(By Massimiliano D'Elia) Will be operational by the end of this year, the super intercontinental ballistic missile Sarmat, the most sophisticated and feared weapon in the Kremlin's arsenal. She announced it Vladimir Putin in person, speaking to young graduates of Russian military academies.
A proud and proud Putin announced to the cadets that his new strategic weapon, the intercontinental ballistic missile, will be operational by the end of the year Sarmat. Ready in 50 specimens already in 2022, they have a range of about 20 thousand kilometers, they can load up to 12 - 24 thermonuclear warheads capable of taking different directions at the same time: "There is no doubt that we will be even stronger, Putin told the young military men, and in the face of new threats and risks, we will develop and strengthen our strong armies, in the light of the lessons of modern conflicts ”.
Il Sarmat it is an all-out weapon and can also be fitted with the new hypersonic glide system called Avangard. The latter was a weapon that prompted Putin to declare to the world as early as 2018: "to be invincible". The reference was due to the success of military tests on new weapons developed in recent years with hypersonic technology.
THEAvangard, according to the Kremlin narrative, would be able to evade the American missile defense system, very modern and infallible to date, the Thaad. The Avangard, according to experts, should make a trajectory above the South Pole.
In relation to the troops in Ukraine, Putin said there will be an immediate reinforcement of the troops on the ground with the delivery of the newest missile defense systems. series (totally designed and built in Russia), capable of hitting even targets in space.
Beyond the Russian propaganda and the effective missile capacity ventilated to half the world, it is certain that with the Khinzal hypersonic missile, already used in Ukraine, the armed forces of Moscow have already shown that they are far ahead of the West on this. innovative technology.
The Kinzhal has a declared range of 1.500-2.000 km with a nuclear or conventional payload of 480 kg. It is 8 meters long, with a diameter of one and a launch weight of approximately 4.300 kg. Similar in size to the short-range ballistic missile 9M723 Iskander, however, it has distinctive features, including a redesigned tail section and reduced rudders. After launch, the Kinzhal quickly accelerates to Mach 4 and can reach speeds of up to Mach 10 (12.350 km / h). This speed, combined with the missile's erratic flight path and high maneuverability, can complicate its interception.
Putin's other weapons
PERESVET. In addition to super missiles, Putin could have further deterrence thanks to laser-based combat systems "Peresvet". Reuters reported that Russia is using a new generation of these types of weapons to target drones in Ukraine.
Yuri Borisov, the minister in charge of war development, told a conference that Peresvet is being widely used and that it can "Blind" targets like satellites at an altitude of 1.500 km. The Peresvet has a defensive function and is named after a 2018th century warrior monk, hero of the Battle of Kulikovo. The strategic weapon was unveiled by Putin in 2019 and officially entered service in December XNUMX.
KALIBR. The recent deployment of cruise missiles is very interesting Kalibr (subsonic-supersonic) on combat ships.
According to the Russian agency Interfax a Russian submarine, last April, would have launched missiles Kalibr on Ukrainian military targets from the Black Sea. This was stated by the Russian Defense Ministry. "The crew of a submarine of the Black Sea Fleet fired a salvo with Kalibr cruise missiles at previously identified ground targets from the Black Sea", Said the ministry.
Kalibr missiles (codename Born SS-N-27 Sizzler and SS-N-30A), also known as 3M-54, 3M-14 and R91, are missiles cruise Russian-made launches from surface ships and submarines in anti-ship, anti-submarine and land attack function. The development of these missiles was overseen by the Novator Design Bureau.
The missile is part of a modular system which, in addition to keeping a certain number of common components in the different versions, is compatible with a vertical launch universal that the Russian Navy has gradually adopted on all its major units. A self-sufficient version disguised as a freight container is being tested in order to make it more difficult to identify the complex.
The entire Kalibr family has been developed since 1985 and its export began in 1993. It was first shown in public in 2021 and the NATO established its designations with the identifier SS-N-27A. It is defined as a three-stage 3M-54 missile, while with the designation SS-N-27B it would have referred to the two-stage 3M-14 version.
Kalibr missiles, more than 6 meters, they represent one of the pillars of the offensive capabilities of the Kremlin army with an estimated range of about 1.500-2.500 kilometers. In 2015 they were used during the conflict in Syria: 26 Kalibr missiles were launched through Russian ships moved for the occasion in the Caspian Sea. In that case, the missiles flew about 1800 kilometers before reaching their targets.
Then in 2017 and 2018 other missile tests carried out by Russian frigates were recorded Gepard.
The last test in January 2022 from a submerged position in Sea of Japan. The Russian Defense Ministry - taken over by TASS - gave an account of the test, specifying that "the missile hit the coastal target in the Syurkum polygon, in the Khabarovsk region in the allotted time" is that "the missile was launched from a distance of over 1.000 kilometers ”.
ZIRCON. The hypersonic missile Zircon (one thousand kilometers, Mach 8-9) anti-ship (invisible to radar) was tested at the end of last May. Also known as 3M-22 Tsirkon was designed to destroy the largest naval and land units - aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers - it is considered to be one of the deadliest weapons in Russian made.
The missile was launched from the frigate Admiral Gorchkov from the Barents Sea to the White Sea, both in the Arctic Ocean. It can travel at a speed close to Mach 9 (about 11 thousand kilometers per hour), at altitudes between 30 and 40 km, where the air is thinner and the friction less.
America is racing to fill the capacitive gap
The US Air Force in May announced that it had successfully launched one of its hypersonic missiles - AGM-183 ARRW -, dropped from a bomber B-52H off the coast of California. She flew to Mach 5. Not very fast because it didn't reach i Mach 10 of competing missiles from China and Russia but has demonstrated a clear ability to change trajectory, a key feature for evading modern missile defenses.
L' AGM-183 ARRW uses a rocket boost to carry the missile at speeds in excess of Mach 5, after which a hypersonic gliding vehicle separates from the booster and glides at high speed towards its target. Prior to this launch, the development of the weapon suffered three failures. In the first and third tests, the prototype of the AGM-183 ARRW did not detach from the B-52H carrying it. During the second test, the missile had separated from the aircraft but without the ignition of the engine.
The secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, before the success of last May, he talked about the problems encountered by the program arrw"The program has so far been unsuccessful in research and development. We want to see a positive test before making the decision on the commitment to production, so we will wait and see ". In October there will be the definitive test that could kick off full-scale production.
The Pentagon has accelerated the development of hypersonic weapons to bridge the capacitance gap with China and Russia. With the start of the Congress, the road now seems marked towards a new and fascinating challenge at hypersonic speeds, beyond Mach 10.
Il Lockheed Martin Hypersonic ARRW program - Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon - Aims to provide conventional hypersonic weapons capability, to the US Air Force, designed to travel 500 miles in just 10 minutes.