At least that’s the view of Alexander Musienko, a consultant at the Ukrainian Center for Military and Legal Research. “As early as 2018-19, the Russian defense industry had debts to banks and difficulties due to non-performance of contracts. So if it had problems with that before and the West is now making the situation worse through sanctions, it is effectively depriving it of access to key elements needed to modernize and manufacture modern weapons.” Alternative procurement through deals with Asian countries have also failed.
Of course, this does not immediately mean that there will be no more high-performance systems like the “Kischal”, but the possibilities for production to replenish or expand the arsenal are steadily decreasing.
Launched by MiG-31 aircraft, the “Kinzhal” missiles, according to Russian data, can reach speeds of Mach 10 (12,250 km/h) and reach targets up to 2,000 km away. They can allegedly avoid any flight surveillance and jamming fire. Their first confirmed war action came on March 19 in an attack on a fuel depot near Mykolayiv.
