Russia is ready to massively use missiles that have no analogues
Mass use of high-precision weapons is becoming one of the main trends of the Russian Armed Forces. Its use began from the first minutes of the special operation in Ukraine. And if at first these were infrastructure facilities, now we are talking about well-protected ammunition depots and area targets.
The Ministry of Defense reported that an aviation missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles "Dagger" destroyed a large underground warehouse of missiles and aviation ammunition of Ukrainian troops in the village of Delyatin, Ivano-Frankivsk region. Following this, the official representative of the military department, Igor Konashenkov, said that a large storage base for fuel and lubricants of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of the settlement of Konstantinovka, Mykolaiv region, had been destroyed. "It provided the main fuel supplies for Ukrainian armored vehicles in combat areas in the south of Ukraine," Konashenkov said.
Both cases were the first combat episodes of the use of the Dagger aeroballistic missile.
ARSENAL OF IMPACT
It is also interesting that in the first case we are talking about the destruction of the central storage base of Soviet nuclear weapons. It was built on the territory of Western Ukraine in 1955. In the early 1990s, the ammunition was completely exported to Russia. Nevertheless, the underground city, buried more than 100 m deep, continued to work. According to its characteristics, it had to withstand a direct hit by an atomic bomb. According to the decision of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, almost all Tochka-U tactical missiles were relocated to the warehouse. It was they who fired at the center of Donetsk. The victims were 23 people, another 18 were injured.
The Dagger complex, according to some sources, is an aviation analogue of the Iskander ground operational-tactical complex. The aviation version of the machine, thanks to the MiG-31 fighter, is able to enter hypersonic flight mode, which makes it practically non-interceptable for air defense / missile defense systems.
Ten types of warheads can be used on the missile used as part of the complex. They can be nuclear, cluster, consisting of 54 separate combat elements, penetrating, for the destruction of buried, well-protected objects, high-explosive fragmentation, volumetric detonating and winged. The latter make it possible to hit not only the enemy's ground infrastructure facilities, but also to act as an anti-ship weapon.
Just before the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu personally flew to the Syrian Arab Republic to inspect preparations for joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean. As part of this event, MiG-31K fighters with Dagger complexes and Tu-22M3 long-range bombers with X-22 "Storm" anti-ship cruise missiles were transferred to the Khmeimim airfield.
At the same time, the possibility of Russia using strategic carriers to perform non-nuclear tasks was announced. Unlike the United States, this is a completely new term for Russia, meaning a departure from previously existing views on the development and use of nuclear weapons carriers.
In relation to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and those on nuclear-powered strategic submarines (SLBMs), there is no division into nuclear and non-nuclear warheads in START 3. The parties may, at their discretion, equip these missiles with any types of warheads, but they are all counted as nuclear.
Until recently, Moscow categorically opposed Washington's use of any strategic missiles to deliver conventional warheads – since the launch of land and sea ballistic missiles with any warhead towards the enemy was considered a nuclear attack.
Actually, this undermined the foundations of mutual security. It is physically impossible to control which warhead is on the machine during the launch. Therefore, the missile defense systems, as well as the strike means of the Strategic Nuclear Forces, are automatically brought to full combat readiness.
But after the publication of the full response of the Americans to the previously received proposals on mutual security guarantees, it can be stated that the Kremlin's patience has burst.
WITH HIGH-PRECISION ADDRESS GREETINGS
Commenting on the statements about the use of non-nuclear strategic weapons by Russia, in a conversation with TASS, the former chief of the General Staff of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel-General Viktor Esin, noted that "high-precision long-range weapons systems capable of solving strategic tasks can be attributed to strategic non-nuclear forces."
These are, for example, the X-555 and X-101 cruise missiles actively used during the special operation (carriers are Tu–160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers). The first rocket flies at 2.5, the second – at 5 thousand km. Then there are sea–based missiles "Caliber" - a launch range of 2.5 thousand km.
The aviation "Dagger" is an operational and tactical means, but because of the MiG–31K carrier, it has a range of at least 1 thousand km. Well, cruise missiles X-22/32 (carrier – long-range bomber Tu-22M3). Their flight ranges from 600 to 1 thousand km.
In this connection, the message of the Ministry of Defense that the MiG-31K interceptor fighters have been subordinated to Long-range (strategic) aviation is extremely interesting. A separate regiment of these vehicles will be based at the Savasleika airfield in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
At the same time, at a recent board meeting of the military department, Sergei Shoigu spoke about the formation of a "separate aviation regiment" armed with MiG-31I aircraft with a hypersonic Dagger missile. It would seem that the minister made a mistake by confusing the indexes of cars. But not everything is so clear.
