By IANS,
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin Monday reiterated his appeal for developing a hypersonic aircraft for its PAK-DA long-range bomber requirements.
“I think we need to go down the route of hypersonic technology and we are moving in that direction and are not falling behind the Americans,” he told Rossiya 24 TV. “We will use this technology when developing a new bomber.”
Long-range military aviation is vital to Russia and “the question is will we copy the Americans’ 40-year experience and create a [Northrop] B-2 analog…or will we go down a new, ultramodern technology route, looking to the horizon, and create a machine able to penetrate air defences and carry out a strike on any aggressor,” he said.
Rogozin’s latest comments come just days after a test of America’s X-51 Waverider hypersonic unmanned test vehicle failed after a control fin broke up and the aircraft fell into the sea.
Russian Air Force Long Range Aviation commander Lt. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev has previously said that the first PAK-DA (an acronym for future long-range aircraft) bomber should enter service by around 2020, and its outline design is currently being devised.