Russia has said it successfully launched a hypersonic missile described by Vladimir Putin as an ideal weapon when he unveiled new armaments earlier this month.



The Kinzhal missile was launched from a MiG-31 aircraft that took off from an airfield in south-western Russia, the defence ministry said.

“The launch went according to plan: the hypersonic missile hit its target,” the ministry said.

It released footage of two pilots preparing for a flight and then running towards a jet carrying a large missile.

Set to rousing, patriotic music, the video showed a missile detaching from the airborne plane and gliding across the sky, leaving a fiery trail.

The Kinzhal missile was one of the weapons the Russian president unveiled in his state of the nation address earlier this month, ahead of a presidential election on 18 March that he is all but guaranteed to win.

The US defence secretary, James Mattis, said that nothing Putin showed off changed anything from the Pentagon’s perspective, as he spoke to reporters as he travelled to Oman.

“I saw no change to the Russian military capability and each of these systems that he’s talking about that are still years away, I do not see them changing the military balance. They do not impact any need on our side for a change in our deterrence posture.”

One of the technologies Putin touted was a robotic torpedo that could hit an US port city, but Mattis said that makes no difference as Russia already can target US port cities with missiles. “It doesn’t change anything other than how much money do they want to spend on something that does not change at all the strategic balance,” he said.

Quick Guide Hypersonic missiles and the 'doomsday torpedo' Show Hypersonic glide weapons First mooted in the 1960s, hypersonic glide weapons are designed to fly at ultra-high speeds and at much lower altitudes than ballistic missiles, with the idea that they would be effectively undetectable by existing anti-missiles systems. Although the US was believed to be further advanced in its testing, Russia has been working hard on its Yu-74 hypersonic weapon which may become operational as early as 2020. China is among other countries believed to be pursuing the technology. The Russian version – part of a project called Objekt 4202 – was designed to counter both the Nato missile defence shield and the US's Thaad anti-missile system. It could fly from Moscow to London in around 13 minutes, armed with multiple nuclear warheads. One suggestion for delivery is that it may be launched from the new Russian Sarmat intercontinental missile system – due to come into service this year. The Yu-74 is planned to achieve its hypersonic speed, around Mach 10, by using gravity as it falls back to earth. The 'doomsday torpedo' Putin also mentioned a nuclear-armed underwater drone likely to be the Kanyon or Status-6. Described in some places as the Russian ‘doomsday torpedo', its existence was confirmed earlier this year in a draft of the Pentagon’s Nuclear Posture Review. Reportedly first detected by US intelligence in 2016, the submarine-launched autonomous vehicle can carry a 100 megaton nuclear warhead. It has a range of 6,200 miles, a top speed of over 56 knots and can descend to depths of 3,280 feet.

Putin said the tested hypersonic missile flies at 10 times the speed of the sound and can overcome air-defence systems.

The missile has been deployed in the southern military district since 1 December, he said.

Dmitry Rogozin, the deputy prime minister, said on Facebook that work had been carried out to modernise the “unique” MiG-31 that will carry the missile.

Since the start of the year, more than 250 sorties have been carried out by the aircraft to perfect the missile system, the defence ministry said.