Hypersonic flight. Hypersonic aircraft. "On the threshold of the hypersonic revolution"

The Cold War, which took place between the USA and the USSR from 1946 to 1991, is long over. At least that's what many experts think. However, the arms race did not stop for a minute, and even today it is in the stage of active development. Despite the fact that today the main threats to the country are terrorist groups, relations between world powers are also tense. All this creates conditions for the development of military technologies, one of which is a hypersonic aircraft.

Necessity

Relations between the United States and Russia are greatly strained. And although at the official level the United States in Russia is called a partner country, many political and military experts argue that there is an unspoken war between the countries not only on the political front, but also on the military one in the form of an arms race. In addition, the United States is actively using NATO to encircle Russia with its missile defense systems.

This cannot but worry the leadership of Russia, which has long ago begun developing unmanned aerial vehicles that exceed hypersonic speed. These drones can be equipped with a nuclear warhead, and they can easily deliver a bomb to anywhere in the world, and quite quickly. A similar hypersonic aircraft has already been created - this is the Yu-71 airliner, which is currently being tested in strict secrecy.

Development of hypersonic weapons

For the first time, testing aircraft that could fly at the speed of sound began in the 50s of the 20th century. Then it was still associated with the so-called Cold War, when two developed powers (USSR and the USA) sought to overtake each other in the arms race. The first project was the Spiral system, which was a compact orbital aircraft. It was supposed to compete with and even surpass the US hypersonic aircraft X-20 Dyna Soar. Also, the Soviet aircraft had to be able to reach speeds of up to 7000 km/h and not fall apart in the atmosphere under overloads.

And although Soviet scientists and designers tried to bring such an idea to life, they failed to even come close to the cherished characteristics. The prototype did not even take off, but the USSR government breathed a sigh of relief when the American plane also failed during testing. The technologies of that time, including in the aviation industry, were infinitely far from the current ones, so the creation of an aircraft that could exceed the speed of sound several times was doomed to failure.

However, in 1991, a test was carried out of an aircraft that could reach speeds exceeding the speed of sound. It was a flying laboratory "Cold", created on the basis of the 5B28 rocket. The test was successful, and then the plane was able to reach a speed of 1900 km/h. Despite progress, development was stopped after 1998 due to the economic crisis.

Technologies of the 21st century

There is no accurate and official information about the development of hypersonic aircraft. However, if we collect materials from open sources, we can conclude that such developments were carried out in several directions at once:

1. Creation of warheads for intercontinental ballistic missiles. Their mass exceeded the mass of standard missiles, but due to the ability to maneuver in the atmosphere, it is impossible or, at least, extremely difficult to intercept them with missile defense systems.
2. The development of the Zircon complex is another direction in the development of technology, which is based on the use of the Yakhont supersonic missile defense system.
3. Creation of a complex whose rockets can exceed the speed of sound 13 times.

If all these projects are united in one holding company, then by joint efforts an air-, ground- or ship-based missile can be created. If the Prompt Global Strike project, created in the United States, is successful, then the Americans will have the opportunity to hit anywhere in the world within one hour. Russia will be able to defend itself only with technologies of its own development.

American and British experts have recorded tests of supersonic missiles that can reach speeds of up to 11,200 km/h. Given such high speed it is almost impossible to shoot them down (not a single missile defense system in the world is capable of this). Moreover, they are even extremely difficult to spy on. There is very little information about the project, which sometimes appears under the name "Yu-71".

What is known about the Russian hypersonic aircraft "Yu-71"?

Considering that the project is classified, there is very little information about it. It is known that this glider is part of a supersonic rocket program, and in theory it is capable of flying to New York in 40 minutes. Of course, this information has no official confirmation and exists at the level of guesswork and rumors. But given that Russian supersonic missiles can reach speeds of 11,200 km/h, such conclusions seem quite logical.

According to various sources, the hypersonic aircraft "Yu-71":

1. Has high maneuverability.
2. Can plan.
3. Capable of reaching speeds of over 11,000 km/h.
4. Can go into space during a flight.

Statements

At the moment, tests of the Russian hypersonic aircraft "Yu-71" have not yet been completed. However, some experts argue that by 2025 Russia may receive this supersonic glider, and it could be equipped with nuclear weapons. Such an aircraft will be put into service, and in theory it will be capable of delivering a targeted nuclear strike anywhere on the planet within just one hour.

Russia's representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said the USSR's once most developed and advanced industry had fallen behind the arms race in recent decades. However, more recently the army has begun to revive. Outdated Soviet equipment is being replaced by new models Russian developments. In addition, fifth-generation weapons, stuck in the 90s in the form of projects on papers, are taking on visible shape. According to the politician, new models of Russian weapons may surprise the world with their unpredictability. It is likely that Rogozin is referring to the new hypersonic aircraft Yu-71, which can carry a nuclear warhead.

It is believed that the development of this aircraft began in 2010, but in the United States they learned about it only in 2015. If information about it technical characteristics is true, then the Pentagon will have to solve a difficult problem, since the missile defense systems used in Europe and on their territory will not be able to counter such an aircraft. In addition, the United States and many other countries will simply be defenseless against such weapons.

Other functions

In addition to the ability to launch nuclear strikes on the enemy, the glider, thanks to powerful modern electronic warfare equipment, will be able to conduct reconnaissance and also disable devices equipped with electronic equipment.

