The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is one of the newer ballistic missiles in the Russian arsenal. It entered service in 2017, but already has been used extensively against Ukraine. The party trick of Kinzhal is that it is hypersonic – its max speed reaches Mach 10, which makes it incredibly difficult to take down.
MiG-31 with one Kinzhal missile. Image credit: Mil.ru via Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)
In fact, for years Russia bragged that its Kinzhal missiles are virtually non-interceptable for NATO air defence systems. Russia claimed that they are simply too fast – hypersonic speeds allow them to enter the air defence zone so quickly that there is simply no time for air defence missiles to take off and meet Kinzhals. This is a scary thought, particularly having in mind that Kinzhal can carry a low yield nuclear warhead between 5 and 50 kt. However, at the beginning it appeared to be true – the U.S. defence officials conceded that NATO’s radar architectures are insufficient to detect and track hypersonic weapons.
Truth be told, tactical nuclear weapons have never been used in battle. Pretty much all Kinzhal missiles are armed with conventional high explosive warheads. They are still extremely dangerous. The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is a ballistic missile – it should follow a ballistic trajectory, which is already difficult for most air defence systems to intercept. They are also air-launched, from such platforms as The MiG-31BM/K and Tu-22M3M. One Kinzhal missile weighs around 4.3 tonnes and reportedly has a range of less than 500 km (more than four times that, including the carrier aircraft).
However, the war in Ukraine showed that the Kinzhal is not indestructible – Patriot air defence missile systems can intercept it and do so regularly. Russia will not admit that, there are sceptics who are doubting these reports, but that is what was reported numerous times.
Some Kinzhal missiles – after interception or not – simply do not explode. For example, on January 5 sappers in Kyiv city had to remove an unexploded Kinzhal warhead from soft sandy soil.
Warhead of a hypersonic missile Kinzhal being removed from soft soil in Kyiv. Image credit: Dsns.gov.ua via Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)
According to the Ukrainian military, Russia launched 10 Kinzhal missiles during their mass attack on Ukraine on January 2nd. It was reported that all of these missiles were shot down, but who knows – maybe that warhead remained intact. The good thing is that without its hypersonic body it is not that special.
The conventional warhead in the Kinzhal missile is not any more dangerous than other munitions of that size. This makes their removal and disposal a relatively routine procedure.
Kh-47M2 Kinzhal has a conventional warhead, despite its hypersonic nature. Image credit: Dsns.gov.ua via Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)
The cost of a Kinzhal missile is unknown. It should be between 10-15 million dollars per unit, but some sources put that estimate much higher.
Written by Povilas M.
Sources: State Emergency Service of Ukraine, Wikipedia