When All News Are Bad.

 You can put this: 

On this:

It is not going to do you any good when you face this: 

Now, it is not a secret--the "performance" of the NATO air defense systems in 404 is shocking (it is also shocking in Israel). It is shocking due to its manifest ineffectiveness and inadequacy for the modern battlefield. A lot (as Larry beautifully put it today), a big tube of lipstick is required. So, neocon central, against the background of the gap in kinetic stand-off weapons and AD systems between Russia and the US widening, decided to announce some "good news". 

A hypersonic weapon is defined as one capable of flying at Mach 5 or faster—over five times the speed of sound. Unlike ballistic missiles, which travel on a predictable trajectory, this type of "superfast" weapon can maneuver in flight, making it difficult to intercept.

Both China and Russia have put hypersonic weapons into service, while North Korea and Iran claim to have developed and tested similar systems. In late March, the U.S. conducted a missile defense test by firing a simulated interceptor at a hypersonic target over the Pacific. The delivery of the upgraded THAAD AN/TPY-2 radar to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency comes as Washington pushes for an American version of Israel's Iron Dome air defense system—also known as the "Golden Dome"—to defend against current and future aerial threats. ... Regarding its hypersonic defense capability, Norman claimed that the upgraded radar can now detect what he called "very small targets" when a missile's booster separates from its warhead after launch. "We can hit it before it starts maneuvering," he told Breaking Defense.

LOL, let me explain something here--we wouldn't expect from creeps from Newsweek rag to have an idea--but the amount of bovine excrement in Raytheon's own Jon Norman statement is through the roof. 

1. United States DOES NOT have real simulator of hypersonic weapon. What is "sold" to the bunch of morons with journo degrees from Ivy League about "simulation" is a horseshit about classic ballistic somehow "emulating" hypersonic weapons merely on the fact that all Intercontinental, Intermediate or even most operational-tactical ballistic missiles reach speeds above M=5 on their boost phase. US has nothing, not even close, similar to Avangard, Kinzhal, let alone 3M22. 

2. The US doesn't have and will not have any kinetic means to hit hypersonic weapon any time soon. Bringing up in the conversation lame Iron Dome, not to speak of ALL Raytheon's (and Boeing's) "Israeled" products which failed miserably in Israel, is a first sign of not only of BS being sold yet again, but a dead-end of development of real hypersonic weapons, not to speak about real anti-hypersonic interceptors.

3. And here is a give away: Regarding its hypersonic defense capability, Norman claimed that the upgraded radar can now detect what he called "very small targets" when a missile's booster separates from its warhead after launch. "We can hit it before it starts maneuvering," he told Breaking Defense. (c) This is a tacit admission of what I speak about ad nauseam--they cannot detect, track and develop firing solution for their arquebuses and can only "detect" separation of the booster. LOL. 

In related news, all radar of Russia's AD systems such as S-400, S-500, S-300V4, S-550, all, without exception, are capable of detecting, tracking, developing firing solutions and HITTING hypersonic targets both in tests and, actually, a little engine that ... or rather little Tor-M2, a close zone AD (company, battalion) scored a shitload of hits on all kinds of 404 ballistic missiles, such as Tochka-U, which reaches the target with velocities slightly above M-5. The capability gap between Russia and the US is colossal and, likely, is not going to be closed. For that, the US can also thank its "imported" Wehrmacht and SS component which "worked" for TRADOC in the capacity of operations' specialists and who sold to NATO a shitload of fairy tales and outright BS about Eastern Front and then laid the foundation for discredited Air-Land Battle, which prevented Pentagon and a bunch of US "historians" and "thinkers" from studying real warfare and developing what ANY serious martial arts course starts with: development of defense, all kinds of blocks, before the student is even allowed to get to hits, kicks and strikes. 

Rule Of Thumb.

Western media are abuzz--the main dictator of this planet, the abuser of Russia and underminer of the American democracy, the evil Putin has spoken. About hyper-sonic weapons.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will soon be in a position to counter hypersonic arms deployed by other countries, President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday, adding that Moscow was ahead of the United States in developing new types of weapons. Hypersonic glide vehicles can steer an unpredictable course and manoeuvre sharply as they approach impact. They also follow a much flatter and lower trajectory than ballistic missiles. Washington and Moscow have been expanding their defence capabilities as some Cold War-era arms control agreements collapsed during worsening of Russia's ties with the West. Last year Russia deployed its first hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles, while the Pentagon has a goal of fielding hypersonic capabilities in the early to mid-2020s.

