A super
holding will be established on the basis of the group of companies Tactical
Missiles and Military-Industrial Corporation (NPO Mashinostroyenia). The new
organization will operate in the field of hypersonic technologies and their
development, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said. Russia thus tries to
keep up with the West, where supersonic missiles will form the basis of strike
and missile defense systems.
As the
official said, this issue had been discussed for almost six months. "In
the first stage, it goes about the creation of a big superholding on the base
of Tactical Missiles and the Military-Industrial Corporation," said
Rogozin.
Tactical
Missiles Corporation was created in 2002 on the basis of Zvezda-Strela federal
state unitary enterprise. The corporation includes a number of companies that
produce highly efficient missiles, guided bombs and air, land and sea-based
arms systems.
"We
found an acceptable solution, as to how the superholding will be created.
"The project of the decision contains the basic idea - the hypersonic
technology," said the official.
Russia
is inferior to America in the field of the development of hypersonic
technologies. The Pentagon generously spends money on the program of the
development of hypersonic aircraft. During the past ten years, the Pentagon has
spent about $2 billion on the program.
During
the Soviet era, our country had its own experience in this area. In particular,
similar technologies were used in the creation of experimental hypersonic
aircraft, the X-90, that became known in the West as AS-19 Koala.
Russian
engineers worked hard to create supersonic missiles in the mid-1970s. The work
was supposed to be completed in the early 1980s. The first hypersonic missile
was supposed to be passed into service in 1983. In 1980, according to reports,
the prototype of X-90 reached a record speed of 4.3 M (M stands for Mach number
that represents the speed of an object moving through air or other fluid
divided by the local speed of sound). There is no doubt that Soviet engineers
could achieve success and total superiority in the field over the potential
enemy, the United States.
"The
decision of the top political leadership of the country at the end of the
1980s, when most advanced developments in hypersonic technology were
artificially stopped, was nothing than treason," said Dmitry Rogozin.
Over
this period, the Americans eliminated the long-standing gap, which could become
possible with the help of Soviet developments that migrated overseas. The
Americans have already built hypersonic vehicles. Last week, the U.S. tested
X-51 WaveRider hypersonic missile, which, as reported by the media, was
unsuccessful. However, the missile is capable of reaching the speed of nearly
7,000 kilometers per hour, which is six times the speed of sound. The
appearance of such systems in the modern army may considerably change the existing
missile parity.
Russia
officially returned to this topic in 2009, when the Defense Ministry ordered to
resume research works to develop hypersonic arms systems. Now, according to
Rogozin, the Russian defense industry must "cut corners" to reach the
technological level the USA has already achieved.
In
organizational terms, Rogozin believes, one should establish "super for
hyper" - a superholding for hypersonic arms. Judging by the announced
plans, Russia's scientific potential for breakthrough in this area is not
enough. In addition to the Military-Industrial Corporation and Tactical
Missiles, the project may get Indian design bureaus involved that already have
working experience with Russia as part of the Brahmos project.
"It's
not only the integration of brains and the industrial potential. In the future,
we will need to think about the test site ... We believe that with the help of
this association, rather than takeover, we can accelerate the work in the field
of hyper sound," Deputy Prime Minister said about the plans for the
superholding.
As
usual, scientific discoveries in the field of defense can then be transferred
to civil technologies. In early September, the head of Tactical Missiles
Corporation, Boris Obnosov, told
reporters that the development of hypersonic technologies will contribute to
the discovery of new technologies, including new types of fuel. According to
him, hypersound is "very well related to aerodynamics, engine-building,
avionics."
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