Britain develops hypersonic missiles to compete with Russia
(Baonghean.vn) - Britain plans to develop hypersonic missiles to compete with Russia in this field, UK Chief of Defence Staff Tony Radakin said.
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| Hypersonic missile. Photo: AFP |
“We don’t have hypersonic missiles, which we should have,” Radakin said in an interview with The Times.
The publication notes that, in that context, Radakin outlined plans, the purpose of which is to "compete with Russia's growing military power."
In recent years, Russia has developed a number of hypersonic systems. The Kinzhal aircraft complex is currently undergoing experimental combat duty in the armed forces, the Zircon hypersonic missile is undergoing state testing, and the strategic missile with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle is on combat duty. Avangard can reach speeds 20 times the speed of sound.
According to the developers, the Kinzhal missile is guaranteed to overcome all existing air and missile defense systems, carrying nuclear and conventional warheads with a range of up to 2,000 km. Kinzhal is used to equip MiG-31K interceptors.
The Zircon hypersonic missile has a speed of Mach 9 (9 times the speed of sound, more than 10,000 km/h) and a range of over one thousand km./.
