A long-range hypersonic missile X-95 is being developed for the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS), Colonel-General Vladimir Zarudnitsky, head of the military academy of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, told the Military Thought magazine. At the same time, the general did not specify any details about the project. Sources in the military-industrial complex claim that prototypes of the new product have already been tested from an air carrier. Its range will exceed thousands of kilometers.
According to General Zarudnitsky, today for the Aerospace Forces, a whole series of new and modernized weapons, military and special equipment are being developed and adopted. Including the strategic missile carrier-bomber Tu-160M; UAVs of various classes; over-the-horizon radar stations; anti-aircraft missile systems (complexes) and others ”. He especially emphasized that the Kinzhal aviation hypersonic missile system is in service. And in addition, high-precision long-range airborne weapons are being developed, in particular the Kh-95 hypersonic missile.
Russian hypersonic weapons were presented in 2018. It includes the Avangard, Dagger and Zircon missiles. Currently, the Russian troops are on experimental combat duty aircraft complexes with hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, which include a MiG-31K carrier and a hypersonic missile created on the basis of Iskander aeroballistic missiles. On tests, the ammunition reached a speed of 10 times the speed of sound. At the end of June, two MiG-31Ks with hypersonic missiles were first deployed to an airbase in Syria.
According to experts, the new X-95 hypersonic missile is being created based on the technology of the Zircon rocket. In fact, this is the same ammunition adapted for aircraft missiles. Rocket boosters and transport-launch containers will be different, but the main hypersonic module, including the engine, guidance system and hull made of special materials, will remain the same. The range of the Kh-95 air missile will be at least 1,000 kilometers, that is, no less than that of the Zircon with a sea launch.
The X-95 hypersonic missile can be armed with Russian strategic missile carriers, including the aircraft of the modernized version of the Tu-160M and Tu-22M3M. In the future, the strategic combat aircraft (PAK DA) being developed today can also be armed with such missiles. The range of application of the new aviation complex – an airplane plus a rocket – can exceed 10 thousand kilometers.
If Russian strategic bombers receive an extended-range Kh-95 hypersonic missile, this will become a weighty argument in any military conflict. To defeat targets, the bomber will not enter the enemy's air defense zone, but will be able to operate even from its own territory. The probability of intercepting and even detecting a hypersonic maneuverable missile by the enemy's air-missile defense system is extremely small.
