21 March 2022
Ukraine conflict: Russia employs 'hypersonic‘ missile for first time
by Gareth Jennings
A file photo of the Kinzhal air-launched high-speed ballistic missile fitted to its MiG-31 launch aircraft. Russia says it used this supposedly hypersonic missile for the first time against a target in Ukraine on 19 March. (Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation)
Russia announced the use of the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal (Dagger) air-launched high-speed ballistic missile for the first time against a target in Ukraine on 19 March.
A video released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Russian Federation purportedly showed the missile being used against a Ukrainian ammunition depot in the west of the country.
“Destruction of a weapons depot of the armed forces of Ukraine by [a] high-precision missile weapons strike. We can see the exact hit of an underground hangar with weapons and ammunition,” the Russian MoD said on its official Twitter page.
As noted by Janes Weapons: Air Launched, the Kinzhal is an area denial weapon or anti‐access/area denial (A2/AD) weapon system that provides a high‐speed strike capability by using inertial guidance and lethal warhead options (either conventional or nuclear). According to Russian industry sources, the Kinzhal is based on the 9M723‐1F variant of the 9M723‐1 missile – as used by the 9K720 Iskander‐M short‐range road‐mobile ballistic missile system – and modified for air‐launch without major changes in its architecture. Performance details for the Kinzhal are largely classified, but it is reported to have a hypersonic maximum speed of Mach 10 over a range of 2,000 km.
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Russia announced the use of the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal (Dagger) air-launched high-speed ballistic missile f...
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