American supercarriers are the face of the U.S Navy and have allowed powered
projection far away from the homeland. Nimitz-class carriers which form the
backbone of the U.S carrier fleet, as well as the new Ford-class carriers,
are the biggest warships to roam the oceans displacing around 100,000 tons of water.
The U.S is the only nation to operate so many supercarriers
since they are very costly to build and operate.
Due to technical and economic constraints, there are currently only a few countries
with aircraft carriers let alone having so many of these nuclear-powered mammoth supercarriers.
Rivals know they can't match American supercarriers in quality and quantity,
hence they are trying to develop asymmetric weapons to counter them.
There is one country that seem to have progressed a lot in this regard
and has acquired substantial capability - it is Russia.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how Russia can sink an American supercarrier
with 3 super-weapons? Let's get started.
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The 3M22 Zircon is a scramjet-powered maneuvering
hypersonic cruise missile currently in testing by Russia.
The missile represents a further development of the HELA (Hypersonic Experimental Flying Vehicle)
developed by NPO Mashinostroyeniya that was on display at the 1995 MAKS air show.
Details regarding the weapon remain sketchy. Zircon is believed to be a guided winged
hypersonic cruise missile with a lift-generating center body.
A booster stage with solid-fuel engines accelerates it to supersonic speeds, after
which a scramjet motor with liquid-fuel in the second stage accelerates it to hypersonic speeds.
It has already been tested several times.
On 11 December 2020, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the successful test of the missile
launched from Admiral Gorshkov in the White Sea,
hitting a ground target 350 km or around 217 miles away in the Astrakhan Region
As per President Putin’s address
in the Russian Federal Assembly, the Zircon is capable of reaching speeds of Mach 9.
That makes it much faster than a bullet fired from a sniper rifle,
actually almost 3 times the speed of a sniper’s bullet.
The kinetic energy alone will rip a ship apart like a tin can.
Mr. Putin stated that the missile has a range of over 1000 km or 620 miles.
The missile weighs 5 tons.
As per reports, the Zircon has both a radar target seeker
and an optical-electronic complex to detect and track targets.
The missile is able to destroy both sea-going and land targets.
The missile could be equipped with a High
explosive warhead or even a tactical nuclear warhead.
Mr. Putin had told the Zircon is mainly intended to be deployed
in seagoing platforms such as “serially made surface warships and submarines,
including those that are already operational and being built”.
Because of its speed, it is invulnerable to current carrier defenses
which are designed to neutralize target traveling only at supersonic speeds.
The Poseidon, previously known by Russian codename Status-6, is an autonomous, nuclear-powered,
and nuclear-armed unmanned underwater vehicle under development by Rubin Design Bureau,
capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear payloads.
The torpedo-shaped robotic mini-submarine can travel at speeds of 100 knots or 185 km/h.
It has a range of 6,200 miles or 10,000 km and can travel at a maximum depth of 3,280 feet or 1000 m.
This underwater drone is perceived to have stealth technology to avoid detection.
Poseidon uses a silent running strategy like other submarines. Its main stealth feature
is its very low speed before it reaches the target area.
Its high-speed mode activates upon reaching a short finish range.
As per Russian sources, Poseidon is armed with a mammoth 100-megaton warhead.
So, even if a direct hit is not achieved, a supercarrier will still be destroyed.
To give viewers a perspective here is a comparison.
Trinity Test in New Mexico in July 1945, which ushered in the
nuclear age, had a yield of 20-kilo tons. Hiroshima’s “Little Boy" bomb had a yield of
13-18 kilotons whereas Nagasaki's "Fat Man" bomb had a yield of 20– 22-kilotons of TNT.
On 20 February 2019, the Russian Defence Ministry released a video,
showing a Poseidon being test-launched by a B-90 Sarov special purpose submarine.
Kinzhal was one of the six new Russian strategic weapons
unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 1 March 2018
It is essentially an ALBM or Air-Launched Ballistic missile
and like Zircon is a hypersonic weapon. Kinzhal reportedly has a top speed of more
than 10 times the speed of sound. It goes ballistic after launch.
It has been integrated for use with MiG-31K.
The missile has a range of approximately 2000 km or 1,250 miles when launched from MiG-31K.
The choice of integrating it to MiG-31K,
which would probably launch the Kinzhal from +60,000 feet at supersonic speed,
is aimed at giving the missile much more reach than it would have if launched from the ground.
Kinzhal is also thought to be nuclear-capable and able to hit ground as well as naval targets. It
can carry a warhead of 500 kg or around 1100 lbs. It is powered by a solid-propellant rocket.
Kinzhal is allegedly designed to overcome any known or planned US air or missile defense systems
including MIM-104 Patriot, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and Aegis Combat System.
Similar to Zircon, it will be almost impossible to intercept Kinzhal with current defenses.
As per unconfirmed reports, the Russian Air Force has formed an Aviation Squadron
with 10-12 Kinzhal armed MiG-31K