On September 15, a video of an unidentified flying object that crashed in Stavropol,
Russia, around 350 kilometers (220 miles) from the Ukrainian border, went viral on the internet.
The Russian media reports initially led people
to believe it was a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
Later, Twitter users noted similarities between the wreckage and the Russian Kinzhal missile.
A Twitter user going by the handle LotA shared a video of the incident, which happened on September
14. According to the user, the unidentified object was a Russian Kinzhal missile.
“If anyone wondered what crashed today in Russian Stavropol region injuring six firefighters,
you’d be very much surprised to know that it wasn’t a “Ukrainian
UAV,” but a Russian Kinzhal missile,” he tweeted.
The missile was allegedly fired from a MiG-31 aircraft in the direction of Ukraine,
but it is thought to have failed and crash-landed in Russia’s territory.
In this video Defense Updates reports on the Russian hypersonic ‘Kinzhal’
Missile falling on its territory after being fired from a MiG-31 combat jet.
Let's get started.
Twitter users pointed to the resemblance between the object’s wreckage and the Russian
Kinzhal missile, particularly the winglets and the booster’s separation mechanism.
LotA alleged that the missile’s “booster” or nozzle’s aerodynamic
cover didn’t separate from the missile when it was released from the carrier,
which suggests that the main engine did not ignite.
The fact that a booster was found on the debris suggests that the missile
either misfired or was accidentally dropped by its carrier aircraft, Aerotime reported.
OSINTtechnical, an open source user, shared the thread and noted that “In the last 6 months,
Russia has hit Ukraine with three Kh-47M2 Kinzhal ‘hypersonic’ missiles and itself with one.”
Rescue personnel arrived at the crash site and tried to put out
the flames. The explosion hurt six people, including four locals and one firefighter.
According to Vladimir Vladimirov, the governor of the Stavropol Territory, a firefighter was injured
while working at the scene. He added, “He has been hospitalized and is being treated by paramedics,”
President Vladimir Putin announced the system in an annual state-of-the-nation address in 2018.
The Kinzhal was among several latest-generation strategic weapons
that Putin said at the time could overcome any U.S. missile defenses.
Russia used the Kinzhal missile for the first time in Ukraine in Mar.
Combat use of Kinzhal in Ukraine marked the beginning of the hypersonic weapons era.
A weapon is designated to be hypersonic if it can travel at speeds beyond Mach 5.
Hypersonic weapons combine the high speed of a traditional ballistic
missile with the maneuverability of a cruise missile making them almost
unstoppable with the currently available air defense systems.
There are several methods being applied to make hypersonic platforms which include using
Scramjet engine, Boost Glide Vehicle and ALBM or Air-Launched Ballistic missile. Kinzhal is an ALBM
Kinzhal has a range of approximately 2000 km or 1,250 miles when launched
from MiG-31 but can reach 3000 km or around 1865 miles when fired from Tu-22M3 bomber.
The Kinzhal goes ballistic seconds after it has been
launched from an aircraft, unlike cruise missiles.
It reportedly has a top speed of more than 10 times the speed of sound.
It is thought to be a variant of the ground-launched Iskander-M
short-range ballistic missile. Kinzhal's first stage is probably
shared with Iskander and the guidance section is specifically designed for this missile.
Kinzhal is also reported to be nuclear-capable and able to hit ground as well as naval targets.
It has a terrain-matching sensor, as well as an active radar seeker
and is thought to be powered by a solid-propellant rocket.
It can carry a warhead of 500 kg or around 1100 lbs.
As per Russian claims, Kinzhal is capable of
making rapid course corrections or otherwise flying erratically.
This coupled with the weapon’s speed makes it almost impossible to track and intercept.
As per unconfirmed reports,
the Russian Air Force has formed an Aviation Squadron with 10-12 MiG-31K.
The combination of
Kinzhal & Mig 31K is lethal since it could be launched from unpredictable
locations and its target envelope is very large.
But what about reliability?
In May, three US officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters
that Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine.
This is a massive number, the failure rate of 20% is considered high.
Kinzhal is not the only high-profile missile that has suffered a failure like this.
For example, it was reported that on 20 May, Russian troops launched a Kalibre missile strike
on the Odesa region using aircraft. The missile costing $6.5 million failed to hit any important
Ukrainian asset, instead, it destroyed a beach toilet in the south of the region.
Ukrainian specialists found several U.S.-origin chips - manufactured by AMD,
Texas Instruments Pantsir air defense system. Pantsir missile system is a family of
self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems.
Starting with the Pantsir-S1 as the first version, it is produced by KBP
Instrument Design Bureau of Tula, Russia, and is the successor to the Tunguska M1.
Similarly, there were more than 30 U.S.-made chips in the Kh-101 cruise missile,
including those manufactured by Cypress Semiconductor and Maxim Integrated.
Kh-101 is a conventional air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) that can fly at low,
terrain-hugging altitudes to avoid radar systems.
With sanctions, Russia will find it very hard to build more, so every misfire will hurt.
Kinzhal is also a very costly missile and especially designed to knockout high
value targets. Given the situation, it is not hard to see that Russia
has a problem in its hands which has to be rectified as soon as technically possible.