Russia is developing a hypersonic anti-ship missile to be fitted onto the Su-57 stealth aircraft, Izvestia revealed.
The missile, called the Larchinka-MD, is being developed to replace the Kh-31 supersonic anti-ship missile, which the service started using in 1988.
The Tactical Missile Armament Corporation (KTRV)-developed missile has a “Product 70” ramjet engine — which is the same as the one being used in “Gremlin,” another hypersonic missile Russia is developing — and is at its prototyping stage of development, the outlet added citing documents.
Possible Features
According to Izvestia, the missile will be fitted onto the Su-57’s internal compartment. It quoted a military expert as saying that the munition could have a range of “several hundred kilometers.”
The outlet further wrote that Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko announced the development of an anti-ship missile for the Su-57 in 2019. The missile’s “active homing head” is being developed by the Ural Design Bureau “Detal,” which is part of KTRV.
The outlet also cited KTRV general director Boris Obnosov announcing this year that a hypersonic “anti-jamming” missile is being developed for the stealth fighter jet.
Russia’s Growing Hypersonic Arsenal
Russia currently has only one air-launched hypersonic missile, the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, or the dagger, deployed on the MiG-31 interceptor aircraft.
The country, however, is on a spree to expand its hypersonic missile arsenal with the development of air-launched missiles such as the long-range Kh-95 and the Gremlin. Moscow has also been testing its ship and submarine-launched Tsirkon hypersonic missile.
Hypersonic missiles travel at a speed of Mach 5 or above and can strike targets up to 1,500 km (932 mi.) away, making them nearly impossible to intercept by missile defense systems. The Tsirkon has a reported speed of Mach 7, while the dagger can fly at a speed of more than 10 Mach.