Who Said "Unclear"?

It is very clear and it consists of two parts:

1. Make weapon fly hypersonic while maneuvering;

2. Be able to control it, including by providing command updates if necessary.

None of it is achieved by the US, let alone Euros and will not be for a long time. So. 

The U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy recently “initiated” a test of a hypersonic weapon, but the U.S. military won’t say whether or not it was a success, what specific system was involved, or even if there was an actual launch. Previous testing of an Army ground-based hypersonic weapon system it is developing in cooperation with the Navy, known as Dark Eagle, has been particularly beset by problems.  The Army has been hoping to begin fielding Dark Eagle within the next two months, around a year later than originally planned, and in the wake three scrubbed test launches last year. In June, the Pentagon did announced a successful test of a common hypersonic missile designed to be used in both the Army’s Dark Eagle and the Navy’s sea-based Intermediate Range Conventional Prompt Strike (IRCPS) weapon systems. To date, there has been no known full end-to-end test of the missile involving a production-representative launch system.

There will not be IOC for some years and when it will be "announced", like all other previous announcements, it will be about system which will have dubious performance at best, in reality--unworkable system. Example of announcement is provided:

“The U.S. Army and Navy recently initiated a test of a conventional hypersonic system at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida,” a U.S. defense official told The War Zone in a statement. “This test was an essential benchmark in the development of operational hypersonic technology. Vital data on the performance of the hardware and software was collected that will inform the continued progress toward fielding hypersonic weapons.” “We have no additional details or information [about the test] to provide at this time,” the statement added.  

Russians, actually, miscalculated when stated that the US is behind about 5 to 7 years. As it turned out--it is more like 12-15, at best. Mind you--Russia had Kinzhals on combat patrols since 2017, seven years at least. The rest of systems are fully operational ranging from strategic Avangard to a terrifying 3M22 Zircon. Same goes for anti-hypersonic systems such as S-400, S-500, S-550 and S-300V4. Feel the difference. People may say that I gloat--I don't, I merely follow technological and operational facts. They look bad for NATO and the gap is, actually, growing. At this stage I am getting really tired sorting out the verbiage and semantics' games used to cover up utter failure of not just technological race, but primarily doctrinal and strategic one. And here we are--PR, PR and PR again. Everything is very clear.

About This Plane...

 ... which sheds some light on CR 929 fate. Russia continues with her program of updating IL-96 line, as an intermediate wide-body solution, to IL-96-400M. This is the first aircraft of this limited series doing its take-off regime runs yesterday. 

Its four engines are advanced PS-90A3--a further development of venerable high-bypass ratio PS-90A. This aircraft is fully Russian made, from systems to avionics. 

And it should make a first flight by the end of this year and then proceed to have at least two of them produced for government uses, until, it seems, it will be re-motorized to two PD-35 engines. Denis Manturov did confirm the intention to produce this four engine version once tests are completed. IL-96-400M is a full size wide-body and full passenger capacity, being 10 meters longer than IL-96-300 version which Vladimir Putin uses as a Presidential Plane. It is capable of carrying 402 passengers in a single class configuration.  

So, four engines for now. PD-35, meanwhile, produces excellent results at tests. 

United Engine Corporation (UEC) has completed another round of bench tests on the PD-35 core engine which is set to become Russia’s largest turbofan. The tests took place at the Moscow-based Central Institute of Aviation Motors (CIAM) and simulated operation of the full-size powerplant.  

Of course, western media wouldn't be western media if they didn't put the story upside down, a euphemism for BS. As they report:

United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) CEO Yury Slyusar earlier this month confirmed for the first time that UAC is no longer a partner in the CR929 joint venture. Although the decision has been made, undoing the joint venture will likely take considerable time, since it involves changing agreements between the governments of China and Russia. Beijing has not commented on the change of plans. The CR929 has accumulated years of delays and is not expected to enter service until well after 2030 due to lengthy negotiations about sharing work and intellectual property. For months, reports indicated that China had decided to pursue the widebody on its own. Keeping a sanctions-ravaged partner on board would make the project even more difficult.Russia still hopes to remain involved. Slyusar says Russian industry plans to continue with the program as a normal supplier and builder of the composite wing, PD-35 engines and other subsystems for the aircraft.

