At present Russian scientists are developing only hypersonic technologies instead of hypersonic aircraft, since the vehicle is too expensive, CEO of Advanced Research Foundation, Andrei Grigoriev, said at Open Innovations Forum, RIA Novosti reports.

Over the last decades Russia has been developing hypersonic missiles. Almost all the air defense systems are using hypersonic missiles with maximum speed of about 3 or 4 Mach. Today the specialists are trying to increase the speed to 5-7 Mach.

"Our current projects do not assume the constructions of prototypes. We are developing key technologies, which will be used for production of prototypes. It is very expensive vehicle and the decision to construct it should be made by the government", — Grigoriev told the journalists.

According to him, “some aspects are being considered in this area”, first of all, this refers to engines and materials. "Taking into account that our longest project was started less than a year ago, all these projects are at early stages of development. The development of key technologies has just started and the fields of research are being defined", — Grigoriev added.

The Advanced Research Foundation was established in 2012. Its main goal is to support the scientific research in order to strengthen the defense capabilities of our country. 

It was reported earlier that High Precision Systems Holding Company is responsible for development of hypersonic technologies in Russia; the company specializes in development and production of high-precision weapons. The company’s CEO, Alexander Denisov, promised to obtain the first results in the area of hypersonic weapons over the next few years.

It is planned to fit the latest strategic bomber PAK DA with hypersonic weapons; the aircraft is under development. The first PAK DA bombers should be delivered to Russian air forces in 2020.