic missile has already caused damage in Ukraine, where Russian Mig-31s are using it to hit Ukrainian targets. People have said that the missiles pose a huge problem for Ukraine’s air defence forces.

Also, many Russian politicians and commentators have said that they will fire these missiles at countries in the west. Recently, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that a “Avangard” intercontinental hypersonic missile unit had started combat duty in the Orenburg area.

Sergey Shoigu, Russia’s Defense Minister, recently said that Russia has started sending Tsirkon/Zircon hypersonic missiles to the Russian Navy in a series.

Shoigu said, “We have sent out a series of hypersonic Tsirkon missiles from the Navy.” “The frigate Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov, which has top-notch Tsirkon seaborne hypersonic missile systems, is making its final preparations before going on a mission in the world ocean.”

President Vladimir Putin also said that Admiral Gorshkov, which has Tsirkon hypersonic missiles, will start fighting in January 2023. Putin also said that Russia would keep being ready for battle and improve the nuclear triad, which is the best way to protect Russia’s independence.

At least Mach 5 is how fast hypersonic weapons can go (five times the speed of sound). The main types of hypersonic weapons are the hypersonic glide vehicle and the hypersonic cruise missile.

A hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) is a warhead for a ballistic missile that can move and glide at speeds faster than the speed of sound. It is used on ballistic missiles to change their path in a big way.

Conventional ballistic missiles follow a known path, and the most advanced anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems can intercept them. The HGV makes them hard to predict, which lets them get past air defences.

The HGV is launched into the air by a rocket and then glides to its destination. After finding their target, the hypersonic cruise missiles are powered by “scramjets,” which are high-speed engines that use air as fuel.

Hypersonic weapons, unlike ballistic missiles, don’t move in a straight line as they travel to their target. Instead, they can change their course as they go. Current air defence systems can’t find hypersonic missiles because they are fast, move around a lot, and fly low.

A former Russian general who was very important in the 2014 takeover of Crimea says that the increasing attacks from Ukraine inside Russia can’t be stopped.

Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin said in a Telegram message that the Soviet Union’s old systems are not ready to deal with hostile unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the heavy use of High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.

He also said that attacks on important Russian sites would happen “more often” because NATO countries would send more military help. At the start of this conflict, Girkin said that Russia’s air defence was “ready for the last colonial war.”

So, he said, the enemy can now “cheaply and cheerfully” attack strategic targets deep inside Russian territory with disposable kamikaze assault vehicles, and the Russian air defence can’t stop them all or most of the time.

His worries came after the Russian Ministry of Defense said that a Ukrainian drone was shot down on December 26 at 1:35 a.m. local time. The drone was aimed at Russia’s Engels-2 air base, which is more than 350 miles away from the nearest Ukrainian-controlled area.

Even though the drone was shot down, That three Russian soldiers were killed by the drone’s parts.

Girkin said that it is, at best, naive to think that Russia’s military design bureaus and companies in the military-industrial complex can make completely new air defence systems that can protect the skies from “harmful trifles” at the speed of a waltz.

The former Russian general also said that the military and political leadership of the Russian Federation does not show that it is ready or able to launch a devastating combined-arms attack against the enemy “in his lair.”