During enemy missile attacks on September 26 and October 7, Ukrainians heard explosions from Kinzhal missiles in the sky. Then the Russians attacked the city of Starokonstantinov in the Khmelnytsky region, but explosions were heard both in Kyiv and in the Zhytomyr region. Interestingly, this was not just an air defense operation – it was the rocket itself that caused the sounds of the explosion.
During a flight at hypersonic speed, a shock wave goes behind the body of the rocket in a cone – this is what causes the explosions heard by the Ukrainians.
What is a Mach cone and how it rises – read the material 24 channels.
What happened: when explosions were heard in Kyiv
On September 26 and October 7, unusual explosions were heard in Kyiv, although investigative channels said that enemy daggers were attacking Starokonstantinov in the Khmelnitsky district. The Russians are firing Kh-47 Kinzhal missiles, which will trigger an air raid warning across Ukraine, from a MiG-31 aircraft.
On topic What is known about the Kinzhal missiles used by Russia to attack Ukraine on October 7
Are Kinzhals hypersonic missiles?
The Russians use Kinzhal missiles during mass attacks or in individual launches. In particular, on the morning of September 4, during a joint attack, Russia launched two such missiles in the direction of Lvov. They reached the city at the same time as the X-101 missiles and killed 8 people.
“Dagger” is a hypersonic missile adopted by Russia in 2018. The missile can carry a nuclear or conventional warhead. “Dagger” can be characterized as a hypersonic missile, because at the maximum (at least on paper) it reaches a speed of Mach 10 (up to 12,000 kilometers per hour). Hypersonic weapons are usually required to enter the speed range of 5,000 to 25,000 kilometers per hour.
Russia claims to be the first to use hypersonic weapons in combat. This happened on March 19, 2022 during an attack on a weapons storage facility in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. At the same time, there is a statement that the Kinzhal should not be classified as a hypersonic missile. This is a rocket that only occasionally reaches the hypersonic range. A true hypersonic weapon must maintain hypersonic speed while flying and be able to maneuver.
Iran has also announced the creation of a hypersonic weapon. It seems that the dictatorship has a hypersonic missile, the Fattah, which can reach speeds of Mach 13 – 15 and can move in the atmosphere and beyond. In the United States, there is both government (HAWC project from DARPA) and private development of hypersonic weapons.
During the attack on September 26, Ukrainians first noticed explosions from the Kinzhal flying over the areas. Following media reports in KGVA called not to spread disinfestation and called media reports about the explosions “spread manipulation and fake news” that work in favor of the enemy. According to the military administration, air defense was not working in Kyiv.
Several public and media pages immediately spread messages like “explosion in Kyiv” into the information space. With this wrong information they caused panic among the people. People might see such information, for example, as a result of a missile attack on the capital. Although the air defense of the capital did not work, enemy missile weapons were not used on the territory of Kyiv and there were no other military reasons that could cause the “explosion”. Was it Kinzhal’s aeroballistic missile breaking the sound barrier while flying over Kiev, or was it another physical object – the answer should be given by experts who is possible in this case,
– noted in KSVA.
Although it was believed that it was not possible to shoot down targets such as Kinzhal, Ukraine denied this. For the first time, Ukraine destroyed an aeroballistic missile on May 4, 2023 – then one missile was shot down thanks to the Patriot air defense system. Now their number is in the dozens.
Interesting! On October 7, Kinzhals was shot down over Kyiv region, launched from Savasleyka airfield in Tambov region, probably at Starokonstantinov, Khmelnytsky region. The air force said that 2 of these missiles were shot down over the Kiev region, while one missile hit the Starokonstantinov airfield in the Khmelnytsky region.
In addition, all three missiles were probably aimed at the air base. Debris from downed missiles was found in four districts of Kyiv, mainly on the grounds of a kindergarten, on the roof of a high-rise residential building, on the roof of a supermarket and in an open field.
Break the sound barrier or another phenomenon
Investigative channels initially reported erroneously that the source of the explosion was the missile that broke the sound barrier. However, the information was later corrected: explosion sounds spread behind the rocket in a cone while moving at hypersonic speed.
Cone behind the plane / Photo by Realbigtaco, WikimediaCommons
Interesting! A cone of smoke appears around objects moving at speeds close to sound. This is due to air compression when the air flow around a plane or rocket accelerates.
It is a common misconception that a smoke cone occurs when the “sound barrier” is broken, but it is the result of a relationship between the speed of the aircraft, humidity and air temperature.
The shock wave occurs at a Mach number approximately equal to unity.
- It is important to know that Mach is not a unit of speed, but the ratio of the speed of a body relative to the flow to the speed of sound. That is, the Mach number depends on certain conditions and it is not clear that it is equal to a certain speed in kilometers.
- A speed greater than Mach 1 is supersonic, and one is higher than Mach 5, that is, the speed of sound in the atmosphere, which is called hypersonic. At normal air temperature (15 degrees Celsius), the speed of sound is about 340 meters per second or 1224 kilometers per hour.
What is a Mach cone
The victory met by Ukrainians is not only a result of the war. In general, the Mach cone is the boundary between the impulse of waves from an object moving at supersonic speed and a quiet zone.
That is, an observer in Kyiv who hears explosions under missiles attacking another area will find himself inside this cone, where the effect of the missile passage works. That’s why this effect is impossible if the rocket has a flying target somewhere nearby – the cone becomes closer to the rocket.
Ernst Mach / Wikipedia
For reference! The Mach number and the Mach cone are named after their discoverer, the Austrian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach. He did research in mechanics, acoustics and optics.
Using photographs, Mach observed the distribution of air density around a cannon projectile flying at supersonic speed. After taking pictures of shock waves when supersonic gas flowed around bodies, the term Mach cone was coined.
2024-10-09 13:00:00
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