Which Russian attack missile has the fastest flight speed?

According to Sputnik, Russia's Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missile is described by Western media as a dangerous attack weapon with a flight speed of up to Mach 10 (11,925 km/h) and an attack range of 3,000 km. However, according to Sputnik, Kinzhal is not the most powerful attack missile model of the Russian army.

Russia's fastest ballistic missile

This position belongs to the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and the RSM-56 Bulava submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile (SLBM) with cruise speeds of Mach 20 (25,500 km/h) and Mach 24 (28,600 km/h) respectively.

Neither the Sarmat nor the Bulava are hypersonic missiles, they are ballistic missiles that fly into space and deploy their warheads to attack targets from orbit. However, Russian ICBMs can still perform maneuvering attacks similar to hypersonic missiles, and are theoretically impossible to intercept.

Which Russian attack missile has the fastest flight speed? - 1 — Russia's Sarmat missile is superior to American ICBMs in both range and destructive power.

Of course, the actualization of Sarmat and Bulava attacks is unlikely and they would only be used in real combat conditions. The use of an ICBM is almost synonymous with the start of a nuclear war.

Sputnik military experts analyzed that although flying fast is good, the speed of the missile is not everything. An anti-aircraft missile with a slower flight speed can still intercept a hypersonic missile if it can predict the target's flight trajectory.

To overcome this drawback, the Kinzhal hypersonic missile has been equipped with the ability to change its flight direction during hypersonic flight. This makes it more difficult to predict the exact trajectory and flight direction.

The world's fastest attack missile

Determining the maximum speed of a missile depends on many factors. If we consider the world's fastest ballistic missiles, this position belongs to the US military's LGM-30 Minuteman ICBM and UGM-133 Trident II SLBM, with maximum speeds of Mach 23 (28,200 km/h) and Mach 25 (30,600 km/h) respectively.

The world's fastest attack missile belongs to Russia's Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, with a maximum speed of up to Mach 27 (32,200 km/h) when flying in near orbit. The speed of Avangard will gradually decrease to Mach 15-20 when re-entering the atmosphere and approaching the target.

The role of hypersonic missiles in the Russian military

From the above assessments, Russia is at or near the top of most cruise, ballistic and hypersonic missile rankings? The simple answer is that the Russian missile industry inherits the technological achievements previously developed by the Soviet Union.

As early as the 1960s, Soviet scientists began testing hypersonic missile technology. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's secret hypersonic missile programs continued to be invested in and developed to this day.

Which Russian attack missile has the fastest flight speed? - 2 — Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle during testing. (Photo: TASS)

In 2002, after the United States unexpectedly withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the acceleration of existing hypersonic missile projects and the opening of new ones. This move was seen as necessary as the United States continued to expand its missile defense system around the world and could cause Russia's nuclear forces to lose their deterrent capabilities.

These efforts have borne fruit, in 2020, President Putin announced that Russia possesses an unstoppable hypersonic weapon system – Avangard. At the same time, he affirmed that Avangard is not only fast but also precise and destructive.

These upgrades to Russia's missile forces could not be more timely, because at the same time Washington canceled the ABM Treaty, the Pentagon began implementing the "Prompt Global Strike" strategy - that is, a conventional attack on a target anywhere in the world within an hour.

These missile strikes would target the opponent's political and military leadership and prevent the opponent from counterattacking.

Essentially, possessing extremely high-speed missiles that can maneuver, evade missile defenses, and conceal their ultimate target provides Russia with a kind of missile “shield,” allowing Moscow’s leadership to sleep well at night knowing that the enemy will be caught by surprise.

Having to face an unstoppable hypersonic missile attack is also one of the reasons why the US had to change its "Prompt Global Strike" strategy.

Tra Khanh (Source: Sputnik)

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