MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. The deployment of Russian MiG-31K aircraft with Kinzhal missiles on permanent patrol over Black Sea waters, by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin, will go far in helping to cool down certain hawkish Western hotheads and may serve as sufficient warning to the West not to even think about making any ill-advised decisions to use weapons of mass destruction, former Russian Long-Range Aviation Commander Mikhail Oparin told TASS.

"Why air patrols? In this way the time required to cope with the task set is minimized. The crew is capable of hitting more targets. The Kinzhal-armed MiG-31 is a state-of-the-art combat system unrivaled anywhere," said Oparin, who currently holds a seat on the Public Council under the Russian Defense Ministry.

He drew a parallel with the times of World War I, "when Russia commissioned the world’s first-ever air combat ship (the Ilya Muromets), carrying bombs, cannons and machine guns."

"That first-ever air force unit heralded the advent of what today constitutes Russia’s Long-Range Aviation. Also, it started a tradition. This tradition in today’s Russia - the use of cutting-edge combat aircraft systems - should cool down some hotheads in the West and sound a serious enough warning before thoughts of using weapons of mass destruction may enter anyone’s mind," Oparin said.

Vasily Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University-Higher School of Economics (HSE University), believes that such patrols will not only serve as a deterrent at a time when Washington is deploying US Navy warships to the eastern Mediterranean, but will also make it more difficult for Ukraine to sound air alerts.

Kashin enumerated some of the Kinzhal’s anti-ship capabilities. The way he sees it, a Kinzhal-armed MiG-31K over international Black Sea waters would be able to hit targets located as far away as the eastern Mediterranean. As well, the missile's parameters would enable it to steer clear of other countries’ airspace while en route to the target.

"Another important consequence of continuous patrolling pertains to the Ukrainian crisis. Until now, every takeoff of a MiG-31K plane armed with Kinzhal missiles, detected by NATO satellite reconnaissance, has triggered an air alert in Ukraine. This has happened quite often. The permanent presence of aircraft carrying such missiles in the air over an area from where it is possible to strike Ukraine as well, will make it difficult for the enemy to declare alerts," Kashin explained.

Presidential instructions

On October 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had instructed the Aerospace Force to commission aircraft armed with Kinzhal systems to continuously patrol the airspace over the Black Sea.

"On my instructions, the Russian Aerospace Force is commencing permanent patrolling in the international zone of the airspace over the Black Sea. Our Mig-31 planes are armed with Kinzhal complexes," Putin told a press conference following his visit to China. "These complexes have a range of over a thousand kilometers and a speed of Mach nine."

Putin announced his decision after assessing US actions in Ukraine, noting that the United States was becoming increasingly involved in the conflict. "All this is happening against a backdrop of the Middle East conflict and the escalation of tensions," he stated. "They have already brought two aircraft carrier strike groups into the Mediterranean Sea," Putin stated.

"I’ve explained that our measure is not a threat, but we will exercise visual control, control with weapons over what is happening in the Mediterranean Sea," he emphasized, while answering a question on whether Western countries might interpret his statements as a "threat."

Authorized for service in 2017, the MiG-31K is a modification of the MiG-31 aircraft meant for attack missions. It is armed with the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missile. Putin first announced the creation of this type of armament on March 1, 2018 in his annual address to parliament.