The Ch-47M2 Kinzhal ("Dagger") hypersonic missile is one of the most fearsome additions to the Russian Air Force. The approximately eight meters long
Rockets fly extremely fast and extremely high, but remain manoeuvrable, according to Russian information. According to NATO, you are with
hardly be intercepted by conventional anti-aircraft or anti-missile systems. The western alliance has dubbed the new Russian weapon AS-24 Killjoy (“spoilsport”).
President Vladimir Putin first introduced the Kinzhal missiles as one of several superweapons in his March 2018 address to the nation
publicly. According to him, the new rocket should reach up to ten times the speed of sound. So far, "Kinzhal" missiles have come
mainly used for maneuvers - most recently a few days before the invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24.
The "Kinzhal" is fired from high altitude by MiG-31 interceptors. Only at a safe distance from the plane does your own ignite
rocket engine. It first carries the "Kinschal" up to 20 kilometers high, where the rocket has to withstand high friction temperatures, and
then down to the target. When launched from a MiG-31, the weapon system has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers, according to Russian information.
The "Kinschal" carries up to 480 kilograms of explosives or a nuclear warhead. This means that the rocket can provide important infrastructure
in Europe, for example airfields, wrote the US think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Also big
NATO ships on the Atlantic could become a target. The USA and China are also working on the development of hypersonic missiles. the NATO
also lists research in the UK, France, Germany, Australia and India in a 2020 paper. It's partly about it
to defend against such missiles.
Because the new weapon class creates strategic uncertainty: Is a conventional missile flying towards me so quickly, or is it a nuclear one
Attack? “Hypersonic missiles, with their novel combination of speed and maneuverability, are capable of all current missile defense systems
overcome and radically shorten the reaction time of the attacked actor,” wrote the Munich Security Conference in its 2019 report.
