Russia increases production of the Kinzhal hypersonic missile

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 Feb 2023 15:44

Russia's Rostec State Corporation CEO Sergey Chemezov announces that dagger hypersonic missile production will scale up.

Russia's Rostec State Corporation CEO Sergey Chemezov. (AFP)

The head of Russia's Rostec State Corporation, Sergey Chemezov, announced Sunday that the company had once again increased the production of Kinzhal missiles, also known as Dagger.

Dagger is a hypersonic missile that has a speed of Mach 10 and the ability to maneuver in flight, which makes it a difficult target to enemy air and missile defense systems.

Chemezov said, "such a large quantity of this weapon was not required" but despite that, the Kinzhal's production increased since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

On the topic, Russian Lieutenant-General Sergey Kobylash said that Daggers "had repeatedly been used to destroy ground targets" of the Ukrainian forces, while the head of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, revealed that the Ukrainian air defense systems have failed to intercept their missiles.

It is worth noting that the Kinzhal missiles were used in combat for the first time during the Ukrainian war.

Russia's use of the Kinzhal missile a "head-scratcher" for Pentagon

A US military official said, in March 2022, the Russians' use of the Kinzhal hypersonic missile was a head-scratcher.

“It’s a bit of a head-scratcher ... Why you would need a hypersonic missile fired from not that far away to hit a building?” the official said.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies said in its February 2022 report that “defending against hypersonic missiles is strategically necessary, technologically possible, and fiscally affordable, but it will not be easy.”