The video shows a MiG-31 aircraft carrying a single Kinzhal on its under-fuselage pylons taking off from an airfield in south-western Russia. “The launch went according to plan: the hypersonic missile hit its target,” the ministry said.
The ‘Kinzhal’ (Russian for “dagger”) was unveiled on March 1 during President Vladimir Putin’s State of the Nation address. Putin described the missile as the “ideal weapon.” Other new weapons, including a nuclear-powered drone submarine, a combat laser system and even a nuclear-powered cruise missile of “unlimited range,” were revealed, according to the BBC.
The Kinzhal is a formidable weapon that has an effective range of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) and can travel at 10 times the speed of sound. According to Russia’s president, the missile is highly maneuverable and capable of penetrating all defenses, including “future defenses.” And he added it can be armed with conventional or nuclear warheads.
However, US defense secretary, James Mattis, talking to reporters while traveling in Oman, said nothing that Russia has shown off changes anything, from the Pentagon’s perspective.
“I saw no change to the Russian military capability and each of these systems that he’s talking about that are still years away, I do not see them changing the military balance. They do not impact any need on our side for a change in our deterrence posture.”
In discussing the testing the missile is undergoing, Col. Valery Antsibor, deputy commander of Russia’s main test-piloting center, said, “Tests of this nature also help the ground crews and all other military personnel involved to get familiar with the new missiles.”