Russia Has Plans For A Space-Based Hypersonic Nuclear Bomber
The ¡®Cold War¡¯ it seems, isn¡¯t over. Not to be outdone by America, Russia is now planning to acquire a nuclear second strike capability like no other. It intends to build a space-plane that can take off from airfields deep inside Russia and travel to space like the space shuttle. If required it can then bomb any country in the world and return home. At least that¡¯s the plan.
A report in Sputnik says that the intended bomber will be developed by 2020. Lt. Col. Aleksei Solodovnikov told news agency RIA Novosti ¡°The idea is that the bomber will take off from a normal home airfield to patrol Russian airspace. Upon command it will ascend into outer space, strike a target with nuclear warheads and then return to its home base¡±. Tentatively called the PAK-DA, the sixth generation bomber was earlier thought to be a stealth design, like the American B-2 Spirit. But now it seems that it will also be a hypersonic space plane.
Sputniknews
In another report by RT, the country has managed to design the engines for the space plane. It¡¯s said to be a combined engine that will allow the plane to fly both in the air and cross over into space. ¡°The know-how allowed us to create a combined [aircraft] power plant that enables switching the engine from an atmospheric flight mode to a rocket mode while flying in space,¡± according to General Sergey Karakaev the commander of the Strategic Missile Force.