If you believe NATO reports, then from approximately 2020 to 2025, up to 24 such aircraft may appear in the Russian army, which will be able to cross the border unnoticed and destroy an entire city with just a few shots.

Development plans

Of course, there is no data regarding the adoption of the promising Yu-71 aircraft, but it is known that it has been in development since 2009. In this case, the device will be able not only to fly in a straight path, but also to maneuver.

It is maneuverability at hypersonic speeds that will become a feature of the aircraft. Doctor of Military Sciences Konstantin Sivkov argues that intercontinental missiles can reach supersonic speeds, but at the same time they act like conventional ballistic warheads. Consequently, their flight path is easily calculated, which makes it possible for the missile defense system to shoot them down. But controlled aircraft pose a serious threat to the enemy, since their trajectory is unpredictable. Consequently, it is impossible to determine at what point the bomb will be released, and since the release point cannot be determined, the trajectory of the warhead’s fall is not calculated.

In Tula on September 19, 2012, at a meeting of the military-industrial commission, Dmitry Rogozin said that a new holding should soon be created, the task of which would be to develop hypersonic technologies. The enterprises that will be part of the holding were immediately named:

1. "Tactical missile weapons."
2. "NPO Mashinostroyenia" At the moment, the company is developing supersonic technologies, but at the moment the company is part of the Roscosmos structure.
3. The next member of the holding should be the Almaz-Antey concern, which is currently developing technologies for the aerospace and missile defense industries.

Rogozin believes that such a merger is necessary, but legal aspects do not allow it to take place. It is also noted that the creation of a holding does not imply the absorption of one company by another. This is precisely the merger and collaboration all enterprises, which will accelerate the development of hypersonic technologies.

Chairman of the Council under the Russian Ministry of Defense Igor Korotchenko also supports the idea of ​​creating a holding company that would develop hypersonic technologies. According to him, the new holding is really necessary, because it will allow all efforts to be directed towards creating a promising type of weapon. Both companies have great potential, but individually they will not be able to achieve the results that are possible by combining their efforts. It is together that they will be able to contribute to the development of the Russian defense complex and create the fastest aircraft in the world, the speed of which will exceed expectations.

Weapons as a tool of political struggle

If by 2025 not only hypersonic missiles with nuclear warheads are in service, but also Yu-71 gliders, this will seriously strengthen Russia’s political position in negotiations with the United States. And this is completely logical, because all countries during negotiations act from a position of strength, dictating favorable conditions to the opposite side. Equal negotiations between the two countries are possible only if both sides have powerful weapons.

Vladimir Putin, during a speech at the Army 2015 conference, said that nuclear forces are receiving 40 new intercontinental missiles. These turned out to be hypersonic missiles, and they can currently overcome existing missile defense systems. Member expert council Military-Industrial Commission Viktor Murakhovsky confirms that ICBMs are being improved every year.

Russia is also testing and developing new cruise missiles that can fly at hypersonic speeds. They can approach targets at ultra-low altitudes, making them virtually invisible to radar. Moreover, modern missile defense systems in service with NATO cannot hit such missiles due to their low flight altitude. In addition, in theory, they are capable of intercepting targets moving at speeds of up to 800 meters per second, and the speed of the Yu-71 aircraft and cruise missiles is much higher. This makes NATO missile defense systems almost useless.

Projects from other countries

It is known that China and the United States are also developing an analogue of the Russian hypersonic aircraft. The characteristics of the enemy models are still unclear, but we can already assume that the Chinese development is capable of competing with the Russian aircraft.

Known as the Wu-14, the Chinese aircraft was tested in 2012, and even then it was able to reach speeds of over 11,000 km/h. However, there is no mention anywhere about the weapons that this device is capable of carrying.

As for the American Falcon HTV-2 drone, it was tested several years ago, but 10 minutes into the flight it crashed. However, before it, the X-43A hypersonic aircraft was tested, which was carried out by NASA engineers. During tests, it showed a fantastic speed of 11,200 km/h, which is 9.6 times the speed of sound. The prototype was tested in 2001, but then during the tests it was destroyed due to the fact that it got out of control. But in 2004 the device was successfully tested.

Similar tests by Russia, China and the United States cast doubt on the effectiveness modern systems PRO. The introduction of hypersonic technologies in the military-industrial sector is already producing a real revolution in the military world.

Conclusion

Of course, the military-technical development of Russia cannot but rejoice, and the presence of such an aircraft in service with the army is a big step in improving the country’s defense capability, but it is foolish to believe that other world powers are not making attempts to develop similar technologies.

Even today, with free access to information via the Internet, we know very little about promising developments of domestic weapons, and the description of the Yu-71 is known only by rumors. Consequently, we have no way of knowing what technologies are being developed right now in other countries, including China and the United States. The active development of technology in the 21st century makes it possible to quickly invent new types of fuel and apply previously unfamiliar technical and technological techniques, so the development of aircraft, including military ones, is proceeding very quickly.

It is worth noting that the development of technologies that make it possible to achieve aircraft speeds exceeding 10 times the speed of sound will be reflected not only in the military, but also in the civilian sphere. In particular, such well-known aircraft manufacturers as Airbus or Boeing have already announced the possibility of creating hypersonic aircraft to carry out passenger air transportation. Of course, such projects are still only in plans, but the likelihood of developing such aircraft today is quite high.

