Russia is developing the Kh-95 long-range hypersonic missile.
Colonel-General Vladimir Zarudnitsky, head of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, reported this in his article for the magazine "Military Thought".
The article entitled "Factors of achieving victory in military conflicts of the future" notes that "domination in the aerospace sphere is the most important condition for the successful conduct of hostilities by land and sea groupings of forces."
Superiority in this area, writes Zarudnitsky, "is ensured by the sufficiency of the quantitative and qualitative combat strength of strike and fighter aircraft, as well as the use of effective methods of their actions, which allow preempting the enemy in the course of an armed struggle in this area."
“For these purposes, for the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation, such new and modernized models of weapons, military and special equipment as the Tu-160M strategic missile-bomber are being developed and adopted;
airborne hypersonic missile system "Dagger";
A long-range airborne WTO, in particular the Kh-95 hypersonic missile, ”noted the Colonel-General.
Earlier it was reported that the rocket would be launched from the upgraded Tu-22M3M long-range bomber and the upgraded Tu-160M strategic bomber.
Strategic bomber Tu-160M
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© Vladimir Astapkovich
In addition, in the future, it can also be equipped with the Perspective Aviation Complex of Long-Range Aviation (PAK DA).
The aircraft is currently being developed at JSC Tupolev.
According to media reports, the PAK DA demo may be ready by 2023.
Earlier, the media also reported that Russia is developing a hypersonic missile for the fifth generation Su-57 fighter.
It will be installed in the fuselage compartments.
However, whether this project has anything to do with the X-95 is unknown.
"Unique flight performance"
It should be noted that today Russia is the only country that has developed, tested and put on alert several types of hypersonic weapons.
So, back in December 2019, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the first regiment, armed with the latest strategic missile system with the Avangard hypersonic gliding cruise warhead, took up combat duty.
Vladimir Putin first announced the development of Avangard on March 1, 2018 in his message to the Federal Assembly.
According to him, "from the existing types of combat equipment, this system differs in its ability to fly in dense layers of the atmosphere at an intercontinental range at a hypersonic speed exceeding the Mach number by more than 20 times."
Visual demonstration of the principles of the Avangard rocket
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© Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
“When moving to the target, the gliding winged unit, as I said in 2004, carries out deep maneuvering both laterally (over several thousand kilometers) and in height.
This makes it absolutely invulnerable to any means of air and missile defense, ”the Russian president said at the time.
In the same message, Vladimir Putin also announced the creation of the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system.
The missile is installed on a long-range fighter-interceptor MiG-31K specially modernized for these purposes.
“The unique performance characteristics of the high-speed carrier aircraft allow the missile to be delivered to the drop point in a matter of minutes.
At the same time, a rocket flying at a hypersonic speed ten times the speed of sound also maneuvers in all parts of the flight trajectory, which also allows it to be guaranteed to overcome all existing and, I think, promising anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems, delivering to the target on range of more than 2 thousand kilometers nuclear and conventional warheads, ”Putin said.
Since December 2017, "Dagger" has been on experimental combat duty in the RF Armed Forces.
Another development in the field of hypersound, to which the Russian military leadership pays special attention, is the Zircon missile.
Unlike the "Dagger", this hypersonic projectile will be based on the ships of the Russian Navy.
In July 2021, the Ministry of Defense announced the successful tests of the Zircon.
The missile was launched from the frigate "Admiral Gorshkov" and, having covered more than 350 km, hit a ground target.
The tactical and technical characteristics of the product were confirmed, then the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation noted.
"Zircons" are capable of speeds up to nine Machs with a range of more than a thousand kilometers.
They are planned to equip both surface and submarine ships.
In addition, the plans include the creation of a ground-based Zircon missile.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about this in December 2019.
The head of state noted that for the first time in history there was a unique situation in the field of strategic balance, in which Russia was ahead of the United States in the development of the latest weapons.
“The US created the atomic bomb, and the Soviet Union was just catching up.
We also had no means of delivery, carriers of nuclear weapons, there was no strategic aviation - the Soviet Union was catching up.
The first intercontinental-range missiles actually did not appear here either - the Soviet Union was catching up.
Today we have a unique situation - they are catching up with us, ”said Vladimir Putin.
"Will be created as soon as possible"
According to analysts, the airborne X-95 high-range hypersonic missile will have a greater range than the Dagger, which will significantly expand the capabilities of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
The range of the "Dagger" is about 2 thousand km.
“A long-range missile will allow aircraft to launch hypersonic missiles before entering the enemy's fighter aircraft or its air defense systems.
Thus, the pilots will not expose themselves to danger, and the likelihood of hitting a target will increase, since a hypersonic missile cannot be intercepted by the forces of the existing anti-aircraft systems of the NATO bloc.
In 100% of cases, it reaches the target and hits it.
Today, these weapons are practically not intercepted, not destroyed, "said Yuri Knutov, director of the Air Defense Museum in Balashikha, in an interview with RT.
In turn, military expert Yuri Lyamin suggested that the possible choice of the T-160 and Tu-22 as carriers of the new missile is most likely due to the fact that the dimensions of the X-95 will be larger than that of the "Dagger".
Fighter-interceptor MiG-31K with a hypersonic missile "Dagger"
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© Andrey Stanavov
“Judging by the fact that Tu-22M3M and Tu-160M bombers can be carriers, most likely, the missile will differ not only in its longer range, but also in larger size,” the analyst said in an interview with RT.
At the same time, experts note that thanks to the technological groundwork obtained during the development of Avangard, Dagger and Zircon, the creation of the X-95 will be carried out much faster.
“Considering what we did with the Dagger, Zircon and Avangard, I think the new rocket will be created as soon as possible.
Probably, tests will begin in the next few years, ”Knutov said.
The possession of hypersonic technology is critical to the country's defense, analysts say.
“The peculiarity of hypersonic weapons is that today it is impossible to intercept such missiles.
There are no weapons of destruction that could destroy a hypersonic missile in flight.
They may have time to spot it, but they will not shoot it down.
This task becomes even more complicated if the rocket maneuvers in flight, "Knutov explained.
Experts note that today the Russian Federation is the world leader in the field of hypersonic technologies.
“Russia is the undisputed leader.
China is next.
The United States is lagging behind in this area, ”explained Yuri Lyamin.
In turn, Yuri Knutov stressed that Russia managed to achieve such success thanks to the consistent and timely implementation of the program to create hypersonic weapons.
“Russia has done a great job. Research in this area has been carried out for more than one decade. Therefore, the breakthrough that allowed us to become leaders in this area is not accidental, ”concluded Knutov.