Russia has begun utilising, since this Friday, in its onslaught against Ukraine part of its latest generation of hypersonic missiles, touted as "invincible" by Vladimir Putin. Their usage enables the Kremlin to convey a clear message.
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The Kremlin has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine. It was the first time in a wartime setting that the Russian military claimed to have launched hypersonic missiles. It was reported that on March 18, the Kinzal aeronautical complex in western Ukraine demolished an underground storage facility for Ukrainian army aviation weapons and ammunition in 'Ivano-Frankivsk,' according to a defence ministry spokesperson. A ballistic missile fired from Russian territory into Ukraine and Syria has never been confirmed by Russia before. Since the initial successful test in 2018, it has been used multiple times in exercises in various locations across the world.
To AFP, the Ukrainian air force spokesperson stated that "the enemy conducted attacks on our depots (...) There was damage, destruction, detonation of ammunition" Yuri Ignat verified. According to Ukranska Pravda, he also said that "Unfortunately, Ukraine has become a proving ground for the whole Russian missile arsenal.".
What is Hypersonic Missiles
At least five times the speed of sound (Mach 5), or more than 6,100 kilometres per hour, hypersonic missiles can travel. More often than not. It is far more difficult to detect and intercept them than regular projectiles since they may move in mid-air. Warheads may be conventional or nuclear in nature, depending on the model.
Researcher Benjamin Hautecouverture of the Foundation for Strategic Research said the Russian Kinzhal missile, which was fired Friday, is a large missile capable of carrying 500 kg of conventional payloads, indicating that the warhead it carries is not a little one. "It depends on the carrier that is carrying them, although they are significantly quicker than "traditional" missiles and have a range of up to 3,000 kilometres. They may also have a greater degree of accuracy." There were still "çdeep strike capabilities that did not exist or that existed significantly less for conventional subsonic cruise missiles," an expert who spoke to France Inter said.
Russia has developed "Kinzhal" missiles and "Zircon" cruise missiles, which can be launched from surface ships and submarines, which Vladimir Putin calls "invincible." The Avangard hypersonic glider, which can carry a nuclear charge, is the military's crown treasure. It has a top speed of 33,000 km/h and is notoriously difficult to track due to its unpredictable flight paths and altitude fluctuations.
Hypersonic Missiles and new era of warfare
Benjamin Hautecouverture claims that this enables "sending their missile from a distance that would be impossible for other conventional weapons lets the Russians to kill targets that they could never reach with other conventional weaponry. As a result, the hypersonic missile Kinzhal, or "dagger" in Russian, chose to target an underground warehouse in Ukraine on Friday. This kind of infrastructure is very hard to destroy with conventional missiles," says military specialist Vassili Kashin and head of the Moscow High School of Economics Research Center "He adds, ""
But there's more. On the contrary, "their speed is so great that they may avoid air defences and, since they can do turns in flight, they are nearly unreachable by anti-missile systems (... We don't see them coming)," says Benjamin Hautecouverture.
What messages are sent to the world
Numerous are them. First and foremost, Benjamin Hautecouverture deems it a "example of the modernisation of the Russian conventional military instrument, which is exactly capable of striking in depth." These new Kinzhal missiles, which entered service in December 2017, will get some time on the firing line. There is a chance that Russia may become even more violent. When it comes to targeting, a modern army is capable of being quite accurate."
This deployment might be seen as a political-strategic Russian signal, this time targeted at NATO, which would consist in trying to prevent the 'Atlantic Alliance to act in a certain manner," says a senior researcher at Foundation for Strategic Research. As Benjamin Hautecouverture points out, "at a moment of 'increases in the transfer of arms to Ukraine,'" the timing is not noteworthy. It's not only that we're both in a tactically advantageous position, though.
According to Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer, Russia does not gain a strategic edge from using hypersonic missiles, but the psychological effect is guaranteed. Psychological scare tactics are used in order to terrify the public. "
Russia is the first nation in the world to have created hypersonic weaponry. These are the pride of the Russian president, who routinely boasts of their presence as evidence of his country's military strength. Their commissioning has spurred other nations to expedite their hypersonic projects, resulting to an arms race in this field.
North Korea says it is developing and testing it, as has China. The nation of Xi Jinping has caught Westerners by surprise with the test of a hypersonic glider, capable of travelling at more than 6,000 km / h, which circled the Earth in orbit before falling towards its objective.
" It's a technology that is also in the process of establishing itself in the United States" says Benjamin Hautecouverture. However, " the American difficulty is that their new weapons have so far repeatedly failed testing, so from that point of view they are considerably behind the Russians and the Chinese. " further adds that France " is interested in the topic ." " France is one of the few nations which has a very large technical advantage in the area of hyper-velocity (...) we are working under the project management of Ariane Group, on a hypersonic glider demonstration and this launch dates back a few years.
Moreover, an article titled 'Hypersonic Missiles : The new era missile race' by a student of Department of Criminology, Dhaka University in Bangladesh, MD. Mahmud Hasan demonstrated how many countries are actively engaged in hypersonic missile race. Mahmud showed how Russia, China, The United States, Australia, India, Germany, France and South Korea are racing towards developing more effective hypersonic technology.