Little known, Russian Naval Aeronautics has more than significant air resources. In addition to the twenty Mig-29Ks and as many Su-33s capable of being deployed from the Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, its fighter fleet also consists of around twenty Su-30SMs, as many Su-27s and Su-24M attack aircraft deployed from land bases to protect Russian waters. Above all, it lines up 32 interceptors MIG-31 which carry out interception missions near the country's naval bases. But this mission will soon be extended, since according to the Tass Agency, the Russian Navy is preparing to put into service two regiments of Mig-31K, the specially modified version of the interceptor to implement the 9-S-7760 Kinzhal hypersonic missile.
Already in service with the Russian Air Force, the Mig-31K / 9-S-7760 pair gave the start of the hypersonic missile race from 2018, when Vladimir Putin publicly announced the existence of the missile. The Mig-31K is a Mig-31 adapted to launch the 9-S-7760 missile at high altitude (12 to 14 km) and at high speed (beyond Mach 1), giving the missile a range greater than 2000 km, a hypersonic speed greater than Mach 6, and a “complex” trajectory making it almost impossible to intercept by current Western anti-missile systems. This weapon system gives the Russian Air Force the ability to strike the majority of NATO sensitive sites (headquarters, command centers, communication nodes, radar stations, etc.) in Europe without even having to leave the anti-aircraft protection bubble of Russian airspace.
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