Ukrainian forces recovered one of Russia’s most advanced hypersonic missiles

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have recovered the intact wreckage of a rare Russian hypersonic air-to-air missile that has been used against Ukrainian jets since the beginning of the war. 

A video shared on Twitter by an ex-intelligence officer and ethical hacker David Kime showed the recovery of a Vympel R-37M hypersonic missile by Ukranian forces at some point in early February 2023. 

Photo by Twitter @CyberRealms1

“The R-37M is the most long-range missile of its class," Kime wrote in his Twitter Post," not only in service with the Russian Aerospace Forces, but also in comparison with its world counterparts.” 

Photo by Twitter @CyberRealms1

“This allows Russian Su-35S and MiG-31BM fighters to hit Ukrainian aircraft without being exposed to the risk of return fire or air defense,” Kime added. 

Photo by Twitter @CyberRealms1

The Vympel R-37 hypersonic missile and its variants are some of the Russian Air Force's most devastating modern weapons according to David Axe of Forbes. 

Photo by Vitaly V. Kuzmin, Own Work, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MAKS_Airshow_2013_(Ramenskoye_Airport,_Russia)_(524-21).jpg

In November, Axe was one of the first Western journalists to write about how the R-37M had changed the air war in Ukraine, allowing some Russian pilots to get the edge over their Ukranian counterparts.

“Hamstrung by inflexible procedures, desperately short of precision weaponry, and battered by stiff Ukrainian air defenses, the Russian Vozdushno-kosmicheskiye sily, or VKS, at best is holding its own over Ukraine, despite a 10-to-1 numerical advantage in fighters and attack jets,” Axe wrote on November 8th. 

“But that doesn’t mean the Russians are doing everything wrong,” the Forbes journalist added. “The three regiments flying the VKS’s best interceptor—the twin-engine, two-seat Mikoyan MiG-31BM—are winning where most of the rest of the air force is losing. 

The secret to MiG-31’s success according to Axe was a combination of its ability to fly high-altitude defense patrols and use the Vympel R-37M missile to attack Ukrainian pilots before they engage their Russian opponents. 

“The Ukrainians’ own fighters and missiles lack the speed, range, and altitude performance to fight back effectively,” Axe wrote. 

Since November, Ukrainian pilots have developed tactics to counter the Russian Air Forces R-37M missiles according to one pilot who spoke with Lithuania’s Delfi news broadcaster. 

"We created different tactics for how to avoid this missile, and that’s why it’s not so successful against our jets,” said the Ukranian pilot only known by his callsign, Juice. 

Screenshot from Youtube @rudelfi_lt

In his interview with Delfi's Angela Bubelyak, Juice called for Ukraine’s Western allies to provide his country with modern F-16 fighter jets, saying it would help Ukranian pilots better counter the Russian Air Force, though he noted the R-37M isn’t downing a lot of Ukrainians planes as of late. 

Screenshot from Youtube @rudelfi_lt

“They aren't that successful during these months, during this war. But still, this missile is extremely dangerous for our jets, for our helicopters, for all our aerial assets,” Juice told Bubelyak. But new developments in the last two weeks may mean that the situation will get even more dangerous for Juice and his fellow pilots. 

On February 13th, Andrey Yusov—a representative from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense—told the Kyiv Post that Russia was massing hundreds of aircraft for a potential assault. 

Photo by Twitter @Flash_news_ua

"We have information about the presence of approximately 450 tactical aircraft (not strategic bombers) and about 300 helicopters, half of them attack,” Yusov said. 

They are located mainly on the territory of the Russian Federation at least 200 kilometers from the border, concentrated in different places, but beyond our reach," Yusov added, surely the R-37M missile will be a vital part of Russia's strategy if they hope to penetrate Ukranian air defenses.

Photo by Twitter @Flash_news_ua