(1) not sure if 250 is a handful (more than all French fighter fleet). 250 of which 120 is to be upgraded to MiG-31BM standard (3400km/h you know ;-)))
Yeah, you do know that the MiG-31BM is not used to carry Kinzhal... the upgraded variant intended to use Kinzhal is called MiG-31K or something and wont be much good for anything except launching Kinzhal and this new big missile for space launches or anti satellite use.
They wont be converting hundreds of MiGs to this design... likely a dozen or two.
10 in 2017 was already in version K.
So you know they have converted less than one dozen for the role... why then are you talking about the 120 adapted for the interception role that will likely never carry Kinzhal?
[quote(2) Tu-22 always have been basis for anti CSGs Naval bombers. IMHO Kiznhals might not be final weapon type but GZUR. This helps to have longer range and 6 GZUR vs 4 Kiznahls. So 50% more ammo ...[/quote]
Actually the Tu-22M is just as much a land attack aircraft as it is a naval attack type, its theatre role with nuclear armed SEAD missiles being pretty standard stuff.
AFAIK GZUR phase 2 is to have 12.Ma andis to be in late 2020s.
As they get more experience with such systems their ability will only get better...
What about Zirkon?
Zircon will replace Onyx in all those UKSK launch tubes in ships and subs and also be put on trailers and trains all over the place.
It would make sense to develop an air launched model that might one day replace the Kh-32 perhaps.
Not really, apparently the scramjet only works during the cruising phase at high altitude. Besides the range is maximized by using the kinetic energy rather than using the engine until the end. So, for the approach to the target in dense layers of atmosphere the missile will apparently shed its engine.
You are making a lot of assumptions... a scramjet is a jet engine that can burn fuel at supersonic speeds... ie in a supersonic air flow, but that is not to say it can't operate at lower air speeds in a pure ramjet mode... it is actually rather unlikely that the main rocket motor could accelerate it high or fast enough to start off in full scramjet mode and it would likely operate in ramjet mode to begin with... which is fine... it is very unlikely to be intercepted 2,000km from the target anyway.
My comment is more in the line of signaling how the range of the Kinzhal missile from a subsonic Tu-PAK-DA would underperfrom the range of the Kinzhal used from the Tu-22 or the Tu-160.
The size of the PAK DA means if you wanted to carry Kinzhal missiles internally you could probably attach a rather large extra stage booster rocket motor to get the missile moving much faster and at much higher altitude than a MiG-31 could get it to, but Kinzhal seems to me to be a short term stopgap answer to the US parking a CVN off the Russian coast and making threats... in a decades time when the PAK DA is in service I suspect there will be a range of interesting new powerful weapons it could carry for an enormous range of roles and missions... its subsonic speed and enormous internal volume expands the range of weapons it can carry stealthily and aerodynamically efficiently.
Yeah maybe, only I was not talking about Iskander but about Zirkon!
Probably the warhead of Iskander also detaches on terminal approach nevertheless. Why to carry that dead weight once the rocket is depleted?
All the drawings and models I have seen showing what Zircon might look like are wedge shaped aircraft with a big solid rocket booster attached to the rear... I agree that solid rear booster will be jettisoned, but I suspect the scramjet motor will be integral to the design of the missile and being a jet engine can provide thrust at pretty much any speed until it runs out of fuel... why even want to jettison the engine... once you do that you become ballistic and a much easier target.
Once all the fuel is burned up a jet engine... particularly a scramjet engine is actually very light with very few moving parts or expensive components...
With speed ~4kms kinetic energy of mass is equal chemical energy warhead. With 8-9Ma is less but still nice addition to warhead.
Indeed... it is positioned behind the warhead and guidance component of the missile so adds very little drag, but in terms of kinetic energy adds mass to improve flight performance because a heavier object pushes the air aside better than a lighter object...
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