Russia’s Burevestnik super-missile unsuitable for war
Although numerous sources claim that Russia’s Burevestnik hypersonic nuclear-powered cruise missile will be adopted into the armament within the next 5-6 years, some Russian news outlets believe the missile will be completely unsuitable for warfare.
“As soon as the Burevestnik is spotted approaching the target, it will be relatively easy to shoot down, because according to current estimates, the missile has a subsonic flight speed. If there is an interceptor aircraft in the air, under favorable circumstances it could shoot down the Burevestnik with a salvo from its on-board guns, like in a training target. Neither can we rule out the possibility of accidental detection of the missile in flight by some kind of missile frigate or aircraft that finds itself in the right place, or by an active anti-air system,” writes the Military Review.
In the author’s opinion, the Burevestnik assumes that the enemy will be stupid and wait until the missile strikes.
“Betting that the enemy will be hopelessly stupid, in my opinion, is exclusively unreliable in principle, and developing a complex and long-term type of weapon according to such a tactic is hard to call anything but recklessness. The entire tactical application of a new type of weapon should take into account an intelligent enemy and all possible countermeasures at his disposal,” the article states.
It is not known how objective this opinion is. Other sources believe that the 9M730 missile has a hypersonic flight speed, which would make it significantly harder to detect and to destroy.