touted as “invincible” by Vladimir Putin For several years, these new missiles are proud of the Russian army and have the advantage of being more difficult to intercept than the ballistic missiles.
Le Monde with AFP
The Russian army said, Saturday, March 19, having pulled hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, an action in combat that seems to be a first, in the middle of the race to acquire these qualified weapons of “invincible” by Vladimir Putin. “On March 18, the Kinjal aerospace complex with its hypersonic ballistic missiles has destroyed an important underground warehouse of missiles and ammunition of the aviation of the Ukrainian army in the locality of Deliatin, in the region of Ivano-Frankivsk” in West of Ukraine, announced the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense, Igor Konachenkov.
Russia had, until then, never mentioned the use of this ballistic missile in both conflicts where it is belligerent, Ukraine and Syria. It has been deployed many times during the exercises since the first successful test in 2018.
“It is likely to want to use the kinjal in combat conditions, it is a world first”, notes with AFP Vassili Kachine, military analyst and director of a research center of high Moscow economy school.
This type of missile defies the anti-aircraft defense systems, according to Moscow, because its speed – up to Mach 10, or 12,000 km / h – and its maneuverability make it difficult or impossible to intercept, even if some military experts Westerners felt that Russia could exaggerate the capabilities of this air-ground weapon.
A superior penetration capacity
The target on Friday, an underground warehouse, seems quite suitable for Kinjal (“dagger” in Russian), according to Mr. Kachine. “Such infrastructures are difficult to destroy with classic missiles. The hypersonic missile has a penetration capacity and destructive power more important because of its very high speed,” he notes.
For the Russian Military Expert Pavel Felgenhauer, the use of Kinjal does not give a strategic advantage to Russia in Ukraine, on the other hand, the psychological effect is certain, Moscow deploying one of its destructive florets. “On the bottom, it does not change the battlefield, but it’s certain that it has an effect in terms of psychological propaganda, to scare everyone,” he says.
Because the Kinjal missiles and those of zircon cruise – from surface vessels and submarines – belong to a family of new weapons developed by Russia and that Mr. Putin qualifies “invincible”.
The jewel of the army is the Hypersonic Glider Avangard. Can take a nuclear charge, it flies up to 33,000 km / h and changes unpredictably from CAP or altitude, making it almost impossible to intercept.
Armament race
Successfully tested in 2018, the Kinjal reached, during the tests, all their targets at a distance of up to 1,000 kilometers to 2,000 kilometers, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. But this range is multiplied because they arrange aviation, especially MIG-31.
Moscow has developed this type of armament to have weapons able to escape defense systems like the American missile shield in Europe. Their use in Ukraine also intervenes as the Russian army, despite his ads, does not yet seem to have the total mastery of the sky, the Ukrainian anti-government defense still succeeding in inflicting losses in Moscow.
Russia is the first country in the world to have developed hypersonic armaments. These are the pride of the Russian President, who regularly boasts their existence as proof of a military superiority of his country. Their commissioning has led other countries to accelerate their hypersonic programs, resulting in a race to weapons in this area.
Northern Korea has said in developing and having tested, just like China, which has taken the Westerners with the test of a hypersonic glider, able to move at a speed higher than MACH 5 – No more than 6,000 km / h – who went around the land in orbit before going down to his target. “We are the first to have deployed these armaments, the Chinese did it too little. But the United States does not have that weapon for now,” Note Vassili Kachine.