The competition for the development of hypersonic speeds by aviation began during the Cold War. In those years, designers and engineers of the USSR, the USA and other developed countries designed new aircraft capable of flying 2-3 times faster than the speed of sound. The race to speed has spawned many discoveries in atmospheric aerodynamics and quickly reached the limits of the physical capabilities of pilots and the cost of manufacturing aircraft. As a result, missile design bureaus were the first to master hypersound in their offspring - intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and launch vehicles. When launching satellites into near-earth orbits, the rockets developed a speed of 18,000 - 25,000 km / h. This far exceeded the limiting parameters of the fastest supersonic aircraft, both civil (Concorde = 2150 km / h, Tu-144 = 2300 km / h) and military (SR-71 = 3540 km / h, MiG-31 = 3000 km / hour).
Separately, I would like to note that when designing the MiG-31 supersonic interceptor, aircraft designer G. E. Lozino-Lozinsky used advanced materials (titanium, molybdenum, etc.) in the airframe design, which allowed the aircraft to reach a record manned flight altitude (MiG-31D) and a maximum speed of 7000 km / h in the upper atmosphere. In 1977, test pilot Alexander Fedotov set an absolute world record for flight altitude - 37650 meters on his predecessor, the MiG-25 (for comparison, the SR-71 had a maximum flight altitude of 25929 meters). Unfortunately, engines for flights at high altitudes in a highly rarefied atmosphere had not yet been created, since these technologies were only being developed in the depths of Soviet research institutes and design bureaus within the framework of numerous experimental works.
A new stage in the development of hypersound technologies was research projects to create aerospace systems that combined the capabilities of aviation (aerobatics and maneuvering, landing on a runway) and spacecraft (entering orbit, orbital flight, orbiting). In the USSR and the USA, these programs were partially worked out, showing the world the space orbital planes "Buran" and "Space Shuttle".
Why partially? The fact is that the launch of the aircraft into orbit was carried out using a launch vehicle. The cost of the withdrawal was enormous, about $ 450 million (under the Space Shuttle program), which was several times higher than the cost of the most expensive civilian and military aircraft, and did not allow making an orbital aircraft a mass product. The need to invest huge amounts of money in the creation of infrastructure that provides ultra-fast intercontinental flights (cosmodromes, flight control centers, fuel filling complexes) has finally buried the prospect of passenger transportation.
The only customer, at least somehow interested in hypersonic vehicles, was the military. True, this interest was of an episodic nature. The military programs of the USSR and the USA for the creation of aerospace aircraft followed different paths. They were most consistently implemented in the USSR: from the project to create a PKA (gliding spacecraft) to MAKS (multipurpose aeronautical space system) and Buran, a consistent and continuous chain of scientific and technical groundwork was built, on the basis of which the foundation of future experimental flights of prototype hypersonic aircraft.
Rocket design bureaus continued to improve their ICBMs. With the advent of modern air defense and missile defense systems capable of shooting down ICBM warheads at a great distance, new requirements began to be imposed on the destructive elements of ballistic missiles. The warheads of the new ICBMs were supposed to overcome the enemy's anti-aircraft and anti-missile defenses. This is how warheads appeared capable of overcoming aerospace defense at hypersonic speeds (M = 5-6).
The development of hypersonic technologies for warheads (warheads) of ICBMs made it possible to start several projects to create defensive and offensive hypersonic weapons - kinetic (railgun), dynamic (cruise missiles) and space (strike from orbit).
The intensification of the geopolitical rivalry between the United States and Russia and China has revived the topic of hypersound as a promising tool capable of providing an advantage in the field of space and missile and aviation weapons. The growing interest in these technologies is also due to the concept of inflicting maximum damage on the enemy with conventional (non-nuclear) means of destruction, which is actually being implemented by the NATO countries led by the United States.
