(NewsInsights.org) – Former President Donald Trump formally suspended the Strategic Arms Limitation II (SALT II) Treaty in February 2019 after signaling a US withdrawal from the treaty in October 2018. Almost immediately, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the development of an “invincible” hypersonic weapon, capable of traveling at more than five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5. Yet, the real deal with recent deployments of Russia’s Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missile has proven it’s anything but invincible.
On January 2, Ukraine faced an unprecedented missile assault when Russian forces fired at least 130 missiles and drones at infrastructure, civilian, and military targets. The barrage included 10 Kinzhal missiles and 35 Shahed drones, all of which Ukrainian forces shot down using advanced air-defense systems provided by Western allies. Defense forces also neutralized the majority of the cruise and ballistic missiles launched toward the smaller nation.
Using the Patriot Air Defense Missile System, Ukraine has successfully downed 25 of the 63 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles Russia has fired at Ukraine, according to spokesperson Yurii Ihnat of the Air Force Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Kinzhal is an air-launched missile that can carry conventional or nuclear armaments. However, while it’s hypersonic capable, it’s reportedly not part of the newest class of weapons. It lacks the ability to sustain hypersonic speeds or maneuverability.
More recent designs exclusively use scramjet engines to power hypersonic glide vehicles in flight, featuring maneuverability and sustainable hypersonic speeds above Mach 5 for longer distances. Yet, examining downed Kinzhal missiles provides Ukraine and its allies opportunities to learn more about what they might face in next-generation hardware.
Initially, critics met reports that Ukraine neutralized a Kinzhal missile on May 4, 2023, with skepticism. However, the small nation repeated the feat, taking down six more Kinzhal missiles using the Patriot defense system on May 16. The Brookings Institute pointed to the failure of the Kinzhal missiles as a larger failure on Putin’s part in controlling the arms narrative.
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