It ended a long time ago, the world has not become safer. The dangers of this century come not only from terrorist groups; relations between the world's leading powers also leave much to be desired. Russia blackmails the United States with “radioactive ash,” and the Americans surround Russia with a missile defense system, lay down new strategic submarines and test missile defense. Increasingly, high-ranking officials and multi-star generals from both countries are announcing the creation of new types of strategic weapons and the modernization of old ones. One of the directions of the new arms race is the development of hypersonic aircraft, which can be used as an effective means of delivering nuclear charges.

Recently, information appeared about tests in Russia of a new hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicle Yu-71 with unique characteristics. The news was noticed in the foreign press, it is extremely scarce, and we learned practically nothing about the promising complex. In Russian sources, the information is even more scanty and contradictory, and in order to general outline To understand what the new Yu-71 weapon could be, you need to remember why the military used hypersound in the first place.

History of hypersonic vehicles

Hypersound is far from a new direction in the development of offensive weapons. The creation of aircraft with speeds several times higher than the speed of sound (more than Mach 5) began in Nazi Germany, at the very beginning of the rocket era. These works received a powerful impetus after the beginning of the nuclear age and went in several directions.

Various countries have sought to create devices capable of developing hypersonic speeds; there have been attempts to create hypersonic cruise missiles, as well as suborbital aircraft. Most of these projects ended without results.

In the 60s of the last century, development of the project began in the USA hypersonic aircraft North American X-15, which could make suborbital flights. Thirteen of his flights were classified as suborbital, their altitude exceeding 80 kilometers.

In the Soviet Union there was a similar project called “Spiral”, which, however, was never brought to life. According to the plan of Soviet designers, the booster jet aircraft was supposed to reach hypersonic speed (6 M), and then a suborbital vehicle equipped with rocket engines. This device was planned to be used mainly for military purposes.

Work in this direction is also being carried out today by private companies that plan to use similar devices for suborbital tourism. However, these developments are already taking place at the current level of technology development and, most likely, will end successfully. Today, to ensure high speed of such devices, ramjet engines are often used, which will make the use of such aircraft or drones relatively cheap.

The creation of cruise missiles with hypersonic speed is also moving in the same direction. In the United States, the government program Global Prompt Strike (quick or lightning-fast global strike) is being developed, which is aimed at gaining the ability to deliver a powerful non-nuclear strike on any point on the planet within one hour. As part of this program, new hypersonic vehicles are being developed that can both carry a nuclear charge and do without it. As part of the Global Prompt Strike, several projects of cruise missiles with hypersonic speed are being promoted, but the Americans cannot yet boast of serious achievements in this direction.

Similar projects are being developed in Russia. The fastest cruise missile to enter service is the Brahmos anti-ship missile, developed jointly with India.

If we talk about spacecraft that develop hypersonic speed, we should remember reusable spacecraft, which during descent develop a speed many times greater than the speed of sound. Such ships include the American shuttles and the Soviet Buran, but their time has most likely passed.

If we are talking about unmanned hypersonic aerial vehicles, then we should note hypersonic warheads, which are the warheads of ballistic missile systems. Essentially, these are warheads capable of maneuvering at hypersonic speeds. They are also often called gliders for their ability to plan. Today, three countries are known to be working on similar projects: Russia, the USA and China. It is believed that China is the leader in this direction.

The American hypersonic warhead AHW (Advanced Hypersonic Weapon) passed two tests: the first was successful (2011), and during the second the rocket exploded. According to some sources, the AHW glider can reach speeds of up to Mach 8. The development of this device is carried out within the framework of the Global Prompt Strike program.

In 2014, China conducted the first successful tests of the new hypersonic glider WU-14. There is evidence that this warhead can reach a speed of about Mach 10. It can be installed on Various types Chinese ballistic missiles; in addition, there is information that Beijing is actively working on creating its own hypersonic ramjet engine, which can be used to create vehicles launched from aircraft.

The Russian response to the developments of strategic competitors should be the Yu-71 (Project 4202), which was tested at the beginning of this year.

Yu-71: what is known today

In mid-2019, an article in the American publication The Washington Free Beacon caused a great stir. According to journalists, in February 2019, Russia tested a new hypersonic aircraft, the Yu-71, for military purposes. The material reported that the Russian device can reach speeds of up to 11 thousand km/h, and also maneuver along the descent trajectory. Such characteristics make it virtually invulnerable to any modern missile defense systems.

Yu-71 is also called a glider. It was launched in low-Earth orbit, and was delivered there by the SS-19 Stiletto intercontinental ballistic missile (UR-100 N). It launched from the area of ​​deployment of the Dombarovsky Strategic Missile Forces formation. According to the same publication, it is this military unit that will be armed with similar glider combat units until 2025.

Experts believe that Yu-71 is part of a top-secret Russian project 4202, associated with the development of new strategic weapons, which started in 2009. There is very little information about the new warhead (which is quite understandable), only the speed and ability to maneuver at the final stage of the trajectory are mentioned. However, even with such characteristics, the Yu-71 is no longer afraid of any missile defense systems of our day.

The Russian General Staff stated back in 2004 that it had been tested aircraft, capable of developing hypersonic speed while performing maneuvers both in altitude and heading. This coincides with the launch of the UR-100N UTTH ICBM from the Baikonur test site against a target at the Kura test site.

