Being a Russian hypersonic missile scientist is a dangerous job.
Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko inspects Kinzhal missile wreckage.Image Credit: Via Kyiv City State Administration WikimediaCC-BY-4.0
Last Tuesday, Ukrainian forces shot down six Russian hypersonic X-47 (Kh-47) Kinzhar missiles. overnight. But just before that, the Kremlin quickly announced that it was investigating potentially and “very seriously” three leading scientists. national treason.
What the exact charges are, as well as the theoretically possible link between these detained experts and the amazing accuracy of Ukrainian air defense systems when firing these notorious hypersonic missiles. still don’t know what But the scientific community in the Russian Federation is already in shock and worried about future careers in science and engineering.
Colleagues of the accused researcher have already written an open letter to the Kremlin, and while experts vigorously defend their colleagues, claiming their innocence, the country will soon run out of people doing the same research. He also expressed concern that
A training mock-up of the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic air-to-ground missile on a Russian MiG-31K. Image credit: Boevaya mashana via Wikimedia /CC BY-SA 3.0
The letter was published on Monday and was written by colleagues Anatoly Maslov, Alexander Sypluk and Valery Zvegintsev.
“We know they’re all patriots and decent people who can’t do what law enforcement suspects,” the letter’s authors said.
They also noted that everyone now fears the risk of being arrested just for publishing a scientific paper or reporting at a conference in the past.
“Even now, bright students refuse to come to work with us, and bright young employees are leaving science,” the Russian scientists further commented in the letter.
The wreckage of the intercepted hypersonic missile “Kinzhar X-47”. Image credit: Defense Express
The Russian military has long boasted that Kinzhal missiles cannot be intercepted. And indeed, the whole world believed this to be the case. Until Ukraine proves that this is possible.
The first reports of a possible downing of an X-47 (Kh-47) Kinzhal rocket were released in the first week of May 2023.
by Arius Noreika
