Russian hypersonic missiles will alter the tide of war in Ukraine by employing a large number of weapons.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has begun mass production of Zircon hypersonic missiles and speed up the production of Kinzhal, their number may reach hundreds in the near future to serve requirements on the Ukrainian battlefield.
“The hypersonic missile was used by us in a special military operation three times. This weapon gave an excellent performance, demonstrating characteristics that no other weapon in the world has,” said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Specifically, the Russian armed forces used the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal (Dagger) air-launched hypersonic ballistic missile launch from MiG-31 as part of a special military operation in Ukraine to strike particularly important targets.
According to the Russian Defense Minister, mass production of hypersonic weapons will prove to the world that no one has yet succeeded in isolating Russia. Shoigu added that the country’s military-industrial complex is operating reliably.
In an interview with media, military expert, retired Navy Colonel Konstantin Sivkov said that mass production means releasing at least a few dozen models of a certain type of weapon.
Russia has a need for hundreds of missiles of both Zircon and Kinzhal types. Therefore, Mr. Sivkov firmly believes that the domestic defense-industrial complex will strive for a high production rate.
However, in order to strengthen the production, it is necessary to improve the personnel policy and strengthen the economic potential of the country. Expert Sivkov believes that both factors will enable effective import substitution and bring success in the short term.
“In the early stages of the special military operation, Russia can launch several dozen hypersonic missiles to solve certain combat tasks, but in the future, we will need more,” Sivkov stressed.
Despite the fact that the Russian Federation does not have 15-20 years to “build up potential” and produce long-term mass production, so it is necessary to act quickly.
Colonel Sivkov noted that Russian experts are capable of creating the necessary volume of hypersonic missiles in a period of 3-5 years. To achieve the desired, it is only necessary to comply with a number of conditions, the expert points out:
“In order to start producing more weapons, it is necessary to switch to a planned economy, maintain the principle of balance in preparation for economic development and nationalize all strategic resources associated with this.
The fact that Russia can produce hundreds of hypersonic missiles in the near future will certainly consume a huge amount of resources, because the Western military estimates each of the above shells costs no less than 10 million USD.
Given the thousands of missiles that the Russian Army has fired since the start of the war, and the fact that the effect is still not proportionate to the quantity of missiles, it is believed that this amount still falls short of the criteria.
Not only that, the accuracy of Russian hypersonic missiles is also being questioned, with some saying that due to the speed is too fast, it makes it difficult to calibrate, making the deviation very high, making it difficult to calibrate, while the main reason for inaccuracy is low and old technology use in missiles.