Russia is developing a long-range hypersonic missile for its aerospace force, a senior military official revealed in a defense ministry magazine.
Vladimir Zarudnitsky, chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff Military Academy, referred to the Kh-95 missile in Military Thought magazine as reported by TASS.
“Today supremacy in aerospace is a vital condition for ground and naval groupings of troops to conduct combat operations successfully,” Zarudnitsky wrote in the article.
“For this purpose, Russia is developing and accepting such advanced and upgraded armaments, military and special hardware for service in its Aerospace Force as the Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bomber, the Kinzhal airborne hypersonic missile system, and long-range air-launched precision weapons, in particular, the Kh-95 hypersonic missile,” he added.
Missile Prototype Already Tested
Moscow-based state news outlet Sputnik quoted a source as saying that Kh-95 will be deployed on “the modernized Tu-22M3M long-range bomber, the modernized Tu-160M strategic bomber and the Prospective Aviation Complex for Long-Range Aviation strategic bomber.”
A prototype of the missile has already been tested from an aircraft, RIA Novosti, another state-backed outlet wrote, citing a source.
Recent Hypersonic Missile Launch
The news comes within a month of Moscow’s test of a Zircon hypersonic missile, under development to attack naval vessels and land-based targets.
The missile has a speed of Mach-7 (5,370 miles per hour or 8,642 kilometers per hour) and a range of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles). It will be deployed on frigates and submarines.
