Putin Blasts Syria With New Stealth Missile—and Shows the World He Can Strike From 1,700 Miles Away

[Purveyor]

It wasn’t that long ago that the U.S. Air Force seemed to be the only one capable of attacking from half a continent away. Then came Russia’s ‘anti-ISIS’ strikes.

11.19.158:00 PM ET

Russia apparently deployed for the first time a new, radar-evading cruise missile during its massive Nov. 17 heavy bomber raid on Syria.

The Kh-101 long-range cruise missile, which reportedly packs an 800-pound warhead and can fly no less than 1,700 miles under satellite guidance, has been in development by Russia’s cash-strapped aerospace industry for three decades. Now that it’s apparently combat-ready, Moscow can claim to possess a global strike capability that before, only the United States possessed.

Russia’s mid-November bomber raid startled observers at least as much as did Moscow’s initial deployment of warplanes to Syria in late September and its subsequent barrage of sea-launched cruise missiles at rebel forces in October.


The raid involved 25 Backfire, Bear, and Blackjack bombers flying thousands of miles, round-trip, to fire dozens of cruise missiles and drop scores of bombs. Moscow claimed it was attacking militants of the so-called Islamic State, but as in previous Russian raids, many of the targets were in areas such as Idlib and Aleppo in northern Syria where ISIS has no large-scale presence. Skeptics of the Kremlin’s war aims have accused the Russian government of targeting any and all opponents of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, including U.S.-backed moderate rebels.

The survival of the Syrian regime, which is a strong and historic ally of Russia, is Moscow’s main aim in Syria. But Russia’s two-month-old intervention is also giving the Kremlin a chance to test out, and show off, sophisticated new weaponry, including new jet fighters, the sea-launched Kaliber missile… and potentially the Kh-101.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/19/putin-blasts-syria-with-new-stealth-missile-and-shows-the-world-he-can-strike-from-1-700-miles-away.html

[KoKo]

1. Well..the "Push Back" should be interesting to watch!

..........n/t

On Edit:

The "push back" was probably the way the Editor framed the title. Once one reads the article it seems it is strongly suspected but not confirmed that they actually fired it. It's probably likely, though, that Putin would be using this opportunity to test new weapons and that many would not be happy about this new capability.

From the article:

To be clear, the Russian defense ministry has not officially confirmed that its bombers launched Kh-101s into Syria. And there is a small chance that, in fact, the new missile wasn’t part of the November raid.

Official videos purportedly depicting the bomber mission show ground crews loading chisel-nose missiles onto bombers at a base apparently in Russia. Subsequent scenes in the same videos reveal missiles dropping from the warplanes’ bomb bays, but the aerial footage is too fleeting—and the angle too restrictive—to clearly establish the munitions’ exact identity. The ambiguity was sufficient for John Tirpak, an editor at the respected Air Force magazine in Virginia, to claim that the Kh-101s were “unlikely to have actually been used in the raids, meaning Russia wanted them seen and to suggest they are operational.”