SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Hypersonic Missile Possibly Used for the First Time in Combat
Russia claims to use a hypersonic missile in attack on arms depot in Ukraine.
Russia has fired scores of guided missiles into Ukraine, but on Saturday it claimed for the first time that it had launched one capable of hypersonic speed in an attack on an ammunition depot in western Ukraine. The report could not be independently verified, but if true could be the first use of a hypersonic weapon in combat.
Hypersonics, generally defined as weapons capable of flying at speeds over Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, are at the center of an arms race among the United States, Russia and China.
[...] A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said hypersonic missiles, called Kinzhals, had destroyed the underground warehouse storing Ukrainian missiles and aviation ammunition in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine.
Yuriy Ignat, a spokesman for Ukraine's military, confirmed Saturday that Russian forces had hit an underground warehouse in western Ukraine but said the type of missile involved "is yet to be determined."
Russia Reports First Use of Hypersonic Missile
Russia reports first use of hypersonic missile:
The Russian military says it used its latest hypersonic missile, Kinzhal, for the first time in combat during its offensive in Ukraine. The Kinzhal is a nuclear-capable hypersonic aero-ballistic air-to-ground missile.Spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the hypersonic missiles destroyed an underground warehouse storing missiles and aviation ammunition of Ukrainian troops in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region.
Second Kinzhal Missile Fired
Russia has claimed that a 2nd hypersonic missile ("Kinzhal" - dagger) was used on 20 Mar against "a Ukrainian fuel depot in Kostiantynivka near the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv."
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 21 2022, @03:57PM (5 children)
The first one seems unlikely to be true:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44840/we-have-questions-about-russias-claimed-kinzhal-hypersonic-missile-use-in-ukraine [thedrive.com]
Don't know if anyone's analyzed the second one yet.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 21 2022, @05:04PM (4 children)
Yes, that is interesting. The thing that no one seems to have mentioned is, NATO could deny or confirm hypersonic flight easily. Someone, somewhere, probably several someones, were watching radar screens during the attack. Someone would have commented, "HOLY SHIT! That bogey is moving at Mach x!" And, that information was fed up the chain of command, all the way to heads of state, the Pentagon, and every important command post in Europe.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Hartree on Monday March 21 2022, @06:12PM (3 children)
Just measuring the speed is not quite so clear.
Many countries have weapons that travel at a speed that's "hypersonic'. They're called ballistic missiles. In fact, that's what this was. The Kinzhall is an Iskander M (SS-26 Stone) missile that's been modified to be launched from a high flying aircraft. It normally flies at about Mach 6 or so at the highest speed on its flight.
The Russians have been using large numbers of Iskander M missiles in Ukraine already. The advantage of the Kinzhal is that launching it from high altitude gives it much greater range, just like putting a howitzer on a mountain gives it increased range.
Given that all of Ukraine is already within the range of various Russian precision guided missiles, this is of limited use and is more of a test/propaganda than a real game changer.
When people talk of hypersonic weapons they more usually are meaning hypersonic glide weapons or powered flight hypersonic weapons which can maneuver a lot as they travel to the target at that speed and would be even harder to intercept.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 22 2022, @05:05AM (2 children)
Ballistic missiles follow a high ballistic (arcing) trajectory, while hypersonic missiles are winged and follow a flat trajectory like other cruise missiles. That's what gives them their range, not just the starting altitude. In any case, any military tracking system worth its salt can tell the difference in flight profiles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 22 2022, @09:52PM (1 child)
** sigh ** Hypersonic glide vehicles require a booster stage. [astronomy.com]
You clearly know how an HGV achieves that altitude, curious you didn't say. Still: Kinzhal is an air-launched ballistic missile and not an HGV!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 23 2022, @07:42AM
I thought the article was about a different weapon system. I was wrong. Sorry for the noise.