In 2011, information appeared about the test launch of a ballistic missile with special equipment capable of overcoming modern and promising missile defense systems. Probably, one of the promising Russian ballistic missiles will be equipped with a new warhead, most often called the new Sarmat missile (RS-28 ICBM).

The fact is that such warheads have a relatively large mass, so it is better to install them on powerful carriers capable of carrying several Yu-71s at once.

According to scant information from Russian sources, the development of Project 4202 is being carried out by NPO Mashinostroeniya in the town of Reutov near Moscow. In addition, the press reported on the technical re-equipment of the Strela Production Association (Orenburg), undertaken with the aim of participating in the 4202 project.

The warheads of modern ballistic missiles develop hypersonic speeds during their descent trajectory and are capable of performing quite complex maneuvers. Experts consider the main difference between the Yu-71 to be an even more difficult flight, comparable to the flight of an airplane.

In any case, the adoption of such units into service will significantly increase the effectiveness of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces.

There is information about the active development of hypersonic cruise missiles, which could become a new weapon for Russian combat aircraft, in particular the promising strategic bomber PACK YES. Such missiles represent a very difficult target for interceptor missiles of missile defense systems.

Such projects could render the missile defense system as a whole useless. The fact is that objects flying from high speed, it is extremely difficult to intercept. To do this, interceptor missiles must have high speed and the ability to maneuver with huge overloads, and such missiles do not yet exist. It is very difficult to calculate the trajectories of maneuvering warheads.

Video about the Yu-71 hypersonic glider

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Hypersonic aircraft, which will reach technical maturity in the near future, may radically change the entire field of missile weapons. And Russia will have to join this race, otherwise there will be a risk of losing too much. After all we're talking about neither more nor less about the scientific and technological revolution.

It is too early to talk about an arms race in this area - today it is a technology race. Hypersonic projects have not yet gone beyond the scope of R&D: for now, mostly demonstrators are sent into flight. Their levels of technological readiness on the DARPA scale are mainly in the fourth to sixth positions (on a ten-point scale).

However, there is no need to talk about hypersound as some kind of technical novelty. ICBM warheads enter the atmosphere at hypersound, descent vehicles with astronauts, and space shuttles are also hypersonic. But flying at hypersonic speeds when deorbiting is a necessary necessity, and it does not last long. We will talk about aircraft for which hypersound is the normal mode of operation, and without it they will not be able to demonstrate their superiority and show their capabilities and power.

IMPACT FROM ORBIT

We will talk about hypersonic maneuvering controlled objects - maneuvering warheads of ICBMs, hypersonic cruise missiles, hypersonic UAVs. What exactly do we mean by hypersonic aircraft? First of all, we mean the following characteristics: flight speed - 5-10 M and above, covered operating altitude range - 25-140 km. One of the most attractive qualities of hypersonic vehicles is the impossibility of reliable tracking by air defense systems, since the object flies in a plasma cloud, opaque to radar. It is also worth noting the high maneuverability and minimal reaction time to defeat. For example, a hypersonic vehicle requires only an hour after leaving the waiting orbit to hit the selected target.

Projects for hypersonic vehicles have been developed more than once and continue to be developed in our country. You can recall the Tu-130, an Ajax aircraft powered by two types of fuel - hydrogen for high flight speeds and kerosene for lower ones.

The OKB project left its mark in the history of engineering. Mikoyan “Spiral”, in which the return aerospace hypersonic aircraft was launched into artificial satellite orbit by a hypersonic booster aircraft, and after completing combat missions in orbit, returned to the atmosphere, performing maneuvers in it also at hypersonic speeds. Developments from the Spiral project were used in the BOR and Buran space shuttle projects. There is officially unconfirmed information about the Aurora hypersonic aircraft created in the United States. Everyone has heard about him, but no one has ever seen him.

"ZIRCON" FOR THE FLEET

On March 17, 2016, it became known that Russia had officially begun testing the Zircon hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile (ASC). The fifth-generation nuclear submarines (Husky) will also be armed with the latest projectile; surface ships and, of course, the flagship of the Russian fleet, Peter the Great, will also receive it. A speed of 5-6 M and a range of at least 400 km (the missile will cover this distance in four minutes) will significantly complicate the use of countermeasures. It is known that the rocket will use the new Decilin-M fuel, which increases the flight range by 300 km. The developer of the Zircon anti-ship missile system is NPO Mashinostroeniya, part of the Tactical Missile Weapons Corporation. The appearance of a serial rocket can be expected by 2020. It is worth considering that Russia has extensive experience in creating high-speed anti-ship cruise missiles, such as the serial P-700 Granit anti-ship missile (2.5 M), the serial P-270 Moskit anti-ship missile (2.8 M), which will be replaced by the new Zircon anti-ship missile system.

INTELLIGENT WARHEAD

The first information about the launch of the Yu-71 product (as it is designated in the West] into low-Earth orbit by the RS-18 Stiletto rocket and its return to the atmosphere appeared in February 2015. The launch was carried out from the position area of ​​the Dombrovsky formation by the 13th Missile Division of the Strategic Missile Forces (Orenburg region) It is also reported that the division will receive 24 Yu-71 products to equip the new Sarmat missiles by 2025. The Yu-71 product has also been created by NPO Mashinostroeniya as part of Project 4202 since 2009.

