'The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal', a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, belongs to which one of the following countries?

Correct — C, Russia. The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is a Russian air-launched ballistic missile, given the NATO reporting name AS-24 Killjoy and in service with the Russian Aerospace Forces since 2017. It is carried aloft by a MiG-31K interceptor, and also by the Tu-22M3 bomber, then released to fly a ballistic path at very high speed; Russia states it can take a nuclear or a conventional warhead. Kinzhal is Russian for dagger, which is a useful memory hook for the country of origin.

• (a)China — China's comparable systems carry different designations — the DF-17 with its hypersonic glide vehicle, for example — and the Kh- prefix is a Russian air-launched series.
• (b)France — France's air-launched nuclear missile is the ASMP-A; it has no system of this name.
• (d)USA — American work in this class runs under names such as ARRW and HACM, and the United States had no fielded air-launched hypersonic missile at the time of this exam.

Hypersonic weapons come in two shapes. A boost-glide vehicle is lofted by a rocket and then glides and manoeuvres within the atmosphere. A hypersonic cruise missile flies powered all the way, usually on a scramjet. The Kinzhal is neither exactly: it is an air-launched ballistic missile whose speed comes largely from the aircraft's altitude and the rocket's boost, which is why analysts argue about how much manoeuvring it really does.

Anchor these systems by country and by launch platform, since the designations are easy to shuffle. Russia's set is Kinzhal (air-launched), Avangard (a glide vehicle on an intercontinental booster) and Tsirkon (ship-launched). Numbers deserve care: Russia claims a reach of up to 2,000 km when the launch aircraft's own range is counted, while open-source estimates of the missile alone are far shorter. First combat use was reported in Ukraine in March 2022, a few months before this paper was set.

• The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal entered Russian service in 2017; its NATO reporting name is AS-24 Killjoy.
• Launch platforms include the MiG-31K interceptor and the Tu-22M3 bomber.
• It can carry a conventional or a nuclear warhead and is reported to reach about Mach 10.
• Hypersonic speed means above Mach 5.
• Russia's other much-discussed systems in this field are Avangard and Tsirkon.

• Treating every fast missile as a hypersonic cruise missile.
• Accepting a claimed range that includes the launch aircraft's own reach.

A weapon-to-country item, or a statement set on what counts as hypersonic.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  A missile is described as hypersonic when its speed exceeds

  • (a)Mach 1
  • (b)Mach 3
  • (c)Mach 5
  • (d)Mach 8

  Answer(c) Mach 5 — five times the speed of sound is the conventional threshold.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is launched from

  • (a)a submarine
  • (b)an aircraft
  • (c)a road-mobile launcher
  • (d)a surface warship

  Answer(b) an aircraft — the MiG-31K and the Tu-22M3 are its carriers.