And here is the reason. Yes, sanctions, BUT NOT on Russian aerospace industry, but on Chinese one-Russia simply doesn't want to be embroiled in the project which not only doesn't satisfy Russia's manufacturing share and financial (profit) requirements, but of pure geopolitics. As Comac C919 "experience" shows:

The United States has expanded its export controls and trade sanctions against China over advanced technology, including semiconductors and aviation, as relations between Beijing and Washington have deteriorated.Growing tensions have also affected trade in the aviation sector as China’s own narrow-body passenger jet, the C919, has entered commercial operation this year. However, the plane, which took more than 14 years to develop, relies on imported parts and technology, especially from the US. The C919’s LEAP engine is made by CFM International, a joint venture between American firm GE Aviation and France’s Safran Aircraft Engines.

Well, guess what--Chinese want CR929 to be primarily declared as C929 (without R, it already is known as CRAIG C929) and still have a truckload of Western systems in it. And that, once (not "If") the sanctions are imposed and RR or P&W engines will become unavailable, the project will face the necessity of Russian PD-35 be diverted away from Russia's wide-body aircraft or... wait for Chinese turbofan with similar to PD-35 characteristics and this is not coming anytime soon. So, in this case Russia is supposed to pick up the slack? This is a no go for Russia, who obviously is aiming at a fully updated two-engine wide-body IL-96 which will not only be flying domestically and internationally in Asia, but will compete with Western models on non-Western markets being fully Russian and impervious to sanctions. In this case, Russia is not very keen at creating a competitor to own, entering full testing phase, project. Simple as that.

Modern aerospace technologies are crown jewels of industrialized nations and nobody provides access to their best simply because of good relations. And this is worth reminding again:

In the end, quite a few countries can create the air-frame, but to make this air-frame into modern aircraft is a whole other level of expertise altogether. That is why highly advanced Japan failed in her regional jet project, that is why loved by many Embraer is Brazilian in air-frame only, with the rest of it, including E190-series flying on Pratt and Whitney engines and using Western-build systems. Even Bombardier  C-series jets are known today as Airbus A220 and, you already have guessed it, use PW1500 turbofans and only Western-made systems. Hell, Bombardier always was Western by definition. 

And here we are, in the new geopolitical and economic reality and here is the trick--there is ONLY one country which can and does provide, completely out of own resources, the alternative to Western commercial aerospace giants and you already guessed it--Russia. Now, keep an eye on the overall situation with world's de-dollarization, weakening of EU economies and... drum roll--Arab and Sub-Saharan African world having serious second thoughts about the West. Those things always have major geopolitical and economic consequences. Russia is getting ready for that and that explains some reasons behind IL-96-400M and C929 fate.

And?

Russia made no secret about existence of this weapon, which is a good reminder to ass-holes who think that they can start WW III and then hide either in New Zealand or in Patagonia. This weapon is designed for the purpose of hunting down war criminals in mind too.  

Satellite imagery and aviation data suggest that Russia may be preparing to test an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile — or may have recently tested one — with a theoretical range of thousands of miles. Movements of aircraft and vehicles at and near a base in Russia’s remote Arctic region are consistent with preparations that were made for tests of the missile, known as the Burevestnik or SSC-X-9 Skyfall, in 2017 and 2018, according to a New York Times analysis.

After that a typical sore loser's BS starts, like this:

Russia previously conducted 13 known tests between 2017 and 2019, all of which were unsuccessful, according to a report from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit group focused on arms control. And mishaps can be deadly. A missile launched in 2019 crashed and eventually exploded during a recovery attempt, killing seven people, according to U.S. officials. “It is exotic — it is dangerous in its testing and development phase,” said Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. Whether the Burevestnik has been tested again since 2019 isn’t clear, but even with a successful launch, the missile would still be years away from “operational deployment,” Kimball added.

