According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia has increased production of Russian hypersonic missiles by 5 times – VP News – ‘no talk’

2023-05-24 18:48:01

Lin American magazine Military Watch Magazine, reports that on May 16, Russian fighter jets of the MiG-31K series carried out an air strike with ballistic missiles dubbed Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, with the aim of hitting a NATO defense system in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. According to official statements of the Russian Defense Ministryreleased on May 18, based on verified information, five launchers of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system produced by the United States, together with a multifunctional radar station, were hit and destroyed during an attack by the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system in the city of Kyiv on May 16, 2023. This statement had also been confirmed by Western sources.

It should be noted that at first, only the damage to the radar station, which provides command and control for each Patriot unit, was confirmed. Ukraine has received two units of Patriots since last April, with the first delivered less than a month before the attack. The attack would be countered by use of 32 surface-to-air missiles launched by the Patriot air defense system, but none of them would have achieved their goals. It should be noted that the Patriot anti-missile and anti-aircraft system is estimated to cost one billion dollars, with each missile costing between 3 and 4 million dollars. So the salvo of 32 missiles fired in the span of two minutes cost a hundred million dollars (ammunition only, not counting everything else).

The operation therefore highlighted both the limits of NATO’s air defense system, which failed to counter the attack, and the advanced technologies of the MiG-31K and its main armament, the Kinzhal.

The Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missile

The Kinzhal ballistic missile, launched from the MiG-31K, is characterized by high speed and mobility, estimated between Mach 8 and Mach 10, which allow it to avoid all known air defense systems and to carry out precise attacks with nuclear or conventional warheads specialized. With a range of 2000 km, it has been touted as one of the deadliest weapons in the world, especially for targeting aircraft carriers: the combination of payload, speed and accuracy of impact can, with great probability, disable any warship into service with a single direct hit. While the missile can also be launched from Russian Tu-22M bombers, the MiG-31K’s speed and altitude allow it to amplify the Kinzhal’s energy upon launch, making it even more effective.

Kinzhal production increased 5 times

Production of Kinzhal (translation: ‘Dagger’) hypersonic missiles in Russia increased at least five-fold before the Russian Aerospace Forces successfully destroyed the American Patriot air defense missile system on May 16 using the Kinzhal Kh-47M2 ballistic missile. Precisely, at the beginning of May, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation would have had around 80 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles at their disposal, while in January their number would not have exceeded 50 units.

Western sources interpret the words of the head of the Ukrainian defense department as evidence of the increase in the production of hypersonic missiles. The Kinzhal hypersonic complex was used in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict no more than six times. According to military analysts, the Kinzhal 9-A-7660 ammunition is a version of the 9M723 quasi-ballistic solid-propellant guided missile of the Iskander-M land-based OTRK, modernized for air launch. Scaling up production of Kinzhal missiles could be a relatively straightforward process for Russia’s defense sector thanks to the sheer number of 9M723 missiles that the Russian military-industrial complex has been steadily producing for more than two decades. Russia is able to rapidly increase the number of MiG-31K Kinzhal transport aircraft thanks to its huge stock of MiG-31 aircraft.

All of this highlights the ongoing competition between Russia and NATO for increasingly lethal weapon systems that are infinitely more destructive than their ancestors. Furthermore, given the technological level that absorbs more and more resources for armaments, it would be more profitable for humanity, the dialogue between the great powers and not the cunning and immoral attempt to resolve financial crises and the preservation of US hegemony, through the primeval tool of war.