Flight design tests of the Zircon hypersonic missile from the surface carrier – the frigate Admiral Gorshkov – were completed successfully, TASS reports, citing a source in the military-industrial complex.
LKI “Zircon” with the use of frigate “Admiral Gorshkov” has been successfully completed. Four launches have been completed. All the missiles hit the “peg” (in Russian it means the very center of the designated target), ”the agency quotes the interlocutor. He added that the state tests of Zircon will begin soon – around May-June.
On December 11, 2020, the frigate Admiral Gorshkov launched a Zircon hypersonic cruise missile from the White Sea against a coastal target at the Chizha training ground in the Arkhangelsk region.
The frigate “Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov” was built at the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St. Petersburg and enlisted in the Navy in July 2018.
Google News!The Zircon or 3M22 is a Russian hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile developed by NPO Mashinostroyenia. It is part of the 3K22 Zircon complex.
The fundamental difference of this missile is the significantly higher (up to M = 8 [7]) flight speed, both in comparison with other Russian anti-ship missiles and with anti-ship missiles in service with other countries.
As the President of the Russian Federation V.V.Putin said in his message to the Federal Assembly on February 20, 2019, the newest Russian hypersonic missile Zircon is capable of speeds of about Mach 9, and its range can exceed 1,000 km. In addition, he noted that the Zircon can destroy both sea and ground targets, and also said that the use of the new missile is provided for from ships and submarines already produced or under construction for the Caliber missile systems.
The main purpose of the “Zircon”, like other CDs, is enemy surface ships of different classes from frigates to aircraft carriers, as well as its ground military objects within the radius of destruction. The speed characteristics of the Zircon (up to 9000 km / h or 2500 m / s) make it inaccessible to existing enemy missile defense systems. It is almost impossible to dodge such a missile, as well as detect its launch in time.
The rocket flies on a cruising section at an altitude of 30-40 km, where the air resistance is low; such a flight altitude can significantly increase the range and speed of the rocket.
Zircon can be launched from the same launchers as the latest Russian anti-ship missiles P-800 Onyx and Caliber (3M54).
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