End of the INF Treaty, Continuation… As we had envisaged yesterday, Russia will develop in a very short time a hypersonic ground version of the Kalibr naval cruise missile. This is in essence the statement made by the Minister of Defense, Sergei Choigou, who announced that the new missile would be developed over the period 2019-2020.
Note, however, that the Kalibr missile, today, is not hypersonic. The missile, whose range varies from 300 to 2500 km depending on the version, has a subsonic cruising speed, and a supersonic speed in the terminal phase. The term “hypersonic cruise missile” is therefore very probably a misnomer, the missile not having the capacity to maintain supersonic speed throughout the duration of the flight.
If it is possible to increase the terminal speed beyond mach 5 (hypersonic threshold), the increase in flight speed would cause a very significant reduction in range, as well as numerous problems concerning navigation and control of the aircraft. missile.
Note that France, which has the MdCN naval cruise missile, could also, in a relatively short time, design a version deployed from a land launcher. On the other hand, unlike the Kalibr, the MdCN is not designed to be able to carry a nuclear charge if necessary, this component being reserved for the ASMPA missile deployed by the Rafales of the Air Force, and by the M53 missiles deployed by the Navy's SSBNs.