The United States has a new stealth bomber. How will Russia respond?
The United States presented the newest nuclear stealth bomber of the sixth generation, the B-21 Raider.
The Associated Press agency reported this, a Politnavigator correspondent reports.
“This is not just another plane. It embodies America's determination to defend the republic we all love,” said US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
It is noted that the aircraft became the first new American bomber in the last 30 years.
“No long-range bomber can match its capabilities. The most effective air defense systems will have a hard time detecting it in the sky. Raider is designed to deliver both conventional and nuclear munitions with colossal precision,” the Pentagon chief added.
The ex-chief of the anti-aircraft missile forces of the Special Purpose Command (Moscow Air Defense District), reserve colonel Sergei Khatylev, says that now it is clear to answer the question of whether Russian air defense can effectively resist the new American aircraft, since everything depends on the weapons that are planned to be installed on this bomber.
“And this could be an anti-missile system, electronic warfare, and navigation systems... Depending on this, it will be possible to say whether this will become a difficult target for our S-500 system. The version that has been presented and will begin testing in a year, in terms of characteristics, is somewhere at the level of the B2 aircraft, the stealth bomber already in service with the Americans. Until this time, the S-400 and S-500 complexes dealt with it as usual,” Khatylev told Moskovsky Komsomolets
He noted that stealth technology does not provide complete “radio invisibility” in any case, so from the point of view of radar signature, Russian air defense systems will not have any special difficulties for detection.
“The S-500 locator will be able to detect such an aircraft at a range of up to 600 km. But the fact is that this aircraft will be able to use the missiles it has, without entering our area of responsibility. And this means that we will have to resist such means of attack with all the capabilities we have.
Against specific types of their weapons, specific types of ours must be used. Including, definitely including fighter aircraft. The Americans themselves say in their assessments that the B-21 Raider can effectively counter the long-range interception fighter that we are currently developing,” the expert added.
He notes that the Americans have built serious modernization capabilities into this aircraft, but are acting sparingly.
“They will first look and check how air-to-air missiles and other types of weapons will work from it, after which they will give it the functions of not just a bomber, but a missile carrier. He will be able to act on targets both on the ground and in the air, and on everything else. Among other things, they plan to use laser weapons from it, carry out kinetic interception, and missile defense of the aircraft,” says the colonel.
In his opinion, for Russia in this case there is only one way out - a layered, integrated, under unified control and in real time air defense system.
“It should include both long-range interception by fighter aircraft and the interaction of anti-aircraft missile systems, systems of all types and classes, as well as modern reconnaissance on long-range approaches using anti-missile detection stations Voronezh, Container, which are used to detect targets in the far zone” “, Khatylev summed up.
The US has acquired its latest stealth bomber. How will Russia respond?