Military

Russia’s hypersonic missile debuts alongside new military tech at parade

For many Russians, the annual Victory Day parade in Moscow is an opportunity to reflect on their wartime history and mourn losses that touched nearly every family in the former Soviet Union and neighboring states. But the parade now has for several years served another purpose: the exhibition of Russia’s latest and greatest weapons systems and platforms.

In that regard, the parade has struggled in recent years to live up to 2015’s 70th anniversary parade, where a wide variety of new hardware was unveiled for the first time. But this year’s parade saw some noteworthy additions to Russia’s future arsenal. But the greatest item of interest was perhaps the hardest to see.

During the parade’s finale — a flyby of nearly every type of aircraft flown by the Russian Air Force — two unaccompanied MiG-31 fighter jets made their pass over central Moscow.

Although the MiG-31 is a distinct and interesting aircraft, the items of interest were mounted below their bodies: hypersonic missiles.