A MiG-31K combat fighter of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) used the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system. This was reported by the Telegram channel "Military Informant".
Kinzhal missiles first entered permanent combat duty with the Russian Armed Forces in August 2022 in Kaliningrad, but they became known back in 2018. Despite this, the missile remains one of the most classified systems in the Russian army's arsenal.
The 9-A-7660 Kinzhal complex with a hypersonic missile and a MiG-31 carrier aircraft was developed in the 2000s–2010s by the Kolomna Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering in collaboration with RSC MiG.
The munition is based on the 9M723 Iskander-M aeroballistic missile — a compact projectile that carries various types of warheads and can be launched at any initial speed and at any altitude of the carrier. As a result, engineers created an air-launched missile system that has no analogues in the world.
The exact characteristics of the system have not been published in open sources. However, it is known that the range of the complex is about 2 thousand km, and the maximum speed of the missile is up to 10 times the speed of sound.
At the moment of launch from the MiG-31, the missile already has a flight altitude of about 20 km and a speed of at least 1500 km/h. Due to these conditions, the Kinzhal munition receives a record range and flight speed.
Earlier, www1.ru reported that Dan-M decoy drones with a jet engine have been developed in Russia: they will leave air defense in the dark.
Read more materials:
Kalashnikov will increase the production of powerful high-precision Olimp-BI cartridges
The Bal coastal missile system with subsonic missiles received the latest navigation system