Indeed, if the military command has at least a hundred non-nuclear hypersonic vehicles that easily overcome the existing air defense and missile defense systems, then this "last argument of the kings" directly affects the strategic balance between the nuclear powers. Moreover, a hypersonic missile in the long term can destroy elements of strategic nuclear forces both from the air and from space in no more than an hour from the moment a decision is made to the moment the target is hit. It is this ideology that is embedded in the American military program Prompt Global Strike (quick global strike).
Is such a program feasible in practice? The arguments "for" and "against" were divided approximately equally. Let's figure it out.
American Prompt Global Strike Program
the concept of Prompt Global Strike (PGS) was adopted in the 2000s at the initiative of the command of the US Armed Forces. Its key element is the ability to deliver a non-nuclear strike anywhere in the world within 60 minutes after a decision is made. Work within the framework of this concept is being carried out simultaneously in several directions.
The first direction of PGS, and the most realistic from a technical point of view, was the use of ICBMs with high-precision non-nuclear warheads, including cluster ones, which are equipped with a set of homing submunitions. The Trident II D5 sea-based ICBM was chosen as the development of this direction, delivering submunitions to a maximum range of 11,300 kilometers. At this time, work is underway to reduce the CEP of warheads to values of 60-90 meters.
The second direction of PGS selected strategic hypersonic cruise missiles (SGCR). Within the framework of the adopted concept, the X-51A Waverider (SED-WR) subprogram is being implemented. On the initiative of the US Air Force and the support of DARPA, since 2001, the development of a hypersonic missile has been carried out by Pratt & Whitney and Boeing.
The first result of the ongoing work should be the appearance by 2020 of a technology demonstrator with an installed hypersonic ramjet engine (scramjet engine). According to experts, the SGKR with this engine can have the following parameters: flight speed M = 7-8, maximum flight range 1300-1800 km, flight altitude 10-30 km.
In May 2007, after a detailed review of the progress of work on the X-51A "WaveRider", military customers approved the missile project. The Boeing X-51A WaveRider experimental SGKR is a classic cruise missile with a ventral scramjet engine and a four-cantilever tail unit. The materials and thickness of passive thermal protection were selected in accordance with the calculated estimates of heat fluxes. The rocket nose module is made of tungsten with a silicon coating, which can withstand kinetic heating up to 1500 ° C. On the lower surface of the rocket, where temperatures up to 830 ° C are expected, ceramic tiles developed by Boeing for the Space Shuttle program are used. The X-51A missile must meet high stealth requirements (RCS no more than 0.01 m2). To accelerate the product to a speed corresponding to M = 5, it is planned to install a tandem solid-propellant rocket booster.
It is planned to use US strategic aviation aircraft as the main carrier of the SGKR. There is no information yet about how these missiles will be deployed - under the wing or inside the strategist's fuselage.
The third area of PGS are programs for the creation of systems of kinetic weapons that hit targets from the Earth's orbit. The Americans calculated in detail the results of the combat use of a tungsten rod about 6 meters long and 30 cm in diameter, dropped from orbit and striking a ground object at a speed of about 3500 m / s. According to calculations, an energy equivalent to an explosion of 12 tons of trinitrotoluene (TNT) will be released at the meeting point.
The theoretical foundation gave a start to the projects of two hypersonic vehicles (Falcon HTV-2 and AHW), which will be launched into orbit by launch vehicles and in combat mode will be able to glide in the atmosphere with increasing speed when approaching the target. While these developments are at the stage of preliminary design and experimental launches. The main problematic issues so far remain the basing systems in space (space groupings and combat platforms), high-precision target guidance systems and ensuring the secrecy of launching into orbit (any launch and orbital objects are opened by Russian missile attack warning and space control systems). The Americans hope to solve the stealth problem after 2019, with the commissioning of a reusable aeronautical space system, which will launch a payload into orbit "by airplane" by means of two stages - a carrier aircraft (based on a Boeing 747) and an unmanned space aircraft (based on prototype X-37V).
The fourth direction of PGS is a program to create an unmanned hypersonic reconnaissance aircraft based on the famous Lockheed Martin SR-71 Blackbird.