The product is a super-maneuverable missile warhead that performs a gliding flight at a speed of 11,000 km/h. It can go into near space and hit targets from there, as well as carry a nuclear charge and be equipped with an electronic warfare system. At the moment of “diving” into the atmosphere, the speed can be 5,000 m/s (18,000 km/h) and for this reason the Yu-71 is protected from overheating and overloads, and can easily change the direction of flight without being destroyed.

The Yu-71 product, having high maneuverability at hypersonic speed in altitude and heading and flying not along a ballistic trajectory, becomes unattainable for any air defense system. In addition, the warhead is controllable, due to which it has a very high accuracy of destruction: this will also allow it to be used in a non-nuclear high-precision version. It is known that several launches were made during 2011-2015. The Yu-71 product is believed to be put into service in 2025, and will be equipped with the Sarmat ICBM.

GO UP

Among the projects of the past, one can note the X-90 rocket, which was developed by the Raduga IKB. The project dates back to 1971; it was closed in 1992, a difficult year for the country, although tests showed good results. The rocket was repeatedly demonstrated at the MAKS aerospace show. A few years later, the project was revived: the rocket received a speed of 4-5 M and a range of 3500 km when launched from a Tu-160 carrier. The demonstration flight took place in 2004. It was supposed to arm the missile with two detachable warheads placed on the sides of the fuselage, but the projectile never entered service.

The RVV-BD hypersonic missile was developed by the Vympel Design Bureau named after I.I. Toropova. It continues the line of K-37, K-37M missiles, which are in service with the MiG-31 and MiG-31BM. The hypersonic interceptors of the PAK DP project will also be armed with the RVV-BD missile. According to the statement of the head of KTRV, Boris Viktorovich Obnosov, made at MAKS 2015, the rocket began to be mass-produced and its first batches will roll off the assembly line in 2016. The missile weighs 510 kg, has a high-explosive fragmentation warhead and will hit targets at ranges of 200 km in a wide range of altitudes. A dual-mode solid propellant rocket engine allows it to reach a hypersonic speed of 6 Mach.

HYPERSOUND OF THE HEAVENLY

In the fall of 2015, the Pentagon reported, and this was confirmed by Beijing, that China had successfully tested the DF-ZF Yu-14 (WU-14) hypersonic maneuvering aircraft, which was launched from the Wuzhai test site. The Yu-14 separated from the carrier “at the edge of the atmosphere” and then glided towards a target located several thousand kilometers in western China. The flight of the DF-ZF was monitored by American intelligence services, and according to their data, the device maneuvered at a speed of 5 Mach, although its speed could potentially reach 10 Mach. China stated that it had solved the problem of hypersonic jet engines for such devices and created new lightweight composite materials for protection against kinetic heating. Chinese representatives also reported that the Yu-14 is capable of breaking through the US air defense system and delivering a global nuclear strike.

AMERICA PROJECTS

Currently, various hypersonic aircraft are “in operation” in the United States, which are undergoing flight tests with varying degrees of success. Work on them began in the early 2000s, and today they are at different levels of technological readiness. Recently, the developer of the X-51A hypersonic vehicle, Boeing, announced that the X-51A will be put into service in 2017.

Among the ongoing projects in the United States are: the AHW (Advanced Hypersonic Weapon) hypersonic maneuvering warhead project, the Falcon HTV-2 (Hyper-Sonic Technology Vehicle) hypersonic aircraft launched using ICBMs, the X-43 Hyper-X hypersonic aircraft, a prototype hypersonic cruise missile Boeing's X-51A Waverider, equipped with a hypersonic ramjet with supersonic combustion.It is also known that in the United States work is underway on the SR-72 hypersonic UAV from Lockheed Martin, which only officially announced its work on this product in March 2016.

The first mention of the SR-72 drone dates back to 2013, when Lockheed Martin announced that it would develop the 5R-72 hypersonic UAV to replace the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft. It will fly at a speed of 6400 km/h at operating altitudes of 50-80 km up to suborbital ones, and will have a dual-circuit propulsion system with a common air intake and nozzle apparatus based on a turbojet engine for acceleration from a speed of 3 M and a hypersonic ramjet with supersonic combustion for flight at speeds exceeding 3 M. The 5R-72 will perform reconnaissance missions, as well as strike with high-precision air-to-surface weapons in the form light missiles without an engine - they won’t need one, since a good hypersonic launch speed is already available.

Among the problematic issues of SR-72, experts include the choice of materials and casing design that can withstand large thermal loads from kinetic heating at temperatures of 2000°C and above. It will also be necessary to solve the problem of separating weapons from the internal compartments at a hypersonic flight speed of 5-6 M and eliminate cases of loss of communication, which were repeatedly observed during tests of the HTV-2 object. Lockheed Martin Corporation stated that the size of the SR-72 will be comparable to the size of the SR-71 - in particular, the length of the SR-72 will be 30 m. The SR-72 is expected to enter service in 2030.

The desire to create as quickly as possible military equipment– this is a key goal for any state, because only high speeds are a guarantee of overcoming air defenses. For this reason, hypersonic weapon technologies were actively developed back in Nazi Germany. Later they migrated to the allies, who continued their outstanding developments.

However, only in recent decades has technology made it possible to make a qualitative step forward. For Russia, this is expressed in the secret project Yu-71 - a hypersonic aircraft.

