Russian strategic aircraft will receive new cruise hypersonic missiles, as announced by the commander of long-range aviation Sergey Kobylash. According to him, in 2023, upgraded aircraft will be delivered to long-range aviation departments.
“In order to increase the combat capabilities of long-range aviation, the deep modernization of the main types of our combat aircraft continues to the level of Tu-160M, Tu-95MSM and Tu-22M3M, and the production of the Tu-160 air complex in the Tu-160M variant has been resumed. Next year, the first such aircraft will be delivered to combat units,” Kobylash said.
He also added that currently, the forces of military science and enterprises of the military-industrial complex are modernizing the Tu-160 and Tu-95MS strategic missile carriers in combat, as well as the Tu-22M3 long-range bombers. After the work carried out by the industry, the aircraft acquire improved characteristics and capabilities for their operation in aviation units, as well as for more accurate use of aviation weapons, Kobylash said.
“At the same time, a promising long-range aviation complex is being developed, capable of solving a wide range of tasks of both nuclear and non-nuclear deterrence,” the commander noted.
Kobylash specified that in the end of 2021, a regiment armed with the Kinzhal hypersonic aviation missile system based on MiG-31 aircraft joined the long-range aviation.
“The uniqueness of the Kinzhal hypersonic aviation complex is that its aeroballistic missile is capable of reaching speeds more than 10 times the speed of sound and at the same time maneuvering on all sections of the flight path, which allows it to reliably overcome all existing air defense systems and hit targets deep behind enemy lines,” the commander said.
He also said that this year, most of the long-range aviation flight crews received combat experience during a special military operation in Ukraine. According to him, at the moment, all flight crews of the regiment have experience of working with the program of combat use of the new aviation missile system. During a special military operation, the Kinzhal complex was repeatedly used to defeat ground targets, which became the first use of hypersonic weapons in real combat conditions in world history.
“Kinzhal showed high combat effectiveness and confirmed all the tactical and technical characteristics embedded in it,” Kobylash said.
“Kinzhal” is an aviation complex with a high-precision hypersonic aeroballistic missile. It was created on the basis of the upgraded long-range fighter-interceptor MiG-31. According to the Russian military, it is capable of hitting targets at a range of more than 2,000 km.
According to official data, the long-range aviation of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation includes strategic missile bombers Tu-95MS and Tu-160, as well as long-range bombers Tu-22M3. Long-range aircraft are the air component of the Russian nuclear triad, but they can also strike with conventional missile and bomb weapons, including cruise missiles.
Ru-Main, 26.12.2022
Source: Interfax
