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World Affairs
Mahesh

12/03/23 10:42 AM IST

Hypersonic missiles

In News
  • Russia unleashed its biggest aerial strike against Ukraine in weeks, hitting critical infrastructure or residential buildings in 10 regions and killing at least nine people.
Hypersonic Missile
  • 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 manoeuvrable.
  • The manoeuvrability of the hypersonic missile is what differentiates it from a ballistic missile, as the latter follows a set course or a ballistic trajectory.
  • Thus, unlike ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles do not follow a ballistic trajectory and can be manoeuvred to the intended target.
  • 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) and Hypersonic Cruise Missiles.
  • The HGVs are fired from a rocket before gliding to the intended target while the hypersonic cruise missile is powered by air-breathing high-speed engines or ‘scramjets’ after acquiring their target.
Benefits
  • These weapons can enable responsive, long-range strike options against distant, defended or time-critical threats (such as road mobile missiles) when other forces are unavailable, denied access or not preferred. 
  • Conventional hypersonic weapons use only kinetic energy i.e. energy derived from motion, to destroy unhardened targets or even underground facilities
Kinzhal
  • Unveiled in 2018, Kinzhal, according to the Russians, 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 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, as per Russian officials. And the other is the Zircon anti-ship missile.
Source- Indian Express

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