History of the creation of hypersonic weapons

Hypersonic weapons reached their maximum development during the “ Cold War" Like many outstanding military projects of mankind, fundamentally new technologies were created in conditions of competition between the USA and the USSR. The first attempts to exceed the speed of sound (namely, to overcome the barrier of 1234.8 km/h) did not lead to serious achievements. But it should also be noted that the tasks set were almost impossible even for such powerful powers.

Not much is known about these projects, but some information has reached us that, for example, in the USSR, designers were faced with the task of making:

• an aircraft that could reach a speed of at least 7000 km/h;
• reliable design for using the equipment many times;
• a controlled aircraft to make it as difficult as possible to detect and eliminate it;
• finally, surpass a similar development of the states - the X-20 Dyna Soar.

But during the tests, it became clear that it was impossible to even take off at similar speeds and with the required design, and the Soviet Union closed the project.

Fortunately for the leadership of the USSR, the Americans also did not achieve progress: only a few times the hypersonic aircraft rose to suborbital altitude, but in most situations it lost control and crashed.

Development of supersonic technologies in the 21st century

Hypersonic technologies are closely intertwined in two different directions: the creation of ballistic and guided missiles or the design of a full-fledged aircraft.

And if missiles that exceed the speed of sound several times are already being successfully created and even participate in military operations, then aircraft require truly ingenious design solutions. The main catch is that overloads at high speeds during maneuvers are measured not even in tens, but in hundreds of g. Planning such loads and ensuring reliability of the equipment is a rather difficult task.

Technologies do not stand still, so in the 21st century the project “4202” was implemented in Russia, which is often referred to as the Yu-71 - a hypersonic aircraft.

It grew out of the development of hypersonic technologies in missiles.

Very little is known about the development, because similar work was and is being carried out not only in the USSR and then Russia, but also in the USA, as well as China, Britain, and France. The desire of the leading world powers to keep complex and expensive discoveries secret is quite understandable, since serious military superiority will be achieved with hypersonic technology.

It is known that the first successes were achieved back in the USSR, in 1991. Then the Kholod aircraft successfully took off into the air. The device was launched on the basis anti-aircraft missile system S-200, using a 5B28 missile. The engineers were able to achieve a controlled flight and reach a speed of 1900 km/h. After this, the possibilities only expanded, but in 1998 the tests were stopped. The reason turned out to be prosaic - the crisis that had broken out in the country.

Given the high secrecy of information, there are not many reliable sources.

However, the foreign press provides such information that in 20-2010. Russia has again begun to develop hypersonic projects. The tasks were set as follows:

1. To develop ballistic and guided missiles at a faster pace to ensure that they overcome any known interception means before reaching the target.
2. Develop missile systems with rocket speeds exceeding the speed of sound up to 13 times.
3. Conduct tests of an aircraft with means of delivering nuclear and non-nuclear weapons.

The main reason for the development of such weapons was based on the fact that a similar American project, Prompt Global Strike, was developed to be based on ships and aircraft in order to be guaranteed to hit any point on the planet in 1 hour. Naturally, Russia had to respond with the same weapons, because no country has interception weapons capable of targeting targets at such a high speed.

The most famous facts about Russia's secret weapon - Yu-71

Already at the start of work, the ideas of the 4202 project were seriously ahead of their time, since the chief designer was the brilliant Gleb Lozino-Lozinsky. But they were able to create a full-fledged aircraft much later, already in Russia.

According to foreign sources, the tests of the glider, namely the Yu-71 aircraft, did not take place at the beginning of 2015, as the Russian military leadership says. There is information that already in 2004, a supposedly new hypersonic glider was launched at Baikonur. This version is confirmed by the fact that in 2012, on one of defense enterprises countries in the city of Reutov was announced New Year's greetings, where employees were told that the “4202” project was key for the near future.

In general, the Russian Yu-71 supersonic aircraft is extremely difficult to shoot down and even track. Therefore, a lot of information is hidden from ordinary people. According to available information, the Yu-71 has the following characteristics:

1. A hypersonic aircraft takes off from low-Earth orbit. It is delivered there by UR-100N UTTH type missiles. At the level of opinions it is said that in the future the company will be responsible for delivery newest rocket"Sarmat" ICBM RS-28.
2. The maximum recorded speed of the Yu-71 is estimated at 11,200 km/h. Experts say that the device is capable of maneuvering on the final part of the trajectory. But even without this ability, it remains out of reach of air defense and missile defense systems due to its high speed. According to the Russian military, the Yu-71 can maneuver in altitude and heading from the moment it launches in low-Earth orbit.
3. The Yu-71 can go into space, which makes it even more invisible to most detection equipment.
4. It is believed that from the moment of launch, the glider can fly to New York in 40 minutes, carrying nuclear warheads on board.
5. Hypersonic modules are very heavy, so the military leadership is considering the possibility of delivering several Yu-71s into low-Earth orbit using more powerful rockets than are currently used.
6. The glider has 3 compartments with various equipment and weapons.
7. There is an opinion that Russia is starting active production of the Yu-71 project. Thus, presumably the Strela production facility near Orenburg is being completely technically rebuilt to assemble hypersonic weapons.

The only information that is called accurate is the speed developed by the aircraft and the ability to maneuver in flight.

Other information is kept secret. But it is already clear that Russia is ready to respond adequately in the hypersonic race.

