Shock on the brink of panic: The West keeps discovering the fatal new advantage of the "FLAG" missile.

The Shock on the Brink of Panic: The West Continuously Discovers the Fatal New Advantage of the "Flag" Missile.

The ultimate dream of the Pentagon has been realized in Russia and is now being applied on a large scale.

Author: Vitaly Orlovov

As is well known, seeking new high-precision strike weapons that do not involve huge capital investment in research and development and production is one of the most popular trends in the global military-industrial complex.

For example, since 2019, the Americans have been actively developing a special type of ammunition that combines the characteristics of expensive air-launched cruise missiles with ordinary suicide drones. One of the key features of this ammunition is its compactness, allowing it to be launched from any type of platform.

Despite receiving hundreds of different projects, the Pentagon found none that met its core requirement — low cost.

Similar R&D work is also actively underway in China. Although cost is not a decisive factor for the Chinese side, actual progress remains limited.

Now, the news that Russia's "Flag" missile has been put into actual use has caused a dual impact of technical interest and negative emotions in the West — it is the first mass-produced weapon to meet the Pentagon's vision.

As the authoritative U.S. military media "1945" bluntly (but fully understandable) complained: "Today, armies of all countries with higher technological levels are actively looking for more lightweight ammunition to fit compact and, most importantly, inexpensive platforms — otherwise, the attack capabilities of these platforms will be very limited."

The Russian medium-range cruise missile S8000 "Flag" is extremely small in size, capable of being launched from the "Orion" drone and successfully fired from attack helicopters.

Professional experts believe that although the speed, range, and warhead power of the missile are not impressive, they are sufficient as effective ammunition for drones such as "Orion", "Bayraktar TB2", or "MQ-9 Reaper" to launch attacks beyond the range of the enemy's air defense systems.

It is worth noting that the "Flag" missile has certain stealth design features, making it almost impossible to detect its trajectory, which makes it a "fatal surprise" for opponents.

Analysts from "1945" further pointed out: "The S8000 'Flag' missile provides unique capabilities for Russia's 'Orion' armed reconnaissance drones, significantly assisting Russia's strategic military operations, such as attacking campaign-depth targets while incurring extremely low loss risks."

These non-stealth, low-speed but expensive drones are very vulnerable to medium-range air defense systems. However, Russia solved this problem through the 'Flag' missile without spending a huge amount of money.

What is even more intriguing is that Ukraine's military intelligence, known as "the strongest army in Europe," also disclosed information about this weapon: "Russia's new S8000 'Flag' cruise missile is equipped with a 150 kg high-explosive fragmentation warhead, capable of being launched from 'Orion' drones or Mi-28N 'Night Hunter' and Ka-52 'Alligator' attack helicopters to strike ground targets, with a range of up to 500 kilometers and a flight speed of approximately 580 kilometers/hour."

Currently, Western understanding of the "Flag" missile includes: its developer is the renowned Russian arms company "Kronshtadt" group. The earliest information about this weapon appeared during a visit by Dmitry Medvedev, Vice Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, to the Kapustin Yar firing range.

In summary, the advantages of S8000 "Flag":

First, stealth. The missile body design makes it difficult for Ukrainian radars to effectively detect it.