Issue 11

02 November 2020: Second MiG-31BM with tail number 82 was pictured carrying the black “293” rocket. The 293 rocket has been associated with the Burevestnik Russian Air Launched Anti-Satellite system.

– Previously only one MiG-31BM aircraft, tail number 81, was modified to carry the 293 rocket.

– Burevestnik (“Stormy Petrel”) seems to use interceptor satellites rather than direct-ascent ASAT missiles. In February 2017, a squadron commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Yevgeny Polyakov, was quoted as saying by the Russian Ministry of Defense’s Zvezda TV channel that a new missile was being developed for the MiG-31BM “capable of destroying targets in near-space.”

– Available Burevestnik documents suggest that the project is still in its development phase and has not yet seen any flight tests.

– Air-launched ASAT advantages: 1) access to broader variety of launch azimuths and inclinations; 2) rapid launch preparation/reduced warning.

If Burevestnik is indeed a space-based ASAT system, it would be only one of several ASAT projects that Russia is currently believed to be working on. These include ground-based and air-based direct-ascent systems as well as ground-based electronic jamming systems.