Russia to get Frigates with Hypersonic Weapons by 2025-26

The Russian Navy is going to get two Project 22350 frigates – Admiral Yumashev and Admiral Spiridonov – equipped with hypersonic weapons by 2025-26. The ships are being built by the United Shipbuilding Corporation of Russia.

These two proposed frigates were laid down in St Petersburg on July 20 and during the official ceremony itself, it was announced the frigates would contain hypersonic weapons. The construction of the frigates will last for around four and a half years and the completion of the project is expected in 2025-2026.

Hypersonic Weapons

These are the weapons that can travel more than five times the speed of sound or around one mile per second. They can be of two types – the hypersonic cruise missiles are powered by rockets and jets throughout their flight and they are simply faster versions of the existing cruise missiles whereas the hypersonic boost-glide weapons are launched into the upper atmosphere in the normal fashion atop existing ballistic missiles and then release hypersonic glide vehicles which fly lower, faster and more unpredictably to an adversary.

The US has also recently tested hypersonic missiles that are around 17 times faster than sound and it is expected that they will also induct such missiles within a span of the next four years.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2020