Officers and analysts of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) have identified 29 command, flight and technical personnel belonging to the 44th Separate Aviation Regiment of the Special Purpose Long-Range Aviation of Russia’s Aerospace Forces who are responsible for launching Kinzhal hypersonic missile attacks on Ukraine.
Source: DIU
Details: Seven officers from the regiment’s technical staff have also been identified.
The 44 Russians include a colonel, seven lieutenant colonels and several majors. The full list is available on the website of DIU.
The 44th Separate Air Force Regiment (military unit No. 83122) was formed on 1 December 2021, and its permanent location is the Savasleyka airfield in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.
The regiment has a two-squadron structure with up to 24 MiG-31K long-range fighter-interceptor aircraft.
The regiment’s MiG-31K aircraft tail numbers have also been established: RF-20862, RF-03230, RF-20882, RF-03231, RF-03234, RF-19275, RF-94268, RF-42251, RF-42253, RF-20867 and RF-20883.
For reference: The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air-to-ground missile system (500 kg warhead, nuclear armament possible) is designed to deliver the fastest possible strikes at a range of up to 2,000 km.
The missile’s hypersonic flight speed at the final stage is achieved by accelerating the carrier aircraft to supersonic parameters (i.e. the MiG-31K acts as a first stage).
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