https://twitter.com/navyrecognition/status/700606429997051908
This looks to be a very high altitude weapon. A dead-end, in my opinion. And a typical approach to anti-ship missiles they have been following since Kh-22, a Mach 5 weapon. The problem I think is that it needs to be high altitude and it limits the sensors it can carry to detect and engage a ship. With today's Aegis systems, does the hypothetical "reduced detection time" matter so much? If you have to fly at 60,000 feet to reach Mach 5, are you likely to even get a reduced detection time?
Besides detection time, there's also distance to detection. There's more weapon types you can engage with if you detect the threat at 10x the range of a sea-skimmer, and if airborne early warning is involved, it makes their job of detection easier. If facing E-2D/SM-6 combo, this does not seem preferable to stealthy sea-skimmers.
PS: I suspect the Russians are being overly optimistic if they think they can develop a scram-jet practical weapon in the short-term future. But for propaganda purposes, it will be as great a coup for them as all their other brochure weapons.
PPS: Sorry, turns out the Russians are claiming its ramjet. Which would make their claims of Mach 7, impossible. So, typical brochure weapon.