In Russian version of Putin's interview he actually spoke (sarcastically) about "pleasant surprise" for the US once it will, eventually, get its hands on some sort of hyper-sonic weapon. And, of course, Reuters lied (I am sure without any malice, wink, wink) or is simply dumb to understand the difference of which I write non-stop. While hyper-sonic "nuclear capable" gliders are cool and are "strategic" it is not them which are the focus of the modern arms race.  The real deal are what broadly could be defined as operational-tactical hypersonic weapons designed to be used at the modern battlefield against variety of the enemy's military targets. Russia has one such weapon, hypersonic Kinzhal in IOC since 2017 and in full combat deployment since 2018. 

The United States undeniably will be able at some point of time to develop some sort of a glider but I doubt it very much that US military will have anything comparable to 3M22 Zircon or even same Kinzhal anytime soon. Rule of thumb here is this: a generation of weapon systems. The United States lags behind Russia in hyper-sonic battle-field weapons not just by generation, but by two. She simply doesn't have any, while Russia already has Kinzhal in action for 3 years and Zircon is nearing its IOC. That means a NEW generation of weapons is already on the drawing board or even in prototype stage. Ad nauseam, again, not only the United States doesn't have a working prototype of such weapon, including a latest snafu with losing one. The issue, ad nauseam again, here is that the US doesn't have any experience with high super-sonic (M=3+) missiles at all, unlike Russia who deploys an astonishing array of such weapons from 3M54 Kalibr, to P-800 Onyx, capable to attack pretty much anything on land and water, and, of course, X-31, not to speak of deadly X-32. And then, of course, comes this issue of anti-missile systems. 

Butt-hurt (nothing new here) Mark Episkopos (another humanities-"educated" so called "expert" from, and you guessed it, The National Interest) already tried to spin BS about S-500. 

Russian media and military experts believe that the S-500 will be the first missile defense system able to reliably target and neutralize fifth-generation stealth fighters like the F-35, a claim too early to meaningfully evaluate at this stage in the S-500’s development cycle. 

Mark Episkopos, being an "expert" he is, and citing Sputnik, for some reason, arrives to a strange conclusion about S-500 capability to "reliably" detect F-35. Obviously for people not acquainted with modern battlefield, netcentricity  and sensor fusion it may come as a surprise that modern truly integrated AD system sees any so called "stealth" targets and is able to develop targeting for Buk-M3, S-300, S-350, S-400 etc. Moreover, ancient Soviet S-125, when used by skillful Serbs in 1999, also had little problem shooting down what then was advertised as "invisible" F-117. The persistent of "Stealth" myth, and meme, in the US is astonishing, to the point of folly. It is especially true for people in US media who, by definition, are completely removed from analytical apparatus required to understand a complexity of modern warfare. 

But what Putin was talking about in terms of a defense from future hyper-sonic weapons, most likely are not just S-500, which is stated to be able to detect, track and shoot down hyper-sonic weapons, especially ones which will be flying at Mach=5-6 (S-400 can do this already). He was most likely talking about defense against what could be defined as "strategic" hyper-sonic gliders which fly at M=20+ and that is a completely different type of weapon and requires a different, from merely hard-kill by anti-missile, approach. Obviously, Russia deploys, now world-famous, meowing A-235 Nudol, and this system becoming mobile is a serious step in countering pretty much any type of exoatmosperic or atmospheric high-velocity and maneuvering targets. But rule of thumb tells us that we, in addition to such missile systems as S-500 or Nudol, may expect appearance of something truly revolutionary which is still hidden behind curtain of secrecy in Russia. Lasers? Sure, we already know about them, like Peresvet, but something tells me some other physics could be involved. In the end, many still cannot get a full meaning of this demonstration which speaks volumes for professionals.

We just have to wait and see.   

As Was Totally Expected.

Russia will form additional Anti-Air (Anti-Missile) Brigades both at Northern and Pacific Fleets (in Russian). Those formations will be armed with S-300V4 (a very deep modernization of S-300V) complexes, which are on the tracked platforms, thus increasing their mobility in the most forbidden terrain, and they also are capable to develop firing solution while on the move. Those have two types of missiles capable of 150 kilometer and 300 kilometer ranges and taking out targets with the speeds of M=7.5 (that is hypersonic). So, here are the consequences of INF Treaty's "death" and anticipation of US missiles appearing close to Russian borders in the Far East. More about these complexes you can read (in English) here. 