Competitors Yu-71

Hypersonic technologies are the subject of work by the world's leading powers. Some have achieved serious achievements, for others the costs were high or it was not possible to carry out highly technological projects. Russia's main competitors today are the United States and China.

In the 21st century, humanity has come close to hypersonic weapons.

If you believe information leaks, then Russia can announce the final stage faster than others, namely the adoption of such technologies. This will bring a tangible advantage in military terms.

Prospects for the Russian Yu-71

According to some reports, the Yu-71 has passed tests and is being prepared for serial production. Although the project is secret, a number of sources indicate that by 2025 Russia will have 40 such gliders with nuclear warheads.

Even though Yu-71 launches are expensive, the device can be used for different purposes. The ability is also called as soon as possible deliver a warhead to any point on the planet, and, for example, transport food and supplies.

Due to its maneuverability, the Yu-71 can be used as an attack aircraft or bomber deep behind enemy lines.

The Yu-71 will most likely be located near Orenburg, in the rear, since the most vulnerable part of the flight is the launch and achievement of orbit. After separating the glider from the rocket, tracking its movement and, even more so, shooting it down becomes impossible for modern missile defense or air defense systems.

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Hypersonic aircraft, which will reach technical maturity in the near future, may radically change the entire field of missile weapons. And Russia will have to join this race, otherwise there will be a risk of losing too much. After all, we are talking about nothing less than a scientific and technological revolution.

It is too early to talk about an arms race in this area - today it is a technology race. Hypersonic projects have not yet gone beyond the scope of R&D: for now, mostly demonstrators are sent into flight. Their levels of technological readiness on the DARPA scale are mainly in the fourth to sixth positions (on a ten-point scale).

However, there is no need to talk about hypersound as some kind of technical novelty. ICBM warheads enter the atmosphere at hypersound, descent vehicles with astronauts, and space shuttles are also hypersonic. But flying at hypersonic speeds when deorbiting is a necessary necessity, and it does not last long. We will talk about aircraft for which hypersound is the normal mode of operation, and without it they will not be able to demonstrate their superiority and show their capabilities and power.

Swift reconnaissance aircraft: SR-72 is a promising American aircraft that can become a functional analogue of the legendary SR-71 - a supersonic and super-maneuverable reconnaissance aircraft. The main difference from its predecessor is the absence of a pilot in the cockpit and hypersonic speed.

Impact from orbit

We will talk about hypersonic maneuvering controlled objects - maneuvering warheads of ICBMs, hypersonic cruise missiles, hypersonic UAVs. What exactly do we mean by hypersonic aircraft? First of all, we mean the following characteristics: flight speed - 5-10 M (6150-12,300 km/h) and above, covered operating altitude range - 25-140 km. One of the most attractive qualities of hypersonic vehicles is the impossibility of reliable tracking by air defense systems, since the object flies in a plasma cloud, opaque to radar.

It is also worth noting the high maneuverability and minimal reaction time to defeat. For example, a hypersonic vehicle requires only an hour after leaving the waiting orbit to hit the selected target.

Projects for hypersonic vehicles have been developed more than once and continue to be developed in our country. You can recall the Tu-130 (6 M), the Ajax aircraft (8-10 M), the projects of high-speed hypersonic aircraft from the Design Bureau named after. Mikoyan on hydrocarbon fuel in different options application of a hypersonic aircraft (6 M) using two types of fuel - hydrogen for high flight speeds and kerosene for lower ones.

The Boeing X-51A Waverider hypersonic missile being developed in the United States

The OKB project left its mark in the history of engineering. Mikoyan “Spiral”, in which the return aerospace hypersonic aircraft was launched into artificial satellite orbit by a hypersonic booster aircraft, and after completing combat missions in orbit, returned to the atmosphere, performing maneuvers in it also at hypersonic speeds. Developments from the Spiral project were used in the BOR and Buran space shuttle projects. There is officially unconfirmed information about the Aurora hypersonic aircraft created in the United States. Everyone has heard about him, but no one has ever seen him.

"Zircon" for the fleet

On March 17, 2016, it became known that Russia had officially begun testing a hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile (ASC). The fifth-generation nuclear submarines (“Husky”) will also be armed with the newest projectile; surface ships and, of course, the flagship of the Russian fleet will also receive it. A speed of 5-6 M and a range of at least 400 km (the missile will cover this distance in four minutes) will significantly complicate the use of countermeasures. It is known that the rocket will use the new Decilin-M fuel, which increases the flight range by 300 km.

The developer of the Zircon anti-ship missile system is NPO Mashinostroeniya, part of the Tactical Missile Weapons Corporation. The appearance of a serial rocket can be expected by 2020. It is worth considering that Russia has extensive experience in creating high-speed anti-ship cruise missiles, such as the serial P-700 Granit anti-ship missile (2.5 M), the serial P-270 Moskit anti-ship missile (2.8 M), which will be replaced by the new Zircon anti-ship missile system.

Winged Strike: An unmanned hypersonic glide aircraft, developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the late 1950s, was intended to represent the final stage of a missile strike system.

Cunning Warhead

The first information about the launch of the Yu-71 product (as it is designated in the West) into low-Earth orbit by the RS-18 Stiletto rocket and its return to the atmosphere appeared in February 2015. The launch was made from the position area of ​​the Dombrovsky formation by the 13th missile division of the Strategic Missile Forces (Orenburg region). It is also reported that by 2025 the division will receive 24 Yu-71 products to equip new ones. The Yu-71 product was also created by NPO Mashinostroeniya as part of Project 4202 since 2009.

