Ever wondered anything traveling faster than the speed of sound? For good or bad, time to prove science wrong!
As reported by Russia’s defense minister, the latest hypersonic missile (that can travel faster than the speed of sound) has entered service. Referred to as the Avangard, it’s near to impossible to intercept this ballistic missile. The technology being used in present-day missiles is incapable of intercepting the newly released weapon.
The model was announced in early 2018s, by President Putin, in his address and challenged it to be nothing less than a meteorite. “It heads to a target like a meteorite, like a fireball”, he said.
What actually makes it so different? Well, as far as the specifications are concerned, it can bear high temperatures equal to 2000 Celsius. Its weapon carrying capacity is 2 megatons, synonymous to huge destruction though! As per the plans, it shall initially reside in the Soviet-built-RS-18B intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Putin was very confident in the new invention. He had been vouching for the speed and efficiency of the weapon and declares Russia to be the first one designing such a missile. “, not a single country possesses hypersonic weapons, let alone continental-range hypersonic weapons,” at a Russian Defense Ministry board meeting.
For Russia, 2019 ended with a powerful addition to its military department, leading in another engineering domain, for as per the claims it is 27 times faster than the speed of sound. And the reason behind it being uncatchable, it doesn’t follow a predicted path.
So here, a new race and competition have begun, incorporating the latest technological trends for defense purposes. When parallel to this, researchers are busy with ground-breaking inventions in transportation, medical and other fields, how can one not expect the implementation of the same when it comes to military. Sooner or later, autonomous weapons shall be witnessed taking the grounds and being monitored from remotely present personnel.
Contradicting the claim, Avangard is not the only hypersonic weapon commissioned by Russia’s defense body. Prior to that, another one, named Kinzhal, was also introduced by the military and it can travel 10 times faster than sound, amazing! China too, adding its part in the race, has been working on hypersonic weapons lately, and has reached the speed equal to five times faster than sound. These are ones on the count, but we all can definitely expect many ones being designed in the R&D centers around the world. Keeping the same pace, the time is not far when a really big announcement shall hit the world!
