Russia's hypersonic weapon faces production problems

[midian182]

In brief: The hypersonic weapon being built by Russia has run into production troubles. The Avangard glide vehicle, which can travel at more than 20 times the speed of sound, requires a new source of carbon fiber as the country’s current supply of the material cannot withstand the extreme temperatures of hypersonic flight.

Back in March last year, Russian president Vladimir Putin made a speech in which he unveiled several new weapons under development. One of these was the Avangard hypersonic boost-glide weapon, which can penetrate US missile defenses while carrying a nuclear warhead.

Putin said the device had already entered serial production, but CNBC learned in October that the Kremlin was looking for another carbon fiber material due to the current supply’s shortcomings. According to the latest report, it still hasn’t been able to find an alternative.

"It's expected that they will make no more than 60 of these hypersonic weapons because it's just proving to be too expensive to develop," an anonymous official told the publication.

As Russia has prioritized the Avangard program, it’s set to achieve operational capacity by next year, according to people with direct knowledge of the US intelligence report. The system has been successfully tested twice, though a third test failed when it crashed before hitting a target.

As noted by Engadget, Russia hopes to build 12 of the weapons by 2027, so it will be a long time before it can make 60. The US, meanwhile, hopes to have its own hypersonic missiles by 2023.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/80759-russian-hypersonic-weapon-faces-production-problems.html

 

[captaincranky]

Thermonuclear (hydrogen) weapons can have yields in excess of a megaton, nothing like the comparative firecracker we dropped on Hiroshima.

So let's say the US and Russia reach parity of 60 these type weapons each, and then discharge them at one another

I say, wouldn't it be a delight to watch from a moon colony, as the earth is cleansed of mankind, and sets about refreshing, renewing, and repopulating itself...

Here's an anthem for the apocalypse.........

 

[Udelh579]

I say, wouldn't it be a delight to watch from a moon colony, as the earth is cleansed of mankind, and sets about refreshing, renewing, and repopulating itself...

Here's an anthem for the apocalypse.........

Sadly, I think we’ll be watching it from the front row.

 

[stewi0001]

Reminds me of this old flash video (rated immature for language) :

 

[captaincranky]

Sadly, I think we’ll be watching it from the front row.

Oh well, look on the bright side, the seats will be a hell of lot cheaper than those in the front row of a Super Bowl...

 

[Icechip]

Which can penetrate US missile defenses-- Thats why there are lasers

 

[captaincranky]

Which can penetrate US missile defenses-- Thats why there are lasers

Do you know what an "MX missile" is?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-118_Peacekeeper It's why you might need ten lasers, for every single vehicle launch.

 

[Uncle Al]

It's uncanny ..... every year or two the Russian's make huge claims of advanced military systems but they inevitably fall far short of the claims and the programs are often cancelled. They started this immediately after exploding their first nuclear bomb, in fact they completely fooled the American press into thinking they had thousands of missiles when in fact they took the handful they had (all but one was a mock up) and drove them around the block for several hours during their big May Day parade. That effectively started the competition between the US and Russia and our first "Cold War". Since that time there have been more competitive challenges, a host of dirty tricks, and endless oneupsmanship endeavors on both sides. One can only imagine if all the money spent had been invested in R&D of disease, feeding the hungry, and investing in 3rd world countries how much better off the world might be today. Imagine how much lower your tax bill would be!

 

[captaincranky]

..../[ ]... One can only imagine if all the money spent had been invested in R&D of disease, feeding the hungry, and investing in 3rd world countries how much better off the world might be today. Imagine how much lower your tax bill would be!

Yeah just think, if we had cured all the poverty, starvation , and diseases in the world, we might be up to ten billion of us by now.

 

[Danny101]

During the Cold War, we were frantically trying to out weaponize the Russian bear. Only for it to come to light that overestimated their capabilities.The only leverage the U.S. has is having control of the world's reserve currency and can go into as much debt as it wants to finance whatever weapon system imagine. Still risky though.