Aircraft with the index "K" are carriers of hypersonic aeroballistic missiles "Dagger". But the planes with the index "And" were not mentioned anywhere until recently. And yet they existed quite to themselves.
The MiG-31 was designed as a multifunctional platform capable of carrying and using various types of weapons. For example, in the 1980s, an aircraft with the index "D" was developed. It was to become part of the 30P6 Kontakt anti-satellite system developed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT), where the Topol-M, Yars and Bulava strategic missile systems were designed.
Unlike the standard MiG-31, the "satellite fighter" did not have an unnecessary radar and cannon. The engines have been upgraded to increase thrust at high altitude. The tests took place at the Sary-Shagan air defense forces training ground in Kazakhstan, where they checked the operation of the missile defense system. In 1991, the program was discontinued.
In 2005, Russia and Kazakhstan announced plans to create another aerospace system called Ishim to launch small satellites into Earth orbit. This was supposed to be done by the MiG-31 with the letter "I" – "Ishim" with a three-stage solid-fuel rocket created by the same MIT. It could launch a 160 kg satellite into an orbit 300 km high .
It is significant that the words of the Minister of Defense were heard after the North Atlantic Alliance published the document "NATO's Comprehensive Policy in Outer Space", in which it recorded its intention to extend the principles of the bloc's collective defense to outer space. Including the 5th article, which says that "an attack on one is an attack on all."
It can be assumed that the MiG-31I will become an upper stage not only for hypersonic, but also for space systems. The car can easily climb to a height of up to 25 km and gain a speed of up to 3 thousand km / h.
THEY OPENED THEIR CARDS
The head of the Main Missile Attack Warning Center of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Colonel Sergei Suchkov, says that in 2021 alone, the missile attack warning system recorded more than 70 launches of ballistic missiles, including hypersonic, and 90 launches of space rockets (RCN) conducted by the United States.
"The launches were carried out not only from landfills and cosmodromes, but also from aircraft carriers during the US tests of the so–called air RCN," Colonel Suchkov said.
During the period of validity (1994-2009) of the START-1 Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty between Russia and the United States, the production, testing and deployment of air-launched ballistic missiles was prohibited. Within the framework of the START-3 extended by Moscow and Washington, all this is possible: apart from the number of carriers and nuclear warheads, this treaty does not regulate anything. Although it still assumes up to 18 mutual inspections per year for all ICBM, SLBM and heavy bombers facilities.
This allowed the Americans to "modernize" their strategic nuclear forces to deliver non-nuclear strikes against the enemy. The Pentagon has already removed 56 Trident-2 naval ballistic missile launchers and 41 B-52H strategic bombers from the nuclear forces register. In addition, the United States renamed four launchers into "training mines".
"Their re-equipment was carried out in such a way that the Russian side cannot confirm the reduction of these strategic offensive weapons to a state unsuitable for the use of nuclear weapons, as provided for in paragraph 3 of section I of Chapter 3 of the Protocol to the START–3 Treaty," the Russian Foreign Ministry noted at the time. This means that all these objects are capable of launching strategic missiles in non-nuclear execution.
What this is fraught with is easy to understand. The flight time of a ballistic missile from one hemisphere of the planet to another, depending on its model and location, ranges from 18 to 25-30 minutes. These are the means of over-operational response.
Previously, Moscow and Washington warned each other in advance about testing such systems. In the case of "non-nuclear" equipment, there is no such need. That is, at any moment, the United States can strike at any country in the world – without explaining the reasons and without any consequences for itself.
It seems that the lack of real steps to consider Russian proposals for security guarantees has forced the Kremlin to reveal its cards; we can also take such actions. Perhaps this is what President Vladimir Putin meant when he said that if the problem is not solved, Russia will reserve the possibility of parrying it with "military-technical means."
And there is a fear that the use of "Daggers" shown in Ukraine is far from the last weapons available in stock in case of an aggravation of the situation.
For example, it became known that the Russian army could receive not only a naval version of the Zircon hypersonic missile, but also its aviation version. It also turned out that the range of the missile can be up to 1.5 thousand km.
It is not yet clear on what types of aircraft this machine can stand. If these are strategic Tu-160 and Tu-95, then the Zircon will easily fall into the category of "strategic non-nuclear weapons".
Dmitry Safonov
Dmitry Viktorovich Safonov is a journalist.
