I think he does. Does the Aegis system work against hypersonic missiles? Putin's greater concern is US drones and other reconnaissance aircraft providing real time intelligence to the Ukrainians. It only takes an unintended incident to provoke an escalation of the war.
Oct 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy warship on Thursday intercepted three cruise missiles and several drones launched by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement from Yemen potentially toward Israel, the Pentagon said.
Washington is on heightened alert for activity by Iran-backed groups as regional tensions soar during the Israel-Hamas war.
The Pentagon said the destroyer USS Carney was operating in the northern Red Sea on Thursday when it brought down the projectiles and there were no injuries.
"We cannot say for certain what these missiles and drones were targeting, but they were launched from Yemen heading north along the Red Sea, potentially towards targets in Israel," Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told reporters. A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it did not appear that the warship was the target.
Moscow, Oct 18 (EFE).- President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the Russian Aerospace Forces would conduct permanent patrols over the Black Sea with MiG-31 fighter jets armed with the Kinzhal hypersonic weapons.
“This is not a threat… Based on my instructions, the Russian Aerospace Forces will begin patrols on a permanent basis in the neutral zone of airspace over the Black Sea, and the MiG-31 aircraft will be armed with Kinzhal systems,” Putin told reporters in Beijing after he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Russian Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missile system has a range of over 1,000 km and speeds up to Mach 10.
Putin said the supersonic aircraft would enable Russian aviation to monitor developments in the Mediterranean, particularly given the escalating conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas group in the region.
“I stressed that this is not a threat, but we will exercise visual control, control with weapons of what is happening in the Mediterranean Sea,” the Russian president said.
The US has deployed two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Putin’s announcement came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv had deployed US long-range ATACMS missiles for the first time against two Russian airfields. One of the airfields is on the coast of the Sea of Azov, more than 100 km from the front.
Oct 19 (Reuters) - Russia scrambled two Su-27 fighter jets on Thursday to prevent three British military planes from entering Russian airspace over the Black Sea, the Russian defence ministry said.
It said the Russian fighters were sent to intercept "three air targets" approaching the border, and identified them as an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft and two Typhoon fighter planes.
"As the Russian fighters approached, the foreign military aircraft turned away from the state border of the Russian Federation," the statement said.
It was not clear how close the planes had come to each other.
The Black Sea has become an increasingly important theatre in the war between Russia and Ukraine, now nearing the end of its 20th month. President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he had ordered Russian planes armed with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles to patrol over the Black Sea.
Russia has previously reported a number of incidents in which its fighter jets were scrambled to intercept military planes from Norway, another NATO member, over the Barents Sea.
Hyper sonic cannot be steered. The physic at that speed will destroys the missile if you attempt to steer them. So hyper sonic is a good system at unmoving land based targets has real hard time with moving targets. Aegis was going to be used as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative (AKA Star Wars"). So hundreds of billions over 3 decades was spent by the US, Israel, NATO studying this problem of how to intercept missiles. Iron Dome in Israel is one of the products of all that money. As for it "not being a threat" the no reason to say what he sais UNLESS he means it as a threat
Uh... Yes, it does. Aegis can even track ICBMs and SLBMs if within radar range. Ballistic missiles are by definition "hypersonic", in fact, much faster than the Russian Kinzals.
The Russians throw the term "hypersonic" around like it was some world-changing super weapon--it's not.
Several Kinzals have already been shot down by Ukrainian deployed Patriot missiles.