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Russia-Ukraine War - News and Developments

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Russian cosmonauts board ISS wearing colours of Ukraine flag​



Wasn't the head of Cosmonauts talk about how they are going to strand the sole American on ISS or have it "Crashed" down on US, India and China?
Coincidence or are they signaling some kind of defection or rebellion amongst the Space program of Russia?
 
Chinese spokesman mocks Europe and US : You Europeans should use your brain to think, US is excited about Nato expansion but gets no guts to fight in Ukraine, did you forget that actually US was the first country to get all their people out of Ukraine..
 
Russian military says they fired hypersonic missiles against Ukraine as reported by Al Jazeera and video of a spokesman of the Russian MOD
Sorry, but I do not buy it. I watched that other vid but I do not buy it.

For starter, at the speed and altitude that video showed, that is subsonic or at best just over Mach 1. Current hypersonic philosophy does not have the missile slow down for any reason. You go fast and stay fast until impact.

Second, you develop a new weapon when the enemy have something that you cannot reach with your current weapons. Not only that, if you have that new weapon, you still do not use it just for the sake of using it or even to frighten the enemy.

Basically, what enemy of Russia have assets that Russia's current weapons cannot reach? The US. Russian subs have US subs. Russian aviation have US aviation. Russian surface warfare ships have US surface warfare ships. Russian ballistic missiles have US THAAD and Patriot. In other words, speed is the only thing the US, and everyone else for that matter, have a difficult time to counter. There is nothing in Ukraine that the Russian military cannot reach with their current weapons. Russia and China hypersonic weapons are for US, not for smaller neighbor states.

But let us say that what Russia claimed is true, that Russia used hypersonic weapons against Ukraine. What does that say about the Ukraine situation? That the Russian military failed. Am USAF and I have been generous to the VKS beyond reason, but I have my limits. The VKS -- sucks. Russian ground troops can no longer count on air support. So Russia had to use their latest/greatest weapon to destroy some Ukrainian artillery? Or airfield? Or fuel depot? What?

Kyiv is 12 hrs drive from Moscow or about 900 km. But did that hypersonic missile launched from Moscow or from the Russia-Ukraine border which is 300 km? Mach 5 is about 3800 mph or 6800 kph. What kind of threat to Russia does Ukraine (Kyiv) have that must be destroyed in 2 min 30 s ? Forget about Kyiv. What does Ukraine have and where that must be destroyed in 5-7 minutes? Am not saying that hypersonic missile cannot be used. Am asking why? Can I use a grenade to kill a housefly? Absolutely. But why? Unless it one gigantic mutant housefly.
 
Maybe that footage wasn't showing a Kinzhal. Maybe it was.

In any case Russia says they have used Kinzhal.

Kinzhal itself is like an air launched Iskander missile. It's hypersonic in that pretty much all ballistic missiles are hypersonic at some point. So Russia has used hypersonic missiles in this war as soon as it fired its first SRBM on the first day of war.

Russia has not used HGV missiles as far as we know or they have mentioned. Russia may not have any HGV missiles at all. They have Zircon which may or may not be HGV but is a hypersonic missile probably scramjet powered.

They have Avangard which is for ICBMs if I am correct. Avangard is likely a HGV type weapon.

Hopefully no use of HGV since both would mean NATO has become active part of the war equation.
Zircon is the Hypersonic Cruise missile we are probably think about, because as you said, all Ballistic missiles are hypersonic missiles, it the maneuverability everyone is interested in.
 
I would say 5 dead russian generals, 14.000 dead russian underlings and extreme high loss of material is quite good action. So much damage and we are not even involved yet. Just send in weapons.
English: When did Russia say that it will concur Ukraine in 48 hours?

German: Wann hat Russland gesagt, dass es der Ukraine in 48 Stunden zustimmen wird?

Greek: Πότε είπε η Ρωσία ότι θα συμφωνήσει με την Ουκρανία σε 48 ώρες;
 
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Russia have used following missiles to engage various targets in Ukraine.

3M14 Kalibr LACM
Iskander-K LACM (Hypersonic)
Kh-101 ALCM
Iskander-M SRBM (Hypersonic)
Tochka-U SRBM

LACM = Land Attack Cruise Missile
ALCM = Air Launched Cruise Missile
SRBM = Short Range Ballistic Missile

@FuturePAF
@jhungary
I should clarify.

I am not saying Russia did not use Hypersonic Missile, I am saying with @FuturePAF that particular video that was show does not look fast enough to be a hypersonic missile.

I am pretty sure they have used Iskandar missile. Just doubt that particular video is one.
 
Russia have used following missiles to engage various targets in Ukraine.

