Ukrainian ballistics "Sapsan" showed high speed during tests – expert Badrak

The Ukrainian ballistic missile "Sapsan" during tests showed a speed of Mach 5.2, said in a large article for LIGA.net Valentyn Badrak, director of the Center for Army Research, Conversion and Disarmament.

"Probably not thanks to, but despite the "efforts of the authorities", in July 2024 the first successful tests of the first ballistic missile took place. After that, in August, President Zelenskyy announced its creation and the possibility of bringing it to completion. And this is understandable, because a ballistic missile is not without reason considered a more powerful weapon than its cruise counterparts," the expert said.

According to him, ballistic missiles are more powerful than cruise missiles primarily because of their high speed – and during a test in July 2024, the Sapsan reached Mach 5.2 (~1,769.5 meters per second).

Also, the analyst added, ballistic weapons have an advantage over cruise missiles due to their special trajectory, which "renders Russian missile defense systems helpless."

"This was proven in practice even by the old American ATACMS ballistic missiles, which the enemy was unable to intercept," Badrak concluded.

For comparison: the American ATACMS has a speed of approximately Mach 3 (1,500 m/s), while the Russian Iskander-M has a speed of ~Mach 6 (2,100 m/s).

• The expert also reported that the Ukrainian ballistic missile passed a successful combat test in May 2025 and is being launched into serial production.
• In the same article, the analyst writes in detail about how the large-scale Russian invasion gave Sapsan a second wind, as well as about the new missile program resumed at the end of May 2022 and the participation of Europeans and Americans in the project.