Russia has deployed roughly a dozen hypersonic weapons in Ukraine since invading, though U.S. defense officials said this has “not been a game-changer” on the battlefield.
A senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Tuesday that the Russian military has used roughly 10 to 12 hypersonic weapons, while Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed the use of these weapons in front of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on Wednesday morning.
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“Obviously, the distinguishing factor of hypersonic missiles is the speed at which it travels, and we have analyzed each of these shots that they’ve taken,” Milley explained. “But other than the speed of the weapon, in terms of its effect on a given target, we are not seeing really significant or game-changing effects to date with the delivery of the small number of hypersonics that the Russians have used.”
It’s the first time hypersonic weapons have been used in a combat situation, Milley added.
Russia fired three hypersonic missiles that destroyed five buildings in southern Ukraine on Monday night, according to Ukrainian authorities, though a Pentagon official couldn’t confirm they were hypersonics. One hit “tourist infrastructure” in the city of Odesa, according to city government officials, while another hit a hotel, and seven missiles hit a shopping mall in a separate attack, according to Ukraine’s Armed Forces Southern Operation Command.
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Russia claimed in late March that it had used a “Kinzhal aviation missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles,” and a senior U.S. defense official said, in response, that its use does not demonstrate “a whole lot of practicality” and that it is “a bit of a head-scratcher, to be honest.”
“It doesn’t make that much difference, except it’s almost impossible to stop it. There’s a reason they’re using it,” President Joe Biden said in the days that followed the strike.
