Moscow. 9th May. INTERFAX - Russia is creating a new generation of hypersonic missiles for various carriers, the Tu-22M3M missile carrier is already testing a new product, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said in an interview with Interfax.
"Work is underway to create a new generation of hypersonic ground-based, air-based and sea-based missiles. According to their characteristics, they will surpass existing and promising developments of leading states," the deputy chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation said.
"It is planned to equip modernized and promising aviation complexes with these missiles, tests are already underway on Tu-22M3M missile carriers," Borisov said.
Among the Russian hypersonic weapons previously called missiles "Zircon", complexes "Avangard" and "Dagger".
"ZIRCON"
On August 24 last year, at the Army-2021 forum, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced the signing of a contract for the supply of new hypersonic naval missiles "Zircon" (Tactical Missile Armament Corporation, KTRV).
In February 2019, in a message to the Federal Assembly, the President of the Russian Federation announced that the Zircon missile would be capable of hitting ground and surface targets at a range of over 1,000 kilometers at a speed of about Mach 9. In December 2019, the president said that according to the plan, work is underway on the Zircon hypersonic missile, not only sea-based, but also land-based.
"DAGGER"
"Dagger" is an aviation complex with a high-precision hypersonic aeroballistic missile. It was created on the basis of the upgraded long-range fighter-interceptor MiG-31 - MiG-31K. According to the Russian military, it is capable of hitting targets at a range of more than 2,000 km, while it is guaranteed to overcome all existing and developed air and missile defense systems.
It was reported that 10 fighter-interceptors in the MiG-31K "Dagger" modification are on experimental combat duty in the Southern Military District. Since April 2018, they have been on duty over the Caspian Sea. In addition, the military announced plans to equip the aviation regiment in the Krasnoyarsk Territory with these complexes by 2024. The head of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, announced in December 2019 that Russia was expanding the geography of the use of the Kinzhal hypersonic aviation complex and had already tested it in the Arctic.
On August 24 last year, at the Army-2021 military-technical forum, the Russian Ministry of Defense signed new contracts for 500 billion rubles for the supply of weapons and modernization of military equipment. In particular, according to one of the contracts, the military buys missiles for the Kinzhal hypersonic air complex.
"AVANGARD"
In December 2019, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that the first missile regiment armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles with a hypersonic Avangard combat unit was put on combat duty near Orenburg. At a meeting of the board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in December 2020, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia continues to deploy the "Vanguards".
Avangard is a new Russian strategic missile system with a hypersonic gliding winged combat unit developing a speed of about Mach 27 (Mach is the speed of sound). Developed at the Reutov NPO of Mechanical Engineering (Tactical Missile Armament Corporation, KTRV).
According to the Russian military, the Avangard will be an effective response to the deployment of the American missile defense system.
It is known that initially Avangard combat units are installed on UR-100N UTTH intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Then their carriers will be the new Sarmat intercontinental missiles.
TU-22M3M
As Interfax reported, the Tupolev company is working on creating a deeply modernized version of the long-range bomber - the Tu-22M3M. The developer has repeatedly stressed that the Tu-22M3M is a completely new aircraft, which has retained only the airframe from the previous modification.
The first prototype of the Tu-22M3M took off on December 28, 2018. The flight took place at an altitude of 1500 meters and lasted 37 minutes. On March 20, 2020, the second prototype took off for the first time.
Earlier, the head of the UAC, Yuri Slyusar, reported that the deeply modernized Tu-22M3M combat aircraft will begin to enter the troops from 2021.
