Hello everyone, welcome back again to Military TV.
Today I’m gonna take you to see How Powerful is Russia Zircon anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile.
The 3M22 Tsirkon or Zircon is a scramjet-powered maneuvering hypersonic cruise missile being
developed by Russia. The missile can develop a speed of Mach 9 and fly at an altitude of 30-40 km
where the range and speed increase as air resistance is smaller.
Experts estimate the payload at 300-400 kg and the missile length at 8-10 meters. For comparison
the Tomahawk cruise missiles carried by U.S. Navy and Royal Navy submarines fly at around Mach 0.75.
The new weapon is a natural development of Russia's experience with cruise missile
submarines. For much of the Cold War the missiles carried by Russian submarines were
focused on hitting ships at sea, particularly the U.S. Navy’s formidable aircraft carriers.
It was not until the conflict in Syria that Russia began using submarine-launched cruise missiles
in a similar way to the U.S. Navy’s Tomahawk missile; as a long-range surgical strike weapon.
Most of the submarine-launched cruise missiles fired at Syria have been subsonic Kalibr type
weapons launched from smaller Kilo class diesel-electric submarines. The Zircon
will be a significant advancement over Kalibr. Which makes it a very dangerous weapon, indeed.
Zircon anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile is designed to attack ships at sea and targets on
land at speeds of up to Mach 9, giving enemy missile defenses little time to prepare.
Zircon is designed to use speed to penetrate enemy air defense systems. Depending on the
missile’s flight profile a U.S. Navy carrier battle group defended by the Aegis Combat System
would have between two minutes and 20 seconds to detect, track, and shoot down the missile.
Russian sources state that Zircon’s maximum altitude is 100,000 to
130,000 feet. Reaching max altitude, Zircon could then fly straight at its target in a shallow dive.
At more than six thousand miles an hour, Zircon files a hundred miles in less than one minute.
The powerful SPY-1 radar on U.S. cruisers and destroyers can detect an incoming missile at
192 miles, giving a U.S. carrier strike force less than two minutes to detect,
track, and shoot down an incoming Zircon missile. If on the other hand Zircon enters a steep dive
and then flies low like other cruise missiles, it could prove unstoppable to many navies.
Assuming Zircon flies at an altitude of 200 feet, about typical for a cruise missile,
a surface ship will detect Zircon at a distance of just 34 miles. In that scenario, the targeted
ship has less than twenty seconds to down the incoming Zircon missile. That’s hardly enough
time for the defending ship commander to process what is happening, let alone launch missiles
to shoot the incoming hypersonic missile down. Zircon is one of six new weapons systems unveiled
by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a state of the nation speech. In addition to Zircon,
Putin says Russia is working to deploy the Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile,
Avangard strategic hypersonic weapon, Kinzhal tactical hypersonic weapon,
Poseidon nuclear-armed long range torpedo, and Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile.
The Zircon is designed and developed by NPO Mashinostroyeniya as a further
development of its HELA (Hypersonic Experimental Flying Vehicle) concept
that was on display at the 1995 MAKS Air Show. Zircon has been in development for several years,
and its existence was confirmed in February 2019 by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin stated the missile was capable of Mach 9 flight and had a range of 1,000 kilometers
(620 miles) and the missile will be armed with a conventional or nuclear warhead.
According to the head of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation it will be possible
to deploy Zircon on all future Russian Navy warships. The new missile will breathe new life
into the Russian Navy, many of whose ships were built before the end of the Cold War.
Zircon missiles are launched from the universal ship firing complex 3S-14 vertical launching
system. These launchers, in particular, are equipped on Project 22350 frigates,
Project 20380 corvettes and Yasen-class cruise missile submarines.
The Admiral Gorshkov was chosen for Tsirkon trials from the very beginning. Admiral Gorshkov is an
Admiral Gorshkov class frigate of the Russian Navy and the lead ship of the class. The vessel
was laid down on 1 February 2006, launched on 29 October 2010 and commissioned on 28 July 2018
with Russia’s Northern Fleet. The ship is named after Hero of the Soviet Union Sergey Gorshkov.
Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates displace 4,500 tonnes and can develop a speed of 29 knots.
They are armed with P-800 Oniks and Kalibr anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles,
and the Poliment-Redut air defense missile system. With the addition of Zircon missiles, analysts say
Gorshkov-class frigates will boast more firepower than America’s cruisers and heavy destroyers.
According to the TASS news agency, the Russian Navy’s lead Project
22350 frigate Admiral Gorshkov quietly departed Belomorsky Naval Base on July 19, 2020 to conduct
the second test firing of the Zircon hypersonic missile. The second test firing was originally
scheduled earlier but the coronavirus pandemic reportedly delayed the launch.
The first test firing of the Zircon hypersonic missile from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate
was conducted earlier this year. The missile was fired against a ground target in the Northern Ural
mountain range while the ship was in the Barents Sea, a distance reportedly exceeding 500 km.
The Kazan submarine was laid down on July 24, 2009 and launched in 2017.
It is expected to join the Russian Navy in late 2020 to serve in the Northern Fleet. The main
weapon of the Project 885/885M submarines are Kalibr and/or Oniks cruise missiles.
Russia is planning a fleet of 8 sister-ships of Kazan to carry zircon and these will be
joined by future attack submarines which will also be designed to carry the new missile.
My analysis of Russian submarine building programs suggests that
by 2030 Russia may field 8 submarines with Zircon missiles, and 17 by 2040.
Zircon is not the only ground-breaking weapon being developed by Russia. It is
also developing the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile with virtually unlimited range.
The current types of missile defences are not adequate to defend against hypersonic missiles.
Our whole defence system is based on the assumption that we are going to intercept
the ballistic objects. A security analyst of American think tank RAND Corporation says,
"A ballistic missile is like a fly ball in baseball. The outfielder knows exactly where
to catch it because it is path is determined by momentum and gravity. It is a different
scenario for hypersonics. The combination of the different manoeuvrability and the speed
makes hypersonic missiles unpredictable and extremely difficult to defend against."
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