Pay attention, folks. The Kinzhal hypersonic cruise missile has a range of 1500 km, 932 miles, at 3800 mph. It was fired either from a MiG 31 (according to the Russians) or a guided missile cruiser in the Black Sea south of Odessa. There was zero tactical reason to hit a non-hardened land target with this weapon.
Hypersonic missiles were originally developed by the PRC as a 'carrier killer' weapon; the USS Harry S. Truman, CVN-75, group is currently in the Adriatic, off Split, Croatia (
Shipyards List with Details and Live Maps | Marine Vessel Traffic), 731 miles from the Port of Odessa.
This was Putin's unsubtle message to us that he has missiles we can't counter that can accurately reach the Truman battle group. Fifth Fleet HQ at Manama, Bahrain is out of range from Odessa, but certainly in range from the 16 Russian Navy vessels off Syria or MiG-31 aircraft from Syrian bases. Do recall we 'gave' the Russians our Kobani airbase (363 miles / 585 kilometers / 316 nautical miles from Split) in Syria when we panic-abandoned it in November, 2019 - they had great fun putting social media posts of that online.
Wright and a contingent of civil engineers, security forces and intelligence personnel were deployed temporarily to expand the base to "support every type of airframe across the [Defense Department] spectrum," Wright said. They lived in tents and ate Meals Ready to Eat, known as MREs, for 45 days, he said.
The Kobani airstrip has been modified to support not only C-130s, which are able to land in most difficult environments, but also C-17s, which need a more hardened runway to support their weight, and other aircraft, Thomas said. US expands air base in northern Syria for use in battle for Raqqa | Stars and Stripes
