psy schreef op zondag 20 maart 2022 @ 01:08:
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Twitter]
Let's discuss the hypersonic missile story
Russia apparently used its Kinzhal hypersonic missile (seen here under its launch aircraft, the Mig 31, most expensive fighter flown by Russia). It apparently fired one Kinzhal into Western Ukraine destroying an ammunition storage site
Hypersonic refers to speeds faster than supersonic. Nothing more. This missile is about 25% faster than the top end of current generation missiles, that do up to Mach 4. The Kinzhal does Mach 5. So this is mainly a super fast missile, not more 'dangerous' than that.
When used with a nuclear warhead, a hypersonic missile could evade current anti-missile defenses which can see this missile but currently are unable to shoot it down, while they are able to engage traditional ballstic missiles or cruise missiles. It is merely matter of time , when defenses are upgraded to also be able to engage hypersonics. And the speeds of hypersonic missiles are expected to climb from the approx Mach 5 of this missile to near Mach 10 in the next two decades of missle development.
For the Ukraine war, while a Kinzhal hypersonic missile will be impossible to shoot down, if it does not carry a nuclear warhead, the damage it can do is the same as any cruise missile and half of those get through the defenses. So in this war this is NOT any kind of game changer.
But for NATO, it is Putin bullying NATO, threatening NATO, that Putin has the ability to deliver NUCLEAR warheads to NATO cities, on a weapon, NATO cannot stop
Understand, NATO has PLENTY of counter-balancing systems in use, that can strike Russia that Russia cannot stop.
US B2 Stealth Bombers can run into Russian air space, drop enough nukes to send Russia into the stone age, and get out safely, without losing ONE BOMBER. And they can be escorted by F 22 Raptors, stealth fighters who would clear the sky of any Russian defenders.
Putin does not have a stealth air force. His first stealth warplanes are sadly outclassed even by the Chinese stealth warplanes
So Putin needs something, and the hypersonic missile is that something. His cheap way to have a weapon to threaten NATO now. This was not about Ukraine.
There is an interesting detail about hypersonic speeds. This missile carries a relatively small warhead (same size as regular cruise missile). But when it strikes the ground at Mach 5 (= 3,825 miles per hour = 6,125 km/h) it creates bigger shock than the conventional explosives.
So hypersonic weapons using conventional (non nucler) explosive warheads, cause their primary damage by the small earthquake they initiate, and their explosives only add to that damage. A hypersonic missile would destroy a city block like Tall Boy bombs of World War 2.
oh, one last thing. These are ridiculously expensive. Russia has a very small stockpile of these hypersonic missiles. But yes, this will not change the war in Ukraine in any way. This was Putin threatening NATO by illustrating use of this terror weapon.