Chinese military analysts are now acknowledging that the Kinzhal missile does not live up to Russian claims, dismissing it as “dated 1980s technology” and noting the high likelihood of the weapon’s intercept by American-sourced Patriot Air Defense systems.

In a translation of the Chinese analysis published by The Diplomat, experts from China’s Ordnance Science and Technology journal gave a scathing review of the weapon Putin once touted as “invincible.“

Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, or Dagger, to the world on March 1, 2018, calling it the world’s first maneuvering hypersonic weapon. While ballistic missiles have been achieving hypersonic speeds (or speeds in excess of Mach 5) since their inception with Germany’s V-2, modern hypersonic weapons combine these high speeds with a high degree of maneuverability to make for exceedingly difficult targets to intercept. But Putin’s Kinzhal claims did not appear to add up.

It wasn’t long before Western analysts started........

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