Alexei Leonkov: “We need to think about why there are two US aircraft-carrying strike groups in the Mediterranean Sea.”
Russian missile and aviation hypersonic complexes “Dagger” are beginning to constantly patrol the airspace over Cherny by sea. Vladimir Putin announced this at a press conference in China. Military expert, editor of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine Alexey Leonkov told what targets the Kinzhal can hit if necessary.
At the final press conference in Beijing, Putin said that he had instructed the Russian Aerospace Forces to begin “on an ongoing basis patrolling in the neutral zone of airspace over the Black Sea.” He recalled that MiG-31 aircraft are armed with Kinzhal systems.
Why was such a step taken? After all, there are clearly no worthy targets for our “Dagger” in the Black Sea. But there are now two American aircraft carriers in the Eastern Mediterranean. Will our MiG-31s with the Kinzhal keep an eye on them? Will the «Dagger», if anything, reach them?
“The range of the Kinzhal is more than 1000 kilometers,” Alexey Leonkov told MK. – If you look at the map, then, in principle, the waters of the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea are within the reach of our hypersonic missiles. So they will get it if necessary.
– Let me remind you that there are two large military bases in Syria: the aviation base at Khmeimim and the naval base at Tartus. What if someone’s head goes on one side and they want to hit our bases? Then they will get it. Because they have already tried, as they say, to pull Russia by the ears in connection with the events in Gaza — that it allegedly stands on the side of either Hamas or Iran. Like, thanks to us, Hamas got something, and other nonsense…
— Yes. Look: in the Mediterranean there are two aircraft-carrying strike groups of the US Navy, 150 aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons, and over 700 Tomahawk cruise missiles. We have to think about where these missiles might fly…
Putin spoke about the hypersonic missile and aviation complex “Dagger” in March 2018. Several years ago, a complex consisting of MiG-31 high-altitude interceptors and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles entered combat duty in the Aerospace Forces in several military districts.
The Kinzhal rocket accelerates to a speed 10-12 times faster than the speed of sound. No existing US missile defense system is capable of intercepting it. Electronic warfare means cannot throw it off course. The rocket flies in a plasma cloud. The warhead of the missile, according to open sources, is more than 500 kg. «Dagger» can carry a nuclear warhead. The missile has centimeter accuracy.
Carriers of the “Dagger” are MiG-31 and Su-34 aircraft.
In turn, a member of the council of the All-Russian organization “Officers of Russia”, an honored military man Russian pilot, former head of the Federal Department of Aerospace Search and Rescue, Major General in reserve Vladimir Popov, told MK that the decision to patrol the MiG-31 with Daggers corresponds to the situation in the region.
— The escalation of tensions in the Middle East region is increasing, he said. — And this also applies to us, since we have military bases there. Nothing is happening in terms of a peaceful settlement between the parties to the conflict. On the contrary, after the night bombing of a hospital in Gaza, everything worsened. Therefore, we are taking precautions on our part. Most likely, this is how it should be regarded. We are not threatening anyone. We simply protect ourselves from sudden conflict situations. So that lovers of provocations know what they can get in response.