Hypersonic Missiles

What is in the News ?

• Russia on Thursday (March 9) unleashed its biggest aerial strike against Ukraine in weeks, hitting critical infrastructure or residential buildings in 10 regions and killing at least nine people.
• Among a varied range of powerful missiles launched by Moscow, there were six hypersonic missiles, known as Kinzhals, or Daggers, that the Ukrainian defence forces failed to intercept and shoot down.

Hypersonic Missiles

• A hypersonic missile, such as Kinzhal, is capable of flying at least at the speed of Mach 5, i.e. five times the speed of sound, and is manouverable.
• The manouverability of the hypersonic missile is what differentiates it from a ballistic missile, as the latter follows a set course or a ballistic trajectory.
• This makes them extremely lethal because, by the time they are detected by ground-based radars, they are already quite near to their target.
• There are two types of hypersonic weapons systems:
  • Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGV) 
  • Hypersonic Cruise Missiles

Kinzhal

• Kinzhal, is capable of reaching speeds of Mach 10 and greater, with a range of about 1,250 miles. 
• The missile is also believed to be nuclear-capable and is usually launched by MiG-31 warplanes.
• Apart from Kinzal, Moscow reportedly has two other types of hypersonic missile systems. 
• One is the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, which can fly at speeds as high as Mach 27. And the other is the Zircon anti-ship missile.

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