As I said, not for once, China will be very interested, in view of the United States positioning her missiles closer to China, in the inflow of the latest in anti-missile defense from Russia and we can only speculate, at this point, about the volume of this inflow. I am positive it will be significant. Meanwhile, the United States is in rush to demonstrate that she has the means:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has conducted a flight test of a type of missile banned for more than 30 years by a treaty that both the United States and Russia abandoned this month, the Pentagon said. The test off the coast of California on Sunday marked the resumption of an arms competition that some analysts worry could increase U.S.-Russian tensions. The Trump administration has said it remains interested in useful arms control but questions Moscow's willingness to adhere to its treaty commitments.

There are also some declarations about working on hypersonic weapons, but these are mostly for PR purposes. As for intricacies of the deceased INF Treaty I elaborated not for once on those--the treaty worked for the United States until she had advantage in sea-based weapon systems not covered by this Treaty. Once this advantage was lost--voila'--we have what we have now. 

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said this month that he hopes the Pentagon can develop and deploy INF-range missiles "sooner rather than later," but no specific timeline has been announced. He disputed the notion that abandoning the INF treaty will spark an arms race. "I don't see an arms race happening here," he told reporters on the day Washington and Moscow withdrew from the treaty. "Russia has been racing, if anybody, to develop these systems in violation of the treaty, not us."

Basically tedious, contrived excuses and lies, of course, lies--it is a normal MO in D.C. All that multiplied by sheer incompetence.   

S-500 Is In.

As many news agencies reported:

The S-500 Prometey, Russia’s next-generation surface-to-air long-range missile system, has completed most of its trials and is ready to go into series production, according to the Russian industry and trade minister.The development of the system is in its “final phase” after each element of the system was tested individually, Denis Manturov told Interfax in an interview. The current work is focused on checking the S-500’s performance as an integrated system.“All main specifications of the air defense system have been confirmed during the tests and it is now ready for series production,” he said, adding that the hardware will be delivered to the Defense Ministry on schedule.

It is a milestone. I hate speculations, especially filled with all kinds of pseudo-scientific psychobabble with a sprinkle of many cool technical terms. So, I'll leave it to many a "military expert" out there and will add only the fact of which I am certain and spoke about not for once--S-500 is the system to deal with perspective hyper-sonic weapons, which may come out of US military-industrial complex. I know of Russian air-defense professionals who described transition from S-300 to S-400 as being in awe of its capabilities when compared with S-300s. S-500 is something of the same scale when compared to S-400. Recall also that there are few serious issues when trying to detect and track hyper-sonic glider vehicles for radar. I assume that such issues have been resolved in S-500. 

 

Together with combat laser systems, S-500 will constitute the backbone of future Russia's anti-air and space defense and if my hypothesis that S-500 is designed to intercept maneuvering hyper-sonic vehicles with velocities of M=10+, that makes it a system which already has genuine future capability since, except for Russia, and, allegedly, China no such weapons do exist anywhere else so far. The United States is in pursuit here but will it succeed in creating something akin to Avangard is yet to be seen. Per pure anti-ballistic and aerial targets, combination of S-400 and S-500 and combat lasers, supported by short-to-medium range AD infrastructure such as new, greatly up-ranged versions of S1 Pantsir, Tor-M2 and Buk--such an environment is a worst nightmare of any combat aircraft or stand-off weapon in the world. So, at this stage, the shield is winning. It all may change, of course, but I don't see it yet. 

 

So, "the slow blade penetrates the shield" (c). For now this "slow blade" will be, traditional now, propaganda in Western media in a desperate attempt to shift the focus away from military-doctrinal catastrophe which unfolded for the West in a sense that new defensive technologies coming on-line if not make completely obsolete, then blunt weapons, which in the West were considered effective, dramatically, to the point of ensuring that under any circumstances, including any preventive strike scenarios (they do exist) the response will be instant and devastating. It also gives Russia an additional bargaining chip in any geopolitical rearrangement scenario. This also opens significant additional commercial opportunities for export versions of S-400 and there are many, very many takers of this complex. 

 

As I said and wrote--we all are inside Real Revolution In Military Affairs.