Yeah, sure. In related news, NTI is a collection of good ol' boys and girls (how about Alexei Arbatov, LOL) whose only purpose is pushing globalist agenda and has nothing to do with nuclear security. Their normal MO is lying and making shit up. A classic American "think-tank" packed with people who wouldn't know shit about anything, e.g. Alexei Arbatov. In related news, I did have the exchange with one of the real scientific authority (Ph.D. in Physics, some prominent positions in government adjacent orgs), I was astounded, in fact shocked when this, indeed, real deal scientist, didn't know that Russian Kupol early warning system was not the only one where Russia was catching up, but that Early Warning Radar of Russia such as Voronezh made the US mainstay AN/FPS-132 look like a children toy railroad kit compared to a real size diesel locomotive. 

Yes, they, most of them anyway, are stuck, in 1990s and practically none of them has any clue about Russia's weapons programs and they continue to lie, while NATO's "best" equipment burns in the fields of 404 in industrial quantities. Marat yesterday noted, that when the reports of any armor with crosses on them received in the Russian Army, most guys don't care about money reward, they just burn with the desire to blow this armor up. I guess it is genetic memory. In the same time, back to Petrel/Burevestnik, allow me to remind you similar BS on part of US "(lack of)intel community" and other "academics" re: validity of hypersonic weapons a few years back. Well, can you imagine how they look like today, their faces? But then again, you all already saw what those "experts" are, such as H.I. Sutton who passes for the Russian "submarine expert". Well, that is what they do for living--BS. It is therapeutic for them. 

I Couldn't Resist;))

I simply couldn't, no matter how I tried. Russians are pretty good with memes and here is one about Navalny and his "tests". I know it is crude but it is so true. 

The text reads: I am asking you, is it Navalny's morning or evening stool? 

As you all know, Bundeswehr which is dealing with Navalny's testing now (LOL) classified his tests, that means it classified Navalny's urine and stool. Russians are having a field day, as you might expect. Germany looks utterly idiotic, to put it politely.   

On The Importnace Of Being Thrifty.

As you may have recalled, Vladimir Putin few months ago gave the order to develop anti-hyper-sonic missiles defenses. You also should remember that I spoke not for once on the "revelation" mode of Russia's defense industry and armed forces. It is a process of steady, incremental, exposure of military technological capability which is behind (sorry for repeating it ad nauseam) real revolution in military affairs. Such as this little piece of news:

МОСКВА, 2 окт - РИА Новости. Расчеты С-400 в Астраханской области отстрелялись по уникальным гиперзвуковым ракетам-мишеням "Фаворит РМ", уничтожив все цели, говорится в сообщении пресс-службы ЗВО. "Боевые расчёты зенитной ракетной системы С-400 "Триумф" зенитного ракетного полка соединения противовоздушной обороны Ленинградской армии ВВС и ПВО Западного военного округа провели успешные боевые стрельбы", - говорится в сообщении.

Translation: Combat crews of S-400, in Astrakhan Region, held combat exercises against hypersonic target-missiles "Favorit PM" and destroyed all targets. The statement of the press-service of Western Military District announced.  The crews of S-400 Triumphs were from the units of air-defense of Leningrad Army of Air Force and Air Defense of Western Military District.

And what this "Favorit PM" missile-target complex is? Very simple, it is deeply modernized good ol' S-300 P series which allows to use missiles of types 5V55 which have their explosives removed and are capable of atmospheric maneuverable flight with the velocities of Mach=6 (in excess of 7,000 kilometers per hour). These are genuine hyper-sonic missile-targets and, evidently, and I don't have any reasons to doubt it, S-400 had very little problems shooting them down. So, there you are. This whole thing also has an immense naval ramifications since Poliment-Redut complex installed on project 22350 frigates uses a number of same missiles as S-400 and we do not still know REAL parameters of these AD missiles. Obviously, everyone knows that 40 and 48 series long range missiles used by S-400 are Mach=14 capable, but it becomes really foggy once the talk about 9M series begins. Some sources state that those are capable of intercepting targets moving with the velocities of up to M=15. 

