Russia will have a supersonic stealth bomber capable of dropping nuclear bombs from space, according to Russian military officials! As Colonel Alexei Solodovnikov, who is the project leader, claims a functional engine will be ready by 2020. ‘This will be a strategic aircraft. It will fly into outer space in order to strike, using nuclear bombs, and then return to the airfield’, he said. The test engine of the PAK-DA bomber is expected to unveiled at the September Army 2016 International Military Technology Forum near Moscow. Colonel General Sergei Karakayev confirmed the model engine of the aircraft had been built and successfully tested. He said that the engine had been developed at the Strategic Rocket Forces Academy and that its operational ability had been proven. The idea is that the bomber will take off from a normal home airfield to patrol Russian airspace.
‘Upon command it will ascend into outer space, strike a target with nuclear warheads and then return to its home base’. Mr Solodovnikov added: ‘It will [be able to accelerate to] hypersonic speed in rocket mode’. To fly hypersonic means flying at Mach 5, five times the speed of sound at 3,840 mph, or faster.