On the occasion of the new year, the Russian army launched an unprecedented large-scale air strike, investing a total of up to $1.2 billion worth of advanced missiles and drones to carry out a fierce attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. A variety of missiles were used in the attack, including the hypersonic Dagger, Iskander ballistic missiles, Kh-22 and Kh-32 cruise missiles, Kh-101 stealth cruise missiles, as well as S-300 surface-to-surface missiles and Geran-2 cruise missiles. These missiles are not only extremely fast, but also highly maneuverable and difficult to attack routes.
Among these advanced, the unit price of the Dagger hypersonic missile is as high as $10 million, and the ** of the X-101 cruise missile is even more than $13 million. In addition, the Shahed-136 131 type drones range from $2 to $50,000, and these drones are playing an increasingly important role in modern warfare.
According to a report by the Russian satellite network, an adviser to the command of the Ukrainian Air Force, Ignat, revealed that since the outbreak of the conflict, the most breakthrough missile of the Russian army is the Kh-22 cruise missile. It is reported that the Russian army has launched more than 300 KH-22 missiles, and a variety of Western air defense systems on the Ukrainian side have failed to intercept them once, so the Russian army has set an astonishing record of 300:0.
The Kh-22 cruise missile was originally a large long-range anti-ship missile designed during the Soviet era, and its huge warhead was designed to deal with the US military's carrier battle group. Russia has comprehensively upgraded this missile in recent years, improving its guidance and power systems, installing radar guidance probes and GLONASS satellite navigation systems, and even using inertial navigation, it is capable of automatically searching for targets. This missile can effectively perform its tasks even with powerful electronic interference. In addition, its firing range has been increased to 1000 km.
The Tu-22 bomber is the main carrier of the launch of the Kh-22 missile. When the bomber releases the Kh-22 missile, the missile will dive towards the target from an altitude of up to 40,000 meters, carrying a 900-kilogram shaped blasting warhead to hit the target directly. This giant missile, which weighs 6 tons, has a cruising speed of up to 35 times the speed of sound, and the final penetration speed is as high as 46 times the speed of sound, which means that it can dive vertically from high altitudes at a speed of about 5,000 kilometers per hour and hit the target directly.
Western air defense systems deployed in Kyiv, including ASAMS, Starlight anti-aircraft missiles and IRIS-T anti-aircraft missiles, and even American Patriot air defense systems, have failed to intercept these missiles. This fact proves that in real combat, the Kh-22 cruise missiles of the Russian army have demonstrated their ability to break through most of NATO's air defense systems.
In the face of such advanced Kh-22 cruise missiles, the defense capabilities of the US aircraft carrier battle group were severely tested. The Tu-22M3 "Backfire" bombers usually carried by US aircraft carriers are capable of carrying up to three Kh-22 missiles, and the formation of multiple such bombers is capable of launching intensive high-speed missile attacks. Even the Patriot missile system, which the U.S. military prides itself on, is powerless to defend against such an attack. The U.S. Standard-2 missile system also faces serious challenges. For Ukraine, even if it is unable to intercept the Kh-22 missile, at most it will suffer the loss of power stations or military bases, but for the US aircraft carrier, once it is hit, the consequences will be unimaginable.
But why are US aircraft carriers so afraid of high-speed missiles?Now, both the United States and Russia understand a truth: if American-made air defense systems cannot effectively intercept the Kh-22 cruise missile, then this missile can also threaten the aircraft carriers of the US military. There is a key flaw in the shipborne radar system, which is the difficulty of detecting targets from the overhead direction. Since the Kh-22 cruise missile is in the air and dives towards the target at high speed from a height of up to 40,000 meters, most radar systems cannot detect and react in time.
Although the United States has the most advanced missile defense systems in the world, these systems are primarily designed to counter conventional ballistic missiles. The U.S. military's anti-missile system usually uses infrared reconnaissance technology to track and locate the missile's flight trajectory, and then calculates the missile's landing point for interception. However, for high-speed missiles and hypersonic missiles, their flight trajectories are highly uncertain, as they can change speed and direction during flight, as if they were moving in waves. This makes it extremely difficult to ** and intercept their trajectories.
"Only fast and not broken" is a wise saying in martial arts, and it is also applicable to modern missile technology. Imagine a missile traveling at 1,720 meters per second, or a faster 10 times sonic hypersonic missile traveling 3,400 meters per second. Even if the defense system is given 20 seconds to react, they will hardly be able to effectively intercept such a missile. Especially when the missile dives down almost vertically from the top of the head, the difficulty of defense is multiplied.
In addition, another reason for the increasing range of high-speed missiles and hypersonic missiles is not just to increase the strike range. What's more, such missiles can be deployed from the rear, allowing them to strike deeper against land targets. This means that no matter how powerful the US military's anti-missile system is, it will not be able to effectively intercept the missile in the initial stage. At the same time, such tactics can also thwart the enemy's preemptive tactics and effectively strike at the enemy's front-line missile launch systems.
Using the capabilities of high-speed missiles and hypersonic missiles, Russia has established a new anti-carrier saturation missile strike tactic, known as "2Version 0". This tactic is far more powerful than ever before, and it has already posed a substantial threat to the US aircraft carrier group. In modern warfare, aircraft carriers are no longer a symbol of invincibility, they face serious challenges from high-speed missiles.
In response to Soviet-era missile saturation strike tactics, the United States once developed the Aegis system, a highly sophisticated and advanced missile defense system. However, in today's war environment, the Aegis system faces new challenges. Russia's hypersonic anti-ship missiles, as well as similar ones being developed by other countries, are gradually exposing holes in the "iron wall" defense system built by the United States for aircraft carriers.
The terminal supersonic penetration missile has proven its worth on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield. Not only are they effective in breaking through enemy defenses, but they can also accurately hit targets when the enemy is barely able to react. The appearance of this missile marks a huge leap in speed and accuracy in missile technology, and has brought new changes to modern warfare.
These Russian hypersonic missiles are not only technologically superior, but also show great tactical flexibility. They are capable of firing quickly from different directions and heights, making it difficult for the enemy to ** and intercept. This instability, combined with the high speed and high explosive power of missiles, makes them extremely lethal in modern warfare.
The emergence of this new type of missile technology has forced countries around the world to re-examine and readjust their military strategies and defense systems. Traditional anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, in the face of this new type of high-speed **, appear to be less and less able to deal with the threat. As a result, the global military power is in the midst of a new arms race, and every country is seeking to develop more advanced systems to maintain a competitive advantage in a rapidly changing war environment.