You’ve maybe heard of Putin firing ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear weapons, but aren’t delivering actual nuclear blasts, yet. I first thought his purpose could be to use up missiles that had their old and stale nukes removed and replaced, possibly making his enemy worry about whether they should send extremely expensive defensive missiles to intercept every “possibly nuclear” ballistic missile.
That may still be true, but Putin now seems to have even more options with those medium range (e.g. 500 mile) ballistic missiles. His attack on Ukraine about a week ago sent 36 new, supersonic and/or hypersonic “kinetic” missiles. They were sent via six ballistic missiles, each containing six “MIRVed” missiles, hitting their targets at mach 11 or higher.
I think mach 11 is over seven thousand miles per hour. They’re coming in so hot from air friction at that speed, that videos show them lighting up the sky before they hit. They are impossible to intercept. You can see them hitting their target six at once, in six different groups (i.e. from six ballistic missiles that reached space).
Two videos, below, the first being only 3-1/2 minutes long and giving an overview, while the second one is about 7-1/2 minutes and going into deeper detail about the tech, science, and impact.
Russia is militarily and financially struggling to defeat its much smaller, weaker neighbor. They are using the same WW2 strategy as the USSR did in WWII; drown them in your own blood. These missiles might cost as much as the damage they do, so this is another bargaining chip should Trump manage to bring his buddy, Putin to the table. Putin needs a way out of this to stay alive now that Russia is having inflation. The rate that they are gaining ground is not sustainable given their huge losses. Their performance in The Black Sea against a country with no navy is an indication of what the outcome would be if they tangled with NATO.
_Robert_ 4 months, 2 weeks ago.