The product is a super-maneuverable missile warhead that performs a gliding flight at a speed of 11,000 km/h. It can go into near space and hit targets from there, as well as carry a nuclear charge and be equipped with an electronic warfare system. At the moment of “diving” into the atmosphere, the speed can be 5,000 m/s (18,000 km/h) and for this reason the Yu-71 is protected from overheating and overloads, and can easily change the direction of flight without being destroyed.

Airframe element of a hypersonic weapon, which remained a project. The length of the aircraft was supposed to be 8 m, the wingspan was 2.8 m.

The Yu-71 product, having high maneuverability at hypersonic speed in altitude and heading and flying not along a ballistic trajectory, becomes unattainable for any air defense system. In addition, the warhead is controllable, due to which it has a very high accuracy of destruction: this will also allow it to be used in a non-nuclear high-precision version. It is known that during 2011–2015 several launches were made. The Yu-71 product is believed to be put into service in 2025, and will be equipped with it.

Rise high

Among the projects of the past, one can note the X-90 rocket, which was developed by the Raduga IKB. The project dates back to 1971; it was closed in 1992, a difficult year for the country, although the tests carried out showed good results. The rocket was repeatedly demonstrated at the MAKS aerospace show. A few years later, the project was revived: the rocket received a speed of 4-5 M and a range of 3500 km when launched from a Tu-160 carrier. The demonstration flight took place in 2004. It was supposed to arm the missile with two detachable warheads placed on the sides of the fuselage, but the projectile never entered service.

The RVV-BD hypersonic missile was developed by the Vympel Design Bureau named after I.I. Toropova. It continues the line of K-37, K-37M missiles in service with and. The hypersonic interceptors of the PAK DP project will also be armed with the RVV-BD missile. According to the statement of the head of KTRV, Boris Viktorovich Obnosov, made at MAKS 2015, the rocket began to be mass-produced and its first batches will roll off the assembly line in 2016. The missile weighs 510 kg, has a high-explosive fragmentation warhead and will hit targets at ranges of 200 km in a wide range of altitudes. A dual-mode solid propellant rocket engine allows it to reach a hypersonic speed of 6 Mach.

SR-71: Today, long retired, this aircraft occupies a prominent place in aviation history. It is being replaced by hypersound.

Hypersound of the Celestial Empire

In the fall of 2015, the Pentagon reported, and this was confirmed by Beijing, that China had successfully tested the DF-ZF Yu-14 (WU-14) hypersonic maneuvering aircraft, which was launched from the Wuzhai test site. The Yu-14 separated from the carrier “at the edge of the atmosphere” and then glided towards a target located several thousand kilometers in western China. The flight of the DF-ZF was monitored by American intelligence services, and according to their data, the device maneuvered at a speed of 5 Mach, although its speed could potentially reach 10 Mach.

China said it has solved the problem of hypersonic jet propulsion for such vehicles and created new lightweight composite materials to protect against kinetic heating. Chinese representatives also reported that the Yu-14 is capable of breaking through the US air defense system and delivering a global nuclear strike.

America Projects

Currently, various hypersonic aircraft are “in operation” in the United States, which are undergoing flight tests with varying degrees of success. Work on them began in the early 2000s, and today they are at different levels of technological readiness. Recently, the developer of the X-51A hypersonic vehicle, Boeing, announced that the X-51A will be put into service in 2017.

Among the ongoing projects in the United States are: the AHW (Advanced Hypersonic Weapon) hypersonic maneuvering warhead project, the Falcon HTV-2 (Hyper-Sonic Technology Vehicle) hypersonic aircraft launched using ICBMs, the X-43 Hyper-X hypersonic aircraft, a prototype hypersonic cruise missile Boeing's X-51A Waverider, equipped with a hypersonic ramjet with supersonic combustion. It is also known that in the United States work is underway on the SR-72 hypersonic UAV from Lockheed Martin, which only officially announced its work on this product in March 2016.

Space “spiral”: a hypersonic booster aircraft developed under the “Spiral” project. The system was also expected to include a military orbital aircraft with a rocket booster.

The first mention of the SR-72 drone dates back to 2013, when Lockheed Martin announced that it would develop the SR-72 hypersonic UAV to replace the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft. It will fly at a speed of 6400 km/h at operating altitudes of 50-80 km up to suborbital, will have a two-circuit propulsion system with a common air intake and a nozzle apparatus based on a turbojet engine for acceleration from a speed of 3 M and a hypersonic ramjet with supersonic combustion for flight at speeds of more than 3 M. SR-72 will perform reconnaissance missions, as well as strike with high-precision air-to-surface weapons in the form of light missiles without an engine - they will not need one, since a good hypersonic launch speed is already available.

Among the problematic issues of SR-72, experts include the choice of materials and casing design that can withstand large thermal loads from kinetic heating at temperatures of 2000 °C and above. It will also be necessary to solve the problem of separating weapons from the internal compartments at a hypersonic flight speed of 5-6 M and eliminate cases of loss of communication, which were repeatedly observed during tests of the HTV-2 object. Lockheed Martin Corporation has stated that the size of the SR-72 will be comparable to the size of the SR-71 - in particular, the length of the SR-72 will be 30 m. The SR-72 is expected to enter service in 2030.

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