Page 6 - ADT MARCH / APRIL 2020 Digital Magazine | GBP

this capability in the future. The joint team did
a tremendous job in executing this test, and
we will continue to move aggressively to get
prototypes to the field." The C-HGB – when fully
fielded – will comprise the weapon's conven-
tional warhead, guidance system, cabling, and [ COVER STORY ]
thermal protection shield. The Navy and Army
are working closely with industry to develop
the C-HGB with Navy as the lead designer, and
Army as the lead for production. Each service
will use the C-HGB, while developing individ-
ual weapon systems and launchers tailored
for launch from sea or land. The similarities in
hypersonic weapon design for sea and land
variants provide economies of scale for future
production as we build the U.S. hypersonics nental ballistic missile system equipped with a hypersonic glide
industrial base. vehicle. According to open sources, the ‘breakthrough’ weapon was
"Hypersonic systems deliver transfor- developed by the Research and Production Association of Machine-
mational warfighting capability," says Mike Building (the town of Reutov, the Moscow Region) and was tested
White, Assistant Director, Hypersonics, OUSD from 2004. The glide vehicle is capable of flying at hypersonic
Research and Engineering (Modernization). speed in the dense layers of the atmosphere, manoeuvring by its
"The glide body tested today is now ready for flight path and its altitude and breaching any anti-missile defence.
transition to Army and Navy weapon system The new weapon was unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin
development efforts and is one of several appli- in his State of the Nation address to the Federal Assembly on March
cations of hypersonic technology underway 2018. Officials say the ICBM flies 27 times faster than the speed
across the Department. These capabilities of sound. During the last known tests that took place in December
help ensure that our warfighters will maintain 2018, the Avangard hit a practice target 6,000 kilometers away
the battlefield dominance necessary to deter, across Siberia at speeds up to Mach 27.
and if necessary, defeat any future adversary.''
Additionally, MDA is working closely with Army “THIS WEAPON OF THE FUTURE CAN PENETRATE
and Navy in sharing data that will inform their
development of enhanced capabilities for a lay- BOTH EXISTING AND ANY FUTURE MISSILE
ered hypersonic defense to support warfighter DEFENSE SYSTEMS,” Russian President Vladimir Putin at an
need and outpace the adversary threat. annual Defense Ministry Board meeting in December 2019

Russia Has Seen it All He played up Russia as the only country armed with hypersonic
Russia's has already put into service its first weapons, calling it “a unique situation in our contemporary history
regiment of Avangard hypersonic missiles. At where they’re trying to catch up.” “Not a single country possesses
the end of 2019, Russia had announced that hypersonic weapons, let alone inter-continental hypersonic weap-
the country's first hypersonic boost-glide ons. We already have the Kinzhal hypersonic missile systems in
vehicle had become operational. According the field, and the Peresvet laser combat systems have already
to Strategic Missile Force Commander Colonel- been deployed,” Putin says. The latest ballistic missiles with the
General Sergei Karakayev, the first Avangard Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) are being delivered to
hypersonic missile systems will enter combat the Strategic Missile Forces. “Work on other systems is underway,
duty this year at the Dombarovsky missile divi- including the Sarmat boosted intercontinental ballistic missile; the
sion based in the Orenburg Region in the south Tsirkon ground- and sea-based hypersonic rockets; the Poseidon
Urals. The Avangard is a strategic interconti- unmanned underwater vehicle; and the Burevestnik nuclear-armed
cruise missile.” he adds.

The second design, Kinzhal (dagger), it is claimed can immediately
destroy US nuclear bases in Europe. The stationary weapon is ideal
for a prompt strike. It can be delivered by a high-speed carrier such
as a fifth-generation fighter. The missile has a long-range and hit
precision comparable to Iskander missiles. It has a claimed range
of more than 2,000 kilometres, a speed of more than Mach 10, and
an ability to perform evasive manoeuvres at every stage of flight
carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads.
Reports have since indicated that the Kinzhal missile has entered
service and that up to 10 MiG-31s have been modified to carry the

6 | March/April 2020 WWW .GBP .COM.SG/ ADT