A division of Lockheed, Skunk Works, is currently developing a promising UAV under the working name SR-72, which should double the maximum speed of the SR-71, reaching values of about M = 6.
The development of a hypersonic reconnaissance aircraft is fully justified. First, the SR-72, due to its colossal speed, will be of little vulnerability to air defense systems. Secondly, it will fill in the "gaps" in the operation of satellites, promptly obtaining strategic information and detecting mobile complexes of ICBMs, ship formations, and enemy forces in the theater of operations.
Two versions of the SR-72 aircraft are being considered - manned and unmanned; it is also possible to use it as a strike bomber, a carrier of high-precision weapons. Most likely, lightweight rockets without a main engine can be used as weapons, since it is not needed when launched at a speed of 6 M. The released weight is likely to be used to increase the power of the warhead. A flight prototype of the aircraft Lockheed Martin plans to show in 2023.
Chinese project of hypersonic aircraft DF-ZF
On April 27, 2016, the American publication "Washington Free Beacon", citing sources in the Pentagon, informed the world about the seventh test of the Chinese hypersonic aircraft DZ-ZF. The aircraft was launched from the Taiyuan cosmodrome (Shanxi province). According to the newspaper, the plane made maneuvers at speeds from 6400 to 11200 km / h, and crashed at a training ground in Western China.
“According to the United States intelligence, the PRC plans to use a hypersonic aircraft as a nuclear warhead capable of penetrating missile defense systems,” the newspaper noted. "The DZ-ZF can also be used as a weapon capable of destroying a target anywhere in the world within an hour."
According to the analysis of the entire series of tests carried out by US intelligence, the launches of the hypersonic aircraft were carried out by short-range ballistic missiles DF-15 and DF-16 (range up to 1000 km), as well as medium-range DF-21 (range 1800 km). Further development of launches on DF-31A ICBMs (range 11,200 km) was not ruled out. According to the test program, the following is known: separating from the carrier in the upper layers of the atmosphere, the cone-shaped apparatus with acceleration glided down and maneuvered along the trajectory of reaching the target.
Despite numerous publications by foreign media that the Chinese hypersonic aircraft (HVA) is designed to destroy American aircraft carriers, Chinese military experts were skeptical about such statements. They pointed to the well-known fact that the supersonic speed of a GLA creates a plasma cloud around the device, which interferes with the operation of the on-board radar when adjusting the course and aiming at a moving target such as an aircraft carrier.
Colonel Shao Yongling, professor at the PLA Missile Forces Command College, told the China Daily, “Its ultra-high speed and range makes it (GLA) an excellent weapon for destroying ground targets. In the future, it can replace intercontinental ballistic missiles."
According to the report of the relevant commission of the US Congress, the DZ-ZF can be adopted by the PLA in 2020, and its improved long-range version by 2025.
Scientific and technical backlog of Russia - hypersonic aircraft
Hypersonic Tu-2000
In the USSR, work on a hypersonic aircraft began at the Tupolev Design Bureau in the mid-1970s, based on the Tu-144 serial passenger aircraft. The study and design of an aircraft capable of reaching speeds up to M = 6 (TU-260) and a flight range of up to 12,000 km, as well as a hypersonic intercontinental aircraft TU-360. Its flight range was supposed to reach 16,000 km. A project was even prepared for a passenger hypersonic aircraft Tu-244, designed to fly at an altitude of 28-32 km at a speed of M = 4.5-5.
In February 1986, R&D began in the USA on the creation of the X-30 spaceplane with an air-jet propulsion system, capable of entering orbit in a single-stage version. The National Aerospace Plane (NASP) project was distinguished by an abundance of new technologies, the key of which was a dual-mode hypersonic ramjet engine, which allows flying at speeds of M = 25. According to information received by Soviet intelligence, the NASP was being developed for civil and military purposes.