So, good luck launching subsonic ASMs at those ships. Evidently modernized pr. 1144 Admiral Nakhimov (with Peter The Great being next in line for modernization) will carry an ungodly number of these missiles. This all comes on the heels of my yesterday elaboration on Dmitry Gorenburg's piece on Russia's naval "strategy", which as I write since hell knows when, including in US Naval Institute publications, can ONLY be a sea-denial, I quote myself from more than two years ago:

The Russian Navy doesn’t need to fight for a global sea control. The Russian Navy is not going to challenge the U.S. Navy’s global maritime dominance. The Russian Navy’s main task is to provide a reliable defense of Russia’s shores and avoid war by presenting a defensive and forbidding posture. The Russian Navy is an organic part of the larger military force of Russia, whose only concern is preventing a global conflict. In this sense, the Russian Navy is completely integrated into the Russian tradition of national security, which spreads across the wide spectrum of activities, encompassing diplomacy, coherent foreign policy, intelligence and military force—a set of security imperatives erroneously dubbed in the West “hybrid warfare". 

But in general, I will lie, if I will say that I am not satisfied. I am satisfied in a sense that an arduous task I took upon myself of trying to open eyes of many in establishment to a military-political realities of a present historic moment is supported by empirical evidence. Unlike it is with a body of work on Russia, geopolitics and warfare concocted in the echo-chamber of the American think-tankdom. Nothing is wrong with stating: "I told you so." Yesterday's news is just another confirmation, including a good demonstration of importance of being very thrifty by not throwing away old but still very good things, such as S-300 P missile complexes. 

Nothing To See Here. Move Along, Move Along...;-)))

We all know it is racists, totalitarian and anti-feminist and, totally undemocratic and whatever else will come to mind of all those Social Justice Warriors, but here it is:

Serena Williams has become embroiled in a controversy over a doping test at  her home in Florida, after she declined to give a sample to a tester who had visited outside her specified “whereabouts" window. 

But here is a bit of clarification from CBS: 

It also remains to be seen just who may have spread information pertaining to the June 14 test attempt. In 2016, for example, as Wagner noted, Russian hackers obtained World Anti-Doping Agency data and revealed that Williams was using a drug on a banned substance list, even though that drug had been approved for therapeutic use.

Ahh, creative bookkeeping in economy, highly creative anti-doping "policies" in sports--isn't it wonderful how "flexible" modern world is? Of course, in the world of Russian hackers anything is possible. But as I proposed (and not me only)--let doping be official. Let us see where the program of breeding mutants gets us. After all, who wouldn't like to see some freaks of nature compete...oh, wait. 

Postoponed! Again?

By now you probably figured it out that I consider Elon Musk and most what he peddles as some wonder technology a glamorous fraud. But now it becomes really ridiculous and I wonder if these two news-pieces are related. 

First, of course, being yet another, now indefinite, delay of Falcon Heavy static tests. This was going on now for many days. As article states:

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket — described as “the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two” — is in position on a launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center, but the static-fire engine test set for today has been postponed indefinitely due to logistical and safety concerns. An Atlas 5 rocket will roll out to a nearby launch pad on Thursday.

But what caught my attention was a yesterday's piece on reputable Space.Com which reads as an indictment of Musk's faulty engineering: 

Safety Panel Raises Concerns about SpaceX Falcon 9 Pressure Vessel for Commercial Crew Missions 

Could these two be connected and could it be a start of a long overdue process of unmasking Musk as a fraudster that he is? It is one thing to produce some shitty electric jalopy which exists mostly for satisfaction of tender egos of some rich liberal boys, who are still stuck in infancy--but dealing with serious space vehicles, especially ones carrying manned missions is a totally different universe altogether.  And even if Falcon Heavy's tests finally commence at some point of time, there are already serious doubts about Musk and his "company", whose financial records are guarded better than Fort Knox, are adequate for the immense task of space exploration. But, I guess, for a generation (or two) of iPhone users who think that it is real hi-tech, the idea that some Tesla will be launched to Mars seems quite attractive, despite total imbecility of the concept. 

In related news: Tesla Model 3 now will be (at some point) able to follow voice commands. Yes, all my life I was waiting for this "feature", that is granted that those who would want that thing will have to continue waiting for years before their car will be delivered. As Ben Stein used to say:

UPDATE: Finally. 

Following a successful SpaceX Falcon Heavy test, a real launch is imminent