Putin’s special weapon: At the beginning of the fourth oath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Russian attacks intensify and rise to extremely high intensities. Last Friday, March 18, Russia announced that it had launched hypersonic missiles at a target in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, marking the first time such missiles had been used in a real battle.
The use of hyper-sonic missiles raises concerns around the world, as “next-generation” ammunition could hit any target around the globe within an hour. With the guns still thundering, and the war in Europe raging, it is important to understand from them those controversial weapons.
What is a Hyper-Sony Missile?
Simply put, hyper-sonic missiles are defined as those that navigate at super-sonic speeds after being launched. Hyper-sonic speed is one greater than Mach 5, five times the speed of sound. Therefore, hypersonic missiles can, by definition, cruise at a speed of 2 kilometers per second (or 7,200 kilometers per hour).
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While ballistic missiles also sail at these speeds, they cannot change their trajectory during flight, while hyper-sonic missiles are very flexible, extending in their capabilities the limits of today’s military campaign.
How were these missiles developed?
The first hyper-Sunni missile, the KH-45, was designed by the Soviet Union throughout the 1970s, but was never launched. Attempts to integrate it into the military capabilities of the Soviet army ceased in 1976-1977.
On November 18, 2011, the launch vehicle of the first advanced hyper-Sony missile was tested for use by the United States military. It was launched from Hawaii, hitting its target that was in the Marshall Islands, more than 3,700 miles away, in less than 30 minutes.
Russia, which was working on its hyper-Sony missile at the time, finally announced its “avant-garde” missile in 2018, despite reports that it was successfully tested for use as early as 2015 and 2016. The “avant-garde” managed to hit a target that was 6,055 kilometers from where it was launched.
Russian ballistic missile displayed in central Moscow in late 1960s (Photo: Central Press via GettyImages)
American intelligence center monitoring Russian ballistic activity in the 1970s (Photo: USAF via GettyImages)Who owns hyper-sonic missiles?
Although the first attempt to develop such a missile was by the Soviet Union, the race for it was delayed until the early 2000s. Once the United States announced its first hyper-sonic missile in 2011, other countries began to develop the infrastructure to build such a missile and examined the potential of similar missiles that possess the same capability. China became the second country to reach hyper-Sunni speeds in a 2014 experiment.
India joined the United States, China and Russia in 2019 with the HSTDV motorized launch pad, which successfully reached Mach 5. speeds, according to reports, the Indians were assisted by Israeli developers in experiments conducted for their missile system in a wind tunnel. Israel is also working with the US military to develop its own hyper-sonic missile. The “Arrow 3” system is based on technology and hyper-sonic capability, and has been developed from 2011 to the present day by the aerospace industry and the Boeing company.
Why are hyper-sonic missiles so controversial?
Hyper-sonic missiles can carry a nuclear warhead, and the speeds they reach reach a very significant theoretical advantage over the hit side. A state or organization holding such missiles can protest enemy bases, thousands of miles away, in a matter of minutes.
This was the reason for the signing of an anti-ballistic missile agreement, signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1972, which limited both sides to hold only two anti-ballistic missile bases, and a total of 100 anti-ballistic missiles in Arsenal, aimed at dropping ballistic missiles. . The agreement survived the disintegration of the Soviet Union, until the United States concluded it in 2002.
In 2018, Putin quoted the United States’ retirement announcement from the agreement in question when he first introduced to the world the “Kinzel” missile, the same missile whose performance we first saw in a real battle last week in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv.