Russian developers plan to increase the speed of the Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic missiles to more than Mach 10, or 7,600 miles per hour, Russian Deputy Defence Minister Aleksey Krivoruchko said. “Hypersonic weapons prototypes are created to use them with both air [Kinzhal system], and land and sea carriers [Zircon]. The development of crucial technologies that provide an increase in flight speed — to more than Mach 10 — range, and precision pointing continues,” the deputy minister told Krasnaya Zvezda, the Russian Defense Ministry’s official newspaper.
Hypesonic weapons can travel faster than sound. Hypersonic speeds start at about Mach 5 or about 3,800 miles per hour. Russia’s Zircon advanced hypersonic missile will have a speed of Mach 9, Putin said in February.
