MOSCOW, July 20-RIA Novosti. The Admiral Gorshkov frigate will perform a new test launch of the Zircon hypersonic missile in the coming days, a source in the military-industrial complex told RIA Novosti.
They will shoot from the Barents Sea at a sea target simulating an aircraft carrier of a conditional enemy.
The agency's interlocutor added that the tests will take place "in a complex interference and target environment."
This is the second launch this year, the fifth in total. The last one took place on July 19 from the same Admiral Gorshkov from the White Sea to a ground target in the Barents Sea. As noted by RIA Novosti sources in the defense industry, the completion of state tests is planned for the current year.
The Zircon is the world's first hypersonic cruise missile capable of performing a long aerodynamic flight with maneuvering in dense layers of the atmosphere using its own engine thrust throughout the route.
The maximum speed reaches about nine speeds of sound (about 2.65 kilometers per second at an altitude of 20 kilometers, or more than ten thousand kilometers per hour). The maximum range is a thousand kilometers.
It is assumed that the "Zircons" will be armed with frigates of the project 22350, the latest multi-purpose submarines of the project 885M "Yasen-M", as well as the cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, which is under modernization, and the submarine Irkutsk, which will be brought to the level of 949AM.
