Page 29 - ADT SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2022 Online Magazine

WAKING Vladimir Putin announced that the delivery of the scramjet pow-  HYPERSONIC

ered maneuvering anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile to the Admiral
Gorshkov frigate would begin within months. According to experts,
UP TO the missile cannot be intercepted by existing missile defence systems
because of its Mach 9 (6,900 mph; 11,000 km/h; 3.1 km/s) speed. Its
precision creates another headache for adversaries as it makes the
DANGER missile lethal in the case of large targets such as aircraft carriers.

Russia, which has so far deployed two hypersonic systems - the
Avangard and the Kinzhal - has not shied away from using its hyper-
sonic missiles in its war on Ukraine. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu
AS RUSSIA AND said in August that the country had deployed Kinzhal (Dagger)
CHINA ZOOM AHEAD missiles three times over the course of the “special military opera-
tion” in Ukraine. Russia claims that its new hypersonic weapons are
IN THE HYPERSONIC capable of attacking targets in almost any point in the world and
ARMS RACE, THE U.S. evading a U.S.-built missile shield.
SPRINGS INTO ACTION China, which has been growing its military might at a pace that is

TO BRIDGE THE GAP causing plenty of concern to the U.S. and its allies, has also made
significant strides in its plans to add hypersonic weapons to its
arsenal. In early August, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched
 ARUN SIVASANKARAN DF-17 missiles from a ground-based platform during live-fire exer-
cises near Pingtan Island in the Taiwan Strait. The DF-17, China’s
Even as it continues its aggression in Ukraine, first hypersonic glider weapon, is launched by a medium-range
Russia has been busy showing off to the world solid-fuel ballistic missile and is capable of reaching speeds greater
the progress it has made in hypersonic weapons than Mach 5 (over 6,000 kilometers per hour).
technology.
Apart from the DF-17, China has another hypersonic weapon, the
In May this year, Russia successfully test-fired the DF-21, a hypersonic anti-ship missile known as the CH-AS-X-13. A
hypersonic Zircon cruise missile over a distance third hypersonic platform, a ship-launched anti-ship missile called
of about 1,000 km (625 miles). In July, President the YJ-21, is currently under development.
ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022 | 29