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Air-Launched Weapons
Russia unveils Kinzhal hypersonic missile
Neil Gibson, London and Nicholas Fiorenza, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
15 March 2018
The Russian Ministry of Defence has released video of a modified MiG-31BM interceptor conducting a combat training launch of a Kinzhal (Dagger, high-precision hypersonic missile, also referred to as the Kh-47M2). The footage, placed online on 10 March, shows the crew scrambling to the fighter and inspecting it before taking off and flying to a point to launch the missile, and then returning to base.
The accompanying text said the fighter took off from an airfield in the Southern Military District.
In his annual address to Russia’s Federal Assembly on 1 March, President Vladimir Putin described development of the Kinzhal as “the most important stage in the development of modern weapon systems” and “the only one of its kind in the world”.
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