During his annual presidential address to the Federal Assembly on March 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced five new, cutting edge weapons. From all the newly introduced weapons, the strategic RS-28 “Sarmat” missile received the most attention after it was shown aimed at Florida in the promotional video.

Along with the other four strategic weapons systems, Putin introduced the new nuclear capable, air-launched missile “Kinzhal.” Putin’s previous claims of developing an “ideal weapon” were supported by a recent successful missile test.

@DFRLab took a closer look at the new system.

The Test

During Putin’s speech at the Russian Federal Assembly earlier this month, Putin announced the new nuclear capable air-launched missile, supposedly named Kh-47M2 “Kinzhal” (Dagger). During his speech, a visualization of the new weapon was shown to support his statement. A new hypersonic missile was launched from a modified MiG-31BM (NATO reporting name “Foxhound”) fighter and hit various targets.

Visualization of the Kinzhal missile from Putin’s announcement. (Source: YouTube / Russia Insight)

Putin went so far as to describe the new missile as “an ideal weapon,” capable of flying at ten times the speed of the sound and capable of overcoming air-defense systems.

To further support the announcement, Russia declared a successful test of the missiles on March 10. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD), the launch went according to plan and the hypersonic missile hit the test target. A video was posted as proof of the successful launch.

A short portion of a flying missile in a dark background in the posted video, allegedly showing the new Kindzhal missile.

Footage of the flying Kinzhal missile. (Source: YouTube / Минобороны России).

The limited video frames and Putin’s speech comprised the only publicly released evidence of the missile.

Location

The official statements and media articles describing the location of the test referred to an airfield in the Russia’s Southern Military District. Although no clear location was provided, geolocation data in the video suggests that the test took place in Akhtubinsk (Ахтубинск), Astrakhan Oblast.