The response to the development of the transatmospheric X-30 (NASP) was the USSR government decrees of January 27 and July 19, 1986 on the creation of an equivalent to the American aerospace aircraft (VKS). On September 1, 1986, the Ministry of Defense issued the terms of reference for a single-stage reusable aerospace plane (MVKS). According to this terms of reference, the MVKS was supposed to ensure efficient and economical delivery of cargo to near-earth orbit, high-speed transatmospheric intercontinental transportation, and the solution of military tasks, both in the atmosphere and in near space. Of the works submitted for the competition by Tupolev Design Bureau, Yakovlev Design Bureau and NPO Energia, the Tu-2000 project was approved.
As a result of preliminary studies under the MVKS program, a power plant was selected based on proven and proven solutions. Existing air-jet engines (VRM), which used atmospheric air, had temperature limitations, they were used on aircraft whose speed did not exceed M = 3, and rocket engines had to carry a large supply of fuel on board and were not suitable for prolonged flights in the atmosphere … Therefore, an important decision was made - in order for the aircraft to fly at supersonic speeds and at all altitudes, its engines must have features of both aviation and space technology.
It turned out that the most rational for a hypersonic aircraft is a ramjet engine (ramjet engine), in which there are no rotating parts, in combination with a turbojet engine (turbojet engine) for acceleration. It was assumed that a ramjet engine running on liquid hydrogen is most suitable for flights at hypersonic speeds. A booster engine is a turbojet engine that runs on either kerosene or liquid hydrogen.
As a result, a combination of an economical turbojet engine operating in the speed range M = 0-2.5, the second engine - a ramjet engine, accelerating the aircraft to M = 20, and a liquid-propellant engine for entering orbit (acceleration to the first space speed 7, 9 km / s) and providing orbital maneuvers.
Due to the complexity of solving a set of scientific, technical and technological problems for the creation of a single-stage MVKS, the program was divided into two stages: the creation of an experimental hypersonic aircraft with a flight speed of up to M = 5-6, and the development of a prototype of an orbital VKS, which ensures the conduct of a flight experiment in the entire range flights, up to spacewalk. In addition, at the second stage of the MVKS work, it was planned to create versions of the Tu-2000B space bomber, which was designed as a two-seater aircraft with a flight range of 10,000 km and a take-off weight of 350 tons. Six engines powered by liquid hydrogen were supposed to provide a speed of M = 6-8 at an altitude of 30-35 km.
According to experts of the OKB im. A. N. Tupolev, the cost of building one VKS was supposed to be about 480 million dollars, in 1995 prices (with the cost of development work of 5, 29 billion dollars). The estimated cost of the launch was supposed to be $ 13.6 million, with the number of 20 launches per year.
The first time a model of the Tu-2000 aircraft was shown at the exhibition "Mosaeroshow-92". Before the work was stopped in 1992, for the Tu-2000 were made: a wing box made of nickel alloy, fuselage elements, cryogenic fuel tanks and composite fuel lines.
Atomic M-19
A longtime "competitor" in strategic aircraft of the OKB im. Tupolev - Experimental Machine-Building Plant (now EMZ named after Myasishchev) was also engaged in the development of a single-stage videoconferencing system within the framework of R&D "Kholod-2". The project was named "M-19" and provided for elaboration on the following topics:
Topic 19-1. Creation of a flying laboratory with a power plant on liquid hydrogen fuel, development of technology for working with cryogenic fuel;
Topic19-2. Design and engineering work to determine the appearance of a hypersonic aircraft;
Topic 19-3. Design and engineering work to determine the appearance of a promising VKS;
Topic 19-4. Design and engineering work to determine the appearance of alternative options
VKS with a nuclear propulsion system
Work on the promising VKS was carried out under the direct supervision of General Designer V. M. Myasishchev and General Designer A. D. Tohuntsa. To carry out the components of R&D, plans for joint work with enterprises of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry were approved, including: TsAGI, TsIAM, NIIAS, ITAM and many others, as well as with the Research Institute of the Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Defense.
