Russia is looking to stay ahead of the West in hypersonic weapons, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov.
According to an interview reported by TASS, Borisov stated after several years of development, Russia is the superior power regarding hypersonic weapons, “for the first time in all this time.”
According to the official, Russian hypersonic weapons utilize new types of engines and source their power from “compact low-power nuclear power plants.”
Borisov believes that Russia currently has “a serious advantage in this regard over Western states,” and with that, the country intends to “try to preserve this advantage.”
“[Russian weapons] comply with the main weapon and military vehicles development trends, as they move towards precision weapons, unmanned systems, and robotization,” Borisov added.
Russia’s Hypersonic Weapons
Russia has been actively building up its hypersonic capabilities, consistently developing and testing new weapon systems. In early August, the country unveiled its Kh-95 long-range air-launched hypersonic missile.
Vladimir Zarudnitsky, chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff Military Academy, echoes the intent to retain aerospace supremacy. “Today supremacy in aerospace is a vital condition for ground and naval groupings of troops to conduct combat operations successfully,” he said.
Also in August, Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that it would soon wrap up testing and evaluation for the Tsirkon hypersonic missile.
Hypersonic missiles travel at speeds of Mach 5 to Mach 10 and can strike targets up to 1,500 km (932.05 mi) away, making them nearly impossible to intercept by enemy missile systems.
