Russia’s Tu-160 Bombers to Deploy World’s Most Dangerous Hypersonic Air Launched Missiles - Reports

The Russian Defence Ministry is reportedly planning to equip the Air Force’s Tu-160 supersonic strategic bombers with Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles - according to recent reports. A source cited by Russian media outlet TASS stated regarding the development: “the possibility of deploying Kinzhal missiles on Tu-160 aircraft is being considered. The work on this option is due to be completed this year.” This follows reports from an unnamed source in the Russian defense sources cited by TASS in July 2018, which reported plans to test Kinzhal hypersonic missile systems aboard a Tu-22M3 medium bombers - reports which were verified later that year by footage of the bombers deploying the missiles. These reports come as the Russian Air Force moves to more than triple the size of its Tu-160 fleet - with 50 new Tu-160M2 bombers planned and modernisation of existing airframes already underway.

It remains uncertain if a specialised variant of the Kinzhal would need to be developed to be compatible with the bomber’s internal launchers, or whether new launchers would be developed for the missiles. A compact variant of the Kinzhal is currently under development for integration onto the Russian Air Force's Su-57 next generation fighter jets. The original Kinzhal design was unveiled in March 2018 and entered service shortly afterwards, with the ability to target enemy military facilities and warships with high precision at speeds of around Mach ten and ranges of around 2000km. Their combination of speed and high manoeuvrability makes them extremely difficult to intercept - and highly prized as ship hunters. Combined with the endurance of the Tu-160M2, the Kinzhal would allow Russian bombers to seriously threaten enemy warships across almost the entire world. The MiG-31K, a derivative of the MiG-31 Foxhound heavy interceptor, is currently the only platform to deploy these missiles.