The appearance of the M-19 single-stage VKS was determined after researching numerous alternative options for the aerodynamic layout. In terms of research on the characteristics of a new type of power plant, scramjet models were tested in wind tunnels at speeds corresponding to the numbers M = 3-12. To assess the effectiveness of the future videoconferencing, mathematical models of the systems of the apparatus and the combined power plant with a nuclear rocket engine (NRE) were also worked out.
The use of the aerospace system with a combined nuclear propulsion system implied expanded opportunities for intensive exploration of both near-earth space, including remote geostationary orbits, and deep space, including the Moon and near-lunar space.
The presence of a nuclear installation on board the VKS would also make it possible to use it as a powerful energy hub to ensure the functioning of new types of space weapons (beam, beam weapons, means of influencing climatic conditions, etc.).
The combined propulsion system (KDU) included:
Marching nuclear rocket engine (NRM) based on a nuclear reactor with radiation protection;
10 by-pass turbojet engines (DTRDF) with heat exchangers in the inner and outer circuits and afterburner;
Hypersonic ramjet engines (scramjet engines);
Two turbochargers to pump hydrogen through DTRDF heat exchangers;
Distribution unit with turbopump units, heat exchangers and pipeline valves, fuel control systems.
Hydrogen was used as a fuel for DTRDF and scramjet engines, and it was also a working fluid in a closed loop of a nuclear jet engine.
In its finalized form, the M-19 concept looked like this: a 500-ton aerospace system performs takeoff and initial acceleration like a nuclear aircraft with closed-cycle engines, and hydrogen serves as a coolant transferring heat from the reactor to ten turbojet engines. As the acceleration and climb progresses, hydrogen begins to be supplied to the afterburners of the turbojet engine, a little later to the direct-flow scramjet engines. Finally, at an altitude of 50 km, at a flight speed of more than 16M, an atomic NRM with a thrust of 320 tf is switched on, which ensured an exit into a working orbit with an altitude of 185-200 kilometers. With a takeoff weight of about 500 tons, the M-19 aerospace spacecraft was supposed to launch a payload weighing about 30-40 tons into a reference orbit with an inclination of 57.3 °.
It should be noted that a little-known fact is that when calculating the characteristics of the CDU at turboproot-flow, rocket-direct-flow and hypersonic flight modes, the results of experimental studies and calculations were used, carried out at TsIAM, TsAGI and ITAM SB AS USSR.
Ajax "- hypersound in a new way
Work on the creation of a hypersonic aircraft was also carried out at SKB "Neva" (St. Petersburg), on the basis of which the State Research and Development Enterprise of Hypersonic Speeds (now OJSC "NIPGS" HC "Leninets") was formed.
The NIPGS approached the creation of GLA in a fundamentally new way. The concept of GLA "Ajax" was put forward in the late 1980s. Vladimir Lvovich Freistadt. Its essence lies in the fact that the GLA does not have thermal protection (unlike most videoconferencing and GLA). The heat flux arising during hypersonic flight is admitted into the HVA to increase its energy resource. Thus, the GLA "Ajax" was an open aerothermodynamic system, which converted part of the kinetic energy of the hypersonic air flow into chemical and electrical energy, simultaneously solving the issue of cooling the airframe. For this, the main components of a chemical heat recovery reactor with a catalyst were designed, placed under the skin of the airframe.
The aircraft skin in the most thermally stressed places had a two-layer skin. Between the layers of the shell, there was a catalyst made of a heat-resistant material (“nickel sponges”), which was an active cooling subsystem with chemical heat recovery reactors. According to calculations, in all modes of hypersonic flight, the temperature of the GLA airframe elements did not exceed 800-850 ° C.
The GLA includes a ramjet engine with supersonic combustion integrated with the airframe and the main (sustainer) engine - a magneto-plasma-chemical engine (MPKhD). MPKhD was designed to control the air flow using a magneto-gas dynamic accelerator (MHD accelerator) and power generation using an MHD generator. The generator had a power of up to 100 MW, which was quite enough to power a laser capable of hitting various targets in near-earth orbits.