3M14 Kalibr LACM
Iskander-K LACM (Hypersonic)
Kh-101 ALCM
Iskander-M SRBM (Hypersonic)
Tochka-U SRBM

LACM = Land Attack Cruise Missile
ALCM = Air Launched Cruise Missile
SRBM = Short Range Ballistic Missile

@FuturePAF
@jhungary
Surprised to find that Russia has used hypersonic weapons on an enemy that does not have advanced missile defence. Why waste this when regular missiles can give better bang for buck? :unsure:
 

Beijing: U.S. slanders China over Ukraine crisis to shift blame​

Neither US nor Nato have the guts to go to Ukraine to fight, Ukraine is bascially left all to itself. as US and Nato as useless cheerleaders

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Maybe that footage wasn't showing a Kinzhal. Maybe it was. Like you said, we don't know and it doesn't seem like mach 5+ missile but its not a Kalibr and the plasma/fireball doesn't seem like Tochka or Iskander.

In any case Russia says they have used Kinzhal.

Kinzhal itself is like an air launched Iskander missile. It's hypersonic in that pretty much all ballistic missiles are hypersonic at some point. So Russia has used hypersonic missiles in this war as soon as it fired its first SRBM on the first day of war.

Russia has not used HGV missiles as far as we know or they have mentioned. Russia may not have any HGV missiles at all. They have Zircon which may or may not be HGV but is a hypersonic missile probably scramjet powered.

They have Avangard which is for ICBMs if I am correct. Avangard is likely a HGV type weapon.

Hopefully no use of HGV since both would mean NATO has become active part of the war equation.
As I have already said.

That particular video does not looks like a hypersonic missile, the speed, the entry profile both looks like a cruise missile.

Now I believe they have use Iskandar tactical missile (Which is hypersonic), I am not inclined to believe they have used Kinzhal, because you would expect US intelligence will jump up and down on it. Also I doubt there are target in Ukraine that worth the use of Kinzhal.
 
Surprised to find that Russia has used hypersonic weapons on an enemy that does not have advanced missile defence. Why waste this when regular missiles can give better bang for buck? :unsure:

It is odd. Russian are outgunning Ukraine.

I guess if they indeed used some Kinzhals, it would be to just test the weapon in real combat.
 
As I have already said.

That particular video does not looks like a hypersonic missile, the speed, the entry profile both looks like a cruise missile.

Which cruise missile has that sort of fireball and honestly it is clearly supersonic. We don't know how high it's flying to really judge but even assuming low altitude, that object is beyond supersonic.

It's not a Kalibr, it's trajectory isn't a ballistic missile (ground launched). It could actually indeed be a footage of Kinzhal.

Indeed it's strange to use any higher tier weapon which Kinzhal isn't that much of since Russia has been using Iskander which is more expensive than Kinzhal but maybe not as resource intensive due to Kinzhal requiring Mig-31 sortie.

Now I believe they have use Iskandar tactical missile (Which is hypersonic), I am not inclined to believe they have used Kinzhal, because you would expect US intelligence will jump up and down on it. Also I doubt there are target in Ukraine that worth the use of Kinzhal.

Kinzhal is basically Iskander but air launched. Kinzhal is not that high of a weapon. They have been using Iskander SRBM since day 1.

Now maybe they are using Kinzhal because Iskander reserves are getting lowered through use and they want to avoid totally depleting them. Maybe they just want to fire a few Kinzhals to test them in real combat. Who knows. It's certainly not a logic of "this weapon is too much like shooting mosquito with cannon so it cannot have been used."

Since it's not impossible they used Kinzhal which is itself not that top secret of a weapon at all and simply an air launched Iskander without that initial booster. Also the footage shows a pretty much straight line horizontal path which means it's is unlikely to be SRBM or much less likely to be MRBM or IRBM, and the fireball or plasma surrounding it indicates lower in the atmosphere (my assumption) and in any case shows it is not Kalibr unless it is boost phase but subsonic LACM are much slower than this... watching the other Kalibr missile video shows this thing is if on similar altitude, much faster than Kalibr. If this thing is flying much higher, it could be mach 3+. Russia says Kinzhal is hypersonic (mach 5+) but there is absolutely every chance in some cases, it flies lower than mach 5. Again it is a air launched SRBM without the rocket booster. Its speed is quite fluid depending on what altitude, trajectory, what phase of rocket boost and how long its been accelerating, what speed the Mig-31 drops it at etc.
 
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Which cruise missile has that sort of fireball and honestly it is clearly supersonic. We don't know how high it's flying to really judge but even assuming low altitude, that object is beyond supersonic.

It's not a Kalibr, it's trajectory isn't a ballistic missile (ground launched). It could actually indeed be a footage of Kinzhal.

Indeed it's strange to use any higher tier weapon which Kinzhal isn't that much of since Russia has been using Iskander which is more expensive than Kinzhal but maybe not as resource intensive due to Kinzhal requiring Mig-31 sortie.
Well, I will say I am surprise with the fireball too. But then you probably will not burn out with speed like that, you can see the relative speed.

As for profile, we know it is close to the ground (as you can see the skyline) So...

As I said, I don't know.
 
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