Russia claims it has successfully tested hypersonic missile which makes Western defences obsolete

[swag]

Source: The Independent

Harriett Marsden

According to government-controlled news agency Sputnik, the missile system  - known as Zircon - could be installed on Pyotr Veliky, the country’s nuclear-powered missile strike ship.

The hypersonic missiles are a “quantum leap in technology,” defence analyst Tim Ripley’s told DW. 

They can travel faster than any other missile on the planet, up to 4,600mph, which is almost 66 times the speed of sound and enough to practically guarantee they cannot be targeted or intercepted.

Mr Ripley explained that this effectively rendered Western defences, such as the anti-missile systems aboard new Royal Navy carriers the HMS Prince of Wales and the HMS Queen Elizabeth, “obsolete”.
​
“It will greatly reduce the reaction time that they (Western military) have to deploy their own defences and counter-measures," he said.



Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-hypersonic-zircon-missile-system-testing-successful-putin-sputnik-defence-obsolete-a7770641.html

[bettyellen]

1. And what's Trump doing with the swelled military budget?

[olddad56]

14. once that asshole lifts the sanctions on Russia and Exxon doing business,

Russia will be able to afford to swell their military budget. Think one trillion dollars in oil deals between the two.

[Calista241]

43. Yeah, because those companies have $500 billion each in the bank

A trillion dollars in oil deals would take a hundred years to develop and realize. Putin, Trump, you and me will be long gone by then.

[unblock]

2. "Let it be an arms race" shrugs our dear leader

[RKP5637]

5. Trump will soon say, mine (mind, lol) is bigger than yours, and then all the sh** will begin

Last edited Sat Jun 3, 2017, 06:06 PM - Edit history (1)

again. It's the world the ass in the WH lives in.

[olddad56]

16. or he will say mine is bigger, his mind is a tiny little mind.

[RKP5637]

20. Oops! Yep, no mind involved with Trump!

[sandensea]

3. But our teanecks are still obsessed with the useless Star Wars, because Saint Ronnie.

Earlier, before $1 trillion was flushed down the contractors' toilets...

[Turbineguy]

4. How about a little applause....

http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/story/1683130-af-speeds-hypersonic-arms-vs-russia-china

[Trust Buster]

6. And Chump is preoccupied with lifting sanction off of these sweetie pies.

[SHRED]

7. It doesn't matter

A nuke war would be the end

[bucolic_frolic]

8. This is giving

the Puppet a reason to capitulate. It might therefore not be actually true.
Won't you feel safer if we're on their side now?

[bettyellen]

26. This crossed my mind too!

[philly_bob]

9. Since Trump/Russia scandal, I've been reading TASS online "Military and Defense" section

and I'm impressed by Soviet military developments. Latest is "Soldier of the Future" infantry/armor. I'm not at all sure a post-Trump NATO, in disarray, could stand up to Soviets.

Horrifying developments.

[Adrahil]

11. Don't be...

It's mostly smoke and mirrors for propaganda purposes. Russia has always been good at making scary looking prototypes, but they rarely translate into fieldable systems. Also, they are Russian, not Soviet.

[hack89]

36. They can't afford a large modern military

They are constantly announcing new weapons that never end up going into mass production.

[philly_bob]

47. Thanks, Hack & Adrahil, for context. I'm reassured. /nt

[Adrahil]

10. Totally believable.... NT

[truthisfreedom]

12. 4600mph is NOT 66 times the speed of sound. 6.6 maybe.

[SHRED]

13. 66 x SOS equals... 50,639.754 mph

WTF are they using for math?

[trof]

29. Yeah. That is total bullshit.

[Liberalagogo]

30. They're using CNN math

[SHRED]

31. LOL

[harun]

48. +1

[xor]

49. haahahahaaha

[Jim__]

15. That should be almost 6 times the speed of sound.

The speed of sound is .21313 miles / second.

.21313 miles / second x 3600 seconds / hour = 767.268 miles per hour

767.268 x 6 = 4603.608 miles / hour

[jgmiller]

17. Ignoring the math error it's not all that

I'm sure the test was great and all but a practicality standpoint it's not nearly as impressive as they say. ICBM's and other ballistic missiles travel at up to about 15,000 MPH. It's not like the technology to go that fast hasn't existed for decades, there's reason that ship to ship missiles are usually of the cruise variety and subsonic. While it does make them easier to shoot down it also makes them maneuverable. A hypersonic missile is just not very maneuverable, so while it would be harder to shoot down it would also be easier to avoid in the terminal phase of flight. Putting a nuke on it takes care of that problem but at that point why not just use an ICBM.

[Kaleva]

37. A super fast but very limited in maneuverability missile may be easier to shoot down

The potential intercept window for the super fast incoming missile would be much, much smaller then for a slower incoming missile doing evasive maneuvers.

[Crash2Parties]

18. This stinks like Trump-Putin "fake news" aimed at science illiterate FOX news fans

4600 mph. That's a hair over 2 km/sec, right?

ICBM's have long traveled at 6 to 7 km/second (around 15,000 mph), but it's by design. Any faster and they reach orbital velocity, which in this case is *not* desirable.