It was assumed that the mid-flight MPKM would be able to change the flight speed over a wide range of the flight Mach number. Due to the deceleration of the hypersonic flow by a magnetic field, optimal conditions were created in the supersonic combustion chamber. During tests at TsAGI it was revealed that the hydrocarbon fuel created within the framework of the Ajax concept burns several times faster than hydrogen. The MHD accelerator could "accelerate" the combustion products, increasing the maximum flight speed to M = 25, which guaranteed an entry into a near-earth orbit.
The civilian version of the hypersonic aircraft was designed for a flight speed of 6000-12000 km / h, a flight range of up to 19000 km and the carriage of 100 passengers. There is no information about the military developments of the Ajax project.
Russian hypersound concept - missiles and PAK DA
The work carried out in the USSR and in the first years of the existence of the new Russia on hypersonic technologies makes it possible to assert that the original domestic methodology and scientific and technical groundwork have been preserved and used to create Russian GLA - both in rocket and aircraft versions.
In 2004, during the Security 2004 command-staff exercise, Russian President V. V. Putin made a statement that still excites the minds of the "public". “Experiments and some tests were carried out … Soon the Russian Armed Forces will receive combat systems capable of operating at intercontinental distances, with hypersonic speed, with great accuracy, with wide maneuver in height and direction of impact. These complexes will make any examples of antimissile defense, existing or promising, hopeless."
Some domestic media outlets interpreted this statement to the best of their understanding. For example: "The world's first hypersonic maneuvering missile was developed in Russia, which was launched from the Tu-160 strategic bomber in February 2004, when the Security 2004 command post exercise was conducted."
In fact, an RS-18 "Stilet" ballistic missile with new combat equipment was launched during the exercise. Instead of a conventional warhead, the RS-18 had some kind of device capable of changing the altitude and direction of flight, and thus overcome any, including the American, missile defense. Apparently, the device tested during the Security 2004 exercise was a little-known X-90 hypersonic cruise missile (GKR), developed at the Raduga Design Bureau in the early 1990s.
Judging by the performance characteristics of this missile, the Tu-160 strategic bomber can take on board two X-90s. The rest of the characteristics look like this: the mass of the rocket is 15 tons, the main engine is a scramjet engine, the accelerator is solid propellant, the flight speed is 4-5 M, the launch height is 7000 m, the flight altitude is 7000-20000 m, the launch range is 3000-3500 km, the number of warheads is 2, the yield of the warhead is 200 kt.
In the dispute about which plane or rocket is better, planes most often lost, since the missiles turned out to be faster and more effective. And the plane became a carrier of cruise missiles capable of hitting targets at a distance of 2500-5000 km. Launching a missile at a target, the strategic bomber did not enter the area of opposing air defense, so there was no point in making it hypersonic.
The "hypersonic competition" between aircraft and missile is now approaching a new denouement with a predictable result - missiles are once again ahead of aircraft.
Let's assess the situation. The long-range aviation, which is part of the Russian Aerospace Forces, is armed with 60 Tu-95MS turboprop aircraft and 16 Tu-160 jet bombers. The service life of the Tu-95MS will expire in 5-10 years. The Ministry of Defense has decided to increase the number of Tu-160s to 40 units. Work is underway to modernize the Tu-160. Thus, new Tu-160Ms will soon start arriving at the Aerospace Forces. The Tupolev Design Bureau is also the main developer of the promising long-range aviation complex (PAK DA).
Our “potential enemy” is not sitting idly by, he is investing in the development of the Prompt Global Strike (PGS) concept. The capabilities of the US military budget in terms of funding significantly exceed the capabilities of the Russian budget. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defense are in dispute over the amount of funding for the State Arms Program for the period up to 2025. And we are talking not only about the current expenses for the purchase of new weapons and military equipment, but also about promising developments, which include PAK DA and GLA technologies.
