What are hypersonic missiles?

Hypersonic weapons fly at least at Mach 5 — five times the speed of sound. There are two main types: hypersonic cruise missiles, which are powered by scramjets — high-speed engines; and hypersonic gliding vehicles, which are launched from a rocket but glide into their target. The Kinzhal, an air-launched ballistic missile that can be maneuvered, is a modified version of Russia’s Iskander missile. “The Iskander missile has already been used in the [Russia-Ukraine] conflict a number of times, but it’s ground-launched. It’s very similar,” said Tom Karako, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, and director of the Missile Defense Project. Karako, who co-wrote a report titled “ Complex Air Defense: Countering the Hypersonic Missile Threat ,” said other types of missiles reenter the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. What people mean when they say hypersonic is a weapon “that is capable of sustaining hypersonic speeds for a long time,” he said. The Iskander and Kinzhal missiles can follow low trajectories and are maneuverable. That makes it harder to figure out where the missile is going, what the intended target is and what the trajectory is — which “complicates the defense job,” he said.

What distinguishes the Kinzhal hypersonic missile?

According to claims reported in the Russian media, the Kinzhal can reach Mach 10. Russia test-fired the weapon in July 2018, launched from a modified MiG-31 fighter, according to U.S. intelligence quoted in a Congressional Research Service report released March 17. It reached a target at a distance of about 500 miles. The CRS report states that the Kinzhal could eventually be equipped with a nuclear warhead, and is capable of striking ground and naval targets, though it warned that the weapon’s performance characteristics have not been verified by U.S. intelligence and that analysts are skeptical. The missiles are intended to evade sophisticated defenses. Putin unveiled the Kinzhal during a nationally televised address before Russia’s 2018 presidential election. At the time, the Pentagon downplayed Putin’s speech, saying U.S. assessments had already factored in Russia’s weapon capabilities, according to the Guardian . “It’s a huge misperception to think that these things cannot be defeated, cannot be defended against,” Karako said. “At the end of the day, they’re just missiles.”

Which countries have hypersonic missiles?

Russia, China and the United States have the most advanced hypersonic weapons programs, but other countries including Japan, Germany, India and Australia are also developing them, according to the CRS report. Russia has been pursuing hypersonic weapons since the 1980s, but it has accelerated its efforts in response to the U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 and the U.S. defense missile deployments in U.S. territory and Europe, the CRS report states. Aside from the Kinzhal, Russia is working on two other hypersonic weapons programs: the 3M22 Tsirkon (or Zircon) and the Avangard. Russia has a limited supply of the Kinzhal missiles. The six used Thursday marked the largest number sent toward Ukraine in a single attack. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov claimed in November that Russia had used 16 Kinzhal missiles throughout the war and still had 42 such missiles after replacing those it had fired. Ukraine has pleaded for allies to provide stronger air defense systems to help stop these attacks. The United States has been conducting research on hypersonic weapons since the early 2000s and is developing them under the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike program as well as other programs that fall under the Air Force, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Army. Dan Lamothe, Siobhan O’Grady, Robyn Dixon and David L. Stern contributed to this report.

World

What you need to know about Russia’s hypersonic missiles

By Maite Fernández Simon

and

Claire Parker

Updated March 9, 2023 at 12:40 p.m. EST|Published March 21, 2022 at 7:49 p.m. EDT

MiG-31 jets carry Kinzhal missiles during a Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 9, 2018. (AFP/Getty Images)

Russia launched six hypersonic missiles in the barrage of missiles and drones it unleashed across Ukraine early Thursday, the Ukrainian military said and Russia’s defense ministry confirmed.

Moscow first fired the Kinzhal hypersonic missiles on Ukraine last March and have used them several times since. Ukrainian officials say their air defenses are unable to stop them. In January, Ukrainian officials blamed one of the missiles for the deadly strike on a residential building in Dnipro that killed at least 46 people.

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President Biden confirmed for the first time Russia’s use of a hypersonic missile in its invasion of Ukraine at a Business Roundtable event on March 21. (Video: The White House)

Arms specialists and the U.S. and U.K. governments have downplayed Russia’s hypersonic abilities — and the degree to which their use on the battlefield matters.

What are these missiles? Here’s what to know.

One year of Russia’s war in Ukraine

Portraits of Ukraine: Every Ukrainian’s life has changed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion one year ago — in ways both big and small. They have learned to survive and support each other under extreme circumstances, in bomb shelters and hospitals, destroyed apartment complexes and ruined marketplaces. Scroll through portraits of Ukrainians reflecting on a year of loss, resilience and fear.

Battle of attrition: Over the past year, the war has morphed from a multi-front invasion that included Kyiv in the north to a conflict of attrition largely concentrated along an expanse of territory in the east and south. Follow the 600-mile front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces and take a look at where the fighting has been concentrated.

A year of living apart: Russia’s invasion, coupled with Ukraine’s martial law preventing fighting-age men from leaving the country, has forced agonizing decisions for millions of Ukrainian families about how to balance safety, duty and love, with once-intertwined lives having become unrecognizable. Here’s what a train station full of goodbyes looked like last year.

Deepening global divides: President Biden has trumpeted the reinvigorated Western alliance forged during the war as a “global coalition,” but a closer look suggests the world is far from united on issues raised by the Ukraine war. Evidence abounds that the effort to isolate Putin has failed and that sanctions haven’t stopped Russia, thanks to its oil and gas exports.