Captain 1st Rank Dandykin told how the Zircon hypersonic missile works
President Vladimir Putin on the Day of the Russian Navy announced that hypersonic missiles "Zircon" will soon arrive on surface ships. The next stage is submarines and land-based launchers. "Newspaper.Ru" understood the specifics of the operation of this hypersonic missile and why its appearance in service is of concern to the West.
"President Vladimir Putin has scared everyone again, this time with the supply of Zircon hypersonic missiles. Putin said that such missiles already exist and they have begun to enter service. It's terrible and disappointing that we are so far behind," said the American expert portal Defense News. In turn, the British newspaper The Mirror called the possible use of "Zircon" a "chilling threat."
The speed of this rocket is 9 Mach - this is 2800 meters per second with a range of 1000 kilometers. Modern Western missile defense systems cannot shoot down missiles at such a speed.
"The West's concerns about Russian "Zircons" are well-founded," he told the newspaper.Ru" military expert, captain of the 1st rank of the reserve Vasily Dandykin. - They know their supposed characteristics, possible carriers, American intelligence closely monitored the test launches as far as it could do it, but the conclusions are disappointing - it is impossible to intercept a Russian missile with its exorbitant speed. This requires weapons with at least approximate characteristics, and neither the United States nor other countries have it yet."
The expert stressed that the peