Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers can be equipped with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, the modifications should take until the end of 2020, a source in Russia’s defense industry told TASS.
The source did not specify exactly which model of the bomber – the Tu-160 or Tu-160M – would be modified to carry Kinzhals.
There has been no official confirmation of this information.
The Kinzhal was presented to the public for the first time during Vladimir Putin’s state-of-the-nation address in March 2018. The missile supposedly has a top speed of Mach 10 and can maneuver throughout its flight trajectory. The missile can be used to destroy both land-based targets and ships.
According to TASS, the missile was first tested in November last year in the Arctic. At the time, the missile was fired at a land target by a MiG-31K fighter. According to the news agency’s source, the missile reached Mach 10 (around 12,000 km/h).
(c) UAWire
I’m no military expert, but why would you need to put an hypersonic missile, that allegedly reaches a speed of 12,000km/h, on a plane that travels at 1/4 of the speed? Wouldn’t that be like towing a RR with a Lada?
I constantly hear “hypersonic”. Speed is not everything. You must be able to hit what you’re aiming at and it must work reliably and it should not be easily brought down or jammed. These aspects are not proven yet and knowing Ruskie equipment, I have my doubts.
If rumours are correct that the US is working on laser weapons, hypersonic is snail pace in comparison.
Absolutely. And I read another article yesterday that the US has finished testing on a laser self-guided Excalibur missile system. It fires like 50km and is accurate within ONE METER. I will try to find the article later. It could hit a specific desk in the Kremlin…..
Something is definitely fishy about this propaganda. Maybe Murf can help but it seems to me that something flying at mach-10 would NOT be able to maneuver much at all. Especially after watching that juvenile video that Putler showed about 2 years ago that we all remember.
Russia have reinvented physics. I still can’t see why a hypersonic missile would be put on a plane. It just makes it easier to shoot it down.
They are limited range Lada missiles so they have to be close to have any chance of hitting their targets. ;))
btw, I found that article about the guided Excalibur…
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/new-laser-guided-artillery-round-destroys-moving-target
Great, by the time they get close enough with their Lada planes, F22s will have blown it into a million pieces.
Ssshhhhh!! They told their sheep they can stop them.
Hypersonic missile technology is mostly just ” hype ”
many of the claimed new capabilities of hypersonic weapons could be accomplished by modifying ballistic missiles. ballistic missile warheads could be fitted with small thrusters to thwa rt both midcourse interceptors and impact point prediction. And while claims that hypersonic weapons are “unstoppable” may be true, ballistic missiles are also unstoppable. Many articles discussing hypersonic missiles leave the reader with the impression that ballistic missile defense is a done deal and hypersonic attack undoes all that, which is a major misrepresentation.