Someone want to check my conversions, please? I'm sans paper & have a jabbering (& funny!) child with me.

[BumRushDaShow]

22. It's even less than that

0.77 km/s

(1 km = 0.6 mile)

[Crash2Parties]

34. Thanks!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. Mr. Tim Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not. ... Via Sputnik News: Russian propaganda organ. . . nt

[Mad_Mongol]

32. Right math, wrong concept!

You are thinking of escape velocity (~ 11.5 km/s)

Re-entry vehicles do come in at 7+ km/s --from orbit in *relatively* predictable ballistic trajectories. Hyper sonic missiles are sub-orbital by design to evade boost phase and terminal phase interceptors and interception schemes --and are steerable. At least that's the concept!

[Crash2Parties]

33. Yes, I get that. My point is that the speed itself is not that impressive

Yet it is being used as the big scare part of the news bit.

[Progressive dog]

42. 2 km/sec is correct,

and so are you. The story is aimed at science illiterates and probably written and edited by them.

[Gravitycollapse]

19. 66x SOS is more than an order of magnitude higher than 4600 mph.

Very shoddy journalism.

[trackfan]

50. Yeah. Going by this article, I was doing mach 1

on the way to work this morning.

[pangaia]

57. In that case you need an ESCORT radar detector...

Works for me..

[BumRushDaShow]

21. "According to government-controlled news agency Sputnik"

Fixed.

"According to government-controlled propaganda agency Sputnik"

[mwooldri]

38. Formerly known as Radio Moscow.

Voice of the USSR. As truthful as Pravda was in Soviet times. When USSR fell, became Voice of Russia, then later on wrapped up into Sputnik media.

[left-of-center2012]

24. Now Trump will call the U.S. LOSERS! n/t

[kaotikross]

25. Look at the bright side!

Trump's already blowing Putin, maybe that'll be enough so we aren't targeted.

[Snackshack]

27. 66x the speed of sound...

Speed of sound is ~767mph.

66x767= 50,622...that's bookin!

6x767=4,602...still fast if true.

Dubious article at best.

[Mad_Mongol]

28. Bad math, worse sensationalism

The article's author is math challenged. Zircon is claimed 6.6 times the speed of sound NOT 66 times. In addition the Russians are 3rd in the testing of hypersonic missile technology.

Here's an overview of the US program from 2015: http://carnegieendowment.org/2015/12/08/prompt-global-strike-american-and-foreign-developments-pub-62212 Lockheed Martin has the contract to develop a Mach 20 hyspersonic missile

Also the Chinese tested their Mach 10 hyper glide vehicle last year: http://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-successfully-tests-hypersonic-missile/

These bad boys are being developed as each of the three nations are fielding advanced anti-air missile systems that have ABM capability. (US : THAAD, RSU: S-500/ PROMETHEUS, PRC: HQ-26/SC-19)

All this indicates is how strategically unstable missile defense systems are. As they threaten other nations second (retaliatory) strike options.

[politicat]

35. Note to self: Harriet Marsden can't do math, has reading comprehension issues.

Works for the Independent, so not surprising.

The speed of sound is nowhere near 70 mph, which is 1/66th of 4600. If it were, living near a freeway would mean no glass, ever, and we'd have much better noise cancelling technology, and we probably would never have invented recorded music, because our hearing would be way too sensitive to bear it.

2nd, it's a proof of concept, per the original article: http://www.dw.com/en/russias-hypersonic-missile-ratchets-up-arms-race/a-38189763

Which means it's nowhere near production, is probably just Russian fearmongering and braggartry, and is several years away. That pesky inverse square law is going to bite this in the development ass.

3rd: The Independent is now on my soft, squishy propaganda list. They were always a tabloid, but they lie and expect their readers to let them get away with it.

When in doubt, check the arms control wonks.

[GeorgeGist]

39. 66 x 760 mph 303,600 mph

Author's math is very bad.

[Progressive dog]

41. I missed that, Thanks

[Progressive dog]

40. I guess we should be terrified of Putin now

and let him run our elections for us. The Chinese are working on these too.

[vkkv]

44. Russia "claims".......

[ucrdem]

46. ...on Sputnkik.

Must be true.

[ucrdem]

45. "the missile system, known as Zircon"

. . . like the fake diamonds.

[BeyondGeography]

51. Sounds like yet another big quality-of-life improvement in Putin's Russia

[Sculpin Beauregard]

52. Oh, what utter bullshit.

[Sunlei]

53. personally I find those swarm drones really scary, good thing they're just used to replace fireworks

Or just lasers from the sky and blind everyone.

Or get a couple tons of concrete in space & "fake asteroid" bombardment in another ice age.

[DetlefK]

54. Fantastic. That means that Russia is now okay with Japan and SK getting missile shields?

And don't forget Poland and Romania. NATO can now install the missile-shield over there because it no longer affects Russia. Thanks for getting that out of the way, Putin.

[Freethinker65]

55. Welcome to the MIC money pit

Ugh

[MineralMan]

56. They appear to have corrected the math error at that link.

Typo.