Moscow. December 8th. INTERFAX - The United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) is ready to start equipping Russian warships with hypersonic Zircon missiles after receiving a command from the military, Vladimir Korolev, Deputy Director General for Military Shipbuilding and Special Programs of USC JSC, told Interfax on Wednesday.
"There is an armament program that is being introduced by the General Staff. We are the performers in this program. If we are given such a command, we are ready for it," Korolev said, answering a question about the possibility of starting serial equipping of ships with Zircons in 2022.
On November 29, the Russian military announced a new successful test launch of a hypersonic missile "Zircon" from the frigate of the Northern Fleet "Admiral Gorshkov".
Prior to that, the military reported successful test launches of the Zircon from the frigate of the Northern Fleet Admiral Gorshkov (project 22350 ship), in particular, in November and July of this year, as well as in December, November and October 2020.
The Northern Fleet reported that the ships of project 22350 will be the first full-time carriers of this weapon.
On November 18, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Russian President Vladimir Putin about the successful launch of the Zircon by the Admiral Gorshkov frigate, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. On that day, the ministry said that the ship's crew had fired another Zircon missile as part of the final test cycle of hypersonic missile weapons.
On October 4, the Russian military conducted the first test launch of a hypersonic missile "Zircon" from a nuclear submarine of the Northern Fleet.
On November 3, the President of the Russian Federation announced that the tests of the Zircon missile are being completed, it will enter service with the Russian fleet in 2022.
As Interfax reported, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on August 24 at the military-technical forum "Army-2021" signed a contract for the supply of Zircon missiles (Tactical Missile Armament Corporation, KTRV).
On November 8, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the contract for the supply of Zircons to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is of a long-term nature.
In February 2019, in a message to the Federal Assembly, the President of the Russian Federation announced that the Zircon missile would be capable of hitting ground and surface targets at a range of over 1,000 kilometers at a speed of about Mach 9. In December 2019, the president said that according to the plan, work is underway on the Zircon hypersonic missile, not only sea-based, but also land-based.
In October, the former chief of the General Staff of the Russian Navy, Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, told Interfax that the Zircon would significantly strengthen the potential of the Russian fleet.
