A Roskosmos facility called TsNIIMash are under suspicion for leaking information of hypersonic missile secrets to Western spies. Last week, the Russia defense ministry released video of two new hypersonic missile systems – called Kinzhal and Avangard.
The US will not make hypersonic missiles using the simple and relatively ineffective brute-force Russian approach. The US would benefit from knowing the exact specifications and capabilities of Russia’s missiles for anti-missile systems.
Kinzhal is a short-range Iskander missile attached to a plane. It does not have a detachable warhead, and the probability of it disintegrating on re-entry into the atmosphere is much higher. It cannot hit moving targets. The targeting data has to be put into the missile before launch.
The Avangard gliding warhead is a re-entry vehicle designed to perform erratic hypersonic manoeuvres to baffle defence systems. But that design increases the risk of it disintegrating and it loses accuracy.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
So Kinzhal is useless and Avangard is less useless if A. it works and B. they can accord to manufacture and field more than 5 before 2030, which they probably can’t. This is the thing about Russian iovation, virtually nothing is really a strategic game changer because they can’t afford to make anything on time or field enough to actually cause it to be a force to be reckoned with in a hypothetical combat theater. Oh you have 12 operational air breathing intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missiles? You have 6 operational PAK-FA’s? Yeah, nobody cares.