Now that Putin wants to strike from the stratosphere, Holcim is divesting companies in Uganda and Tanzania

It is intended to make it possible to survey the battlefield and reconnoitre target locations for missiles and cruise missiles from a high altitude: for these purposes, Russia is reportedly developing a new aircraft, a so-called stratospheric reconnaissance and attack system. At least that is what the Kremlin-affiliated newspaper ‘Izvestia’ writes.

Accordingly, the engineers of the Russian Ministry of Defense are testing whether the M-55 Geophysica aircraft, developed during Soviet times, is suitable as a basis for the new machine. The M-55 first took to the air in 1988 and to this day holds the altitude record for an aircraft in its weight class. An M-55 reached an altitude of more than 21 kilometers during a flight in 1993. Only the US Air Force’s U2 “Dragon Lady” can reach such heights. Passenger aircraft generally do not fly higher than 10 kilometers.

Airplane is supposed to deliver targets for missiles

At these altitudes, an aircraft is already moving in the stratosphere, the second layer of the Earth’s atmosphere, which extends at an altitude of 8 to 50 kilometers. This is where the type designation ‘stratospheric reconnaissance and attack system’ of the planned Russian machine comes from. The aircraft is equipped with radar systems, electronic reconnaissance systems and optical cameras and will fly over battlefields in Ukraine and detect artillery, air force and navy targets, according to Izvestia. It is unclear whether the machine will also have its own armament.

If the “stratospheric reconnaissance and attack system” ever gets off the ground, Ukraine would probably have to prepare for more violent and, above all, more precise Russian missile attacks. Russian military expert Dmitry Kornev told “Izvestia” that the planned machine could provide targets for short-range rocket launchers, as well as ballistic missiles such as the “Iskander” with a range of 500 kilometers, guided cruise missiles of the “Kalibr” type ”. with a range of up to 600 kilometers, as well as for hypersonic weapons of the “Kinschal” and “Zirkon” types.

Is Russia attacking power plants again?

Russia used all of these weapons to attack Ukraine’s energy infrastructure last winter and is likely to increase these attacks again in the coming months. Because apparently Putin’s arsenals are not empty. According to the Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR, the Kremlin has stockpiled about 870 rockets and cruise missiles with a range of more than 350 kilometers.

“The Russians are waiting for the temperature to drop below zero,” HUR Major General Vadym Skibitsky told Ukrainian news agency RBC. “The attacks will most likely begin when our power grid comes under greater pressure and conditions are favorable from a Russian perspective.”

Russian war bloggers are already celebrating the ‘stratospheric reconnaissance and attack system’ as the ‘future of warfare’, report American researchers from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). However, it is questionable whether the planned machine will ever get off the ground and fulfill its purpose. Russian propaganda repeatedly celebrates the domestic arms industry’s own developments, such as the T-14 “Armata” main battle tank or the Su-57 multi-role fighter jet. In practice, Putin’s so-called ‘miracle weapons’ have repeatedly proven to be a flop.

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