Russia’s Black Sea and Northern Fleets held joint drills in the Black Sea during which they practiced the launch of the Kalibr cruise missiles and the hypersonic air-launched ballistic missile Kinzhal, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
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More than 30 ships, 40 aircraft and one submarine were involved in the exercises, TASS reported.
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“The drills have been held successfully,” Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, reported to Putin.
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Two MIG-31K fighters practiced target-firing using the Kinzhal ballistic missile and crews of the Admiral Grigorovich frigate, small missile ship Orekhovo-Zuyevo and submarine Kolpino tested the launch of the Kalibr missiles.
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Putin watched the launches from aboard the Marshal Ustinov missile cruiser.
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Hypersonic is generally defined as a speed of Mach 5, or over 3,836 mph. The missiles fly into space after launch, but then come down and fly at high speeds on a flight path similar to that of an airplane. Their lower trajectory make them more difficult for US missile defense satellites and radars to detect.
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In late December the Russian leader boasted of his country’s “unique” advances in hypersonic weaponry, saying other countries were “trying to catch up with us.”
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Putin added that “not a single country possesses hypersonic weapons, let alone continental-range hypersonic weapons.”
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A new hypersonic missile system known as Avangard entered service December 27, the country’s state media reported.
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