In the creation of hypersonic ammunition (missiles or projectiles), not everything is clear. The clear advantage of hypersound is speed, short approach time to the target, and a high guarantee of overcoming air defense and missile defense systems. However, there are many problems - the high cost of disposable ammunition, the complexity of control when changing the flight trajectory. The same shortcomings became decisive arguments when reducing or closing programs for manned hypersound, that is, for hypersonic aircraft.
The problem of the high cost of ammunition can be solved by the presence on board the aircraft of a powerful computing complex for calculating the parameters of bombing (launch), which turns conventional bombs and missiles into precision weapons. Similar on-board computing systems installed in the warheads of hypersonic missiles make it possible to equate them with the class of strategic high-precision weapons, which, according to military specialists of the PLA, can replace ICBM systems. The presence of strategic-range missile GLA will call into question the need to maintain long-range aviation, as having limitations on the speed and effectiveness of combat use.
The appearance in the arsenal of any army of a hypersonic anti-aircraft missile (GZR) will force strategic aviation to "hide" at airfields, tk. The maximum distance from which cruise missiles of a bomber can be used, such airborne missiles will overcome in a few minutes. Increasing the range, accuracy and maneuverability of the GZR will allow them to shoot down enemy ICBMs at any altitude, as well as disrupt a massive raid of strategic bombers before they reach the launch lines of cruise missiles. The pilot of the "strategist", possibly, will detect the launch of the air defense missile system, but he will hardly manage to take the plane away from defeat.
The developments of the GLA, which are now intensively carried out in developed countries, indicate that a search is underway for a reliable tool (weapon) that can guarantee the destruction of the enemy's nuclear arsenal before the use of nuclear weapons, as the last argument in protecting state sovereignty. Hypersonic weapons can be used in the main centers of political, economic and military power of the state.
Hypersound has not been forgotten in Russia, work is underway to create missile weapons based on this technology (Sarmat ICBMs, Rubezh ICBMs, X-90), but rely on only one type of weapon ("miracle weapon", "weapons of retaliation”) Would be, at least, not correct.
There is still no clarity in the creation of the PAK DA, since the basic requirements for its purpose and combat use are still unknown. The existing strategic bombers, as components of Russia's nuclear triad, are gradually losing their importance due to the emergence of new types of weapons, including hypersonic ones.
The course to "contain" Russia, proclaimed the main task of NATO, is objectively capable of leading to aggression against our country, in which the North Atlantic Treaty armies trained and armed with modern means will participate. In terms of the number of personnel and weapons, NATO surpasses Russia by 5-10 times. A "sanitary belt" is being built around Russia, including military bases and missile defense positions. Essentially, NATO-led activities are described in military terms as theater of operations (theater of operations) operational preparation. At the same time, the United States remains the main source of arms supplies, as it was in the First and Second World Wars.
A hypersonic strategic bomber can, within an hour, find itself anywhere in the world over any military facility (base), from which the supply of resources for groupings of troops is provided, including in the “sanitary belt”. Low vulnerability to missile defense and air defense systems, it can destroy such objects with powerful high-precision non-nuclear weapons. The presence of such a GLA in peacetime will become an additional deterrent for the supporters of global military adventures.
The civilian GLA can become the technical basis for a breakthrough in the development of intercontinental flights and space technologies. The scientific and technical groundwork for the Tu-2000, M-19 and Ajax projects is still relevant and may be in demand.
What will be the future PAK DA - subsonic with SGKR or hypersonic with modified conventional weapons, it is up to the customers - the Ministry of Defense and the Government of Russia.
“Whoever wins by preliminary calculation before the battle has a lot of chances. Whoever does not win by calculation before the battle has little chance. Whoever has a lot of chances wins. Those who have little chance do not win. Moreover, the one who has no chance at all. " / Sun Tzu, "The Art of War" /
Military expert Alexey Leonkov
