Russia's hypersonic missiles are hyper-inaccurate

Russia’s hypersonic missiles fired in Ukraine have “under-performed” and have proved to be inaccurate, the US military chief responsible for defending America against attack, has disclosed. The Russian air force has fired several Kinzhal (or Dagger) hypersonic ballistic missiles at targets in Ukraine, all of them aimed at buildings. The first missile capable of reaching more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) was launched in March by a MiG-31. General Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command, told a Senate committee that the Russians “have had challenges with some of their hypersonic missiles as far as accuracy”. They had underformed, he told the Senate armed services strategic forces sub-committee. His disclosure that Russia’s so-called precision strikes had frequently failed to fulfil their proclaimed reputation for accuracy and reach is backed up by other senior Pentagon officials. One US defence official said: “We can’t understand why Russia has been using these advanced, costly weapons to hit buildings. The truth is they seem to be incapable of hitting moving targets and the missiles just hit the most obvious high building.” “This is why so many apartment blocks have been hit, not because the Russians have necessarily deliberately targeted them but because the weapons are so inaccurate,” the official said. It ‘s one of the reasons why there has been so much destruction of civilian as opposed to military property in Ukraine, US officials said. Around 1,500 Russian missiles have been fired since the war began on February 24 and most of them hit civilian areas, John Plumb, US assistant secretary of defence for space policy, said. The officials said it was the largest employment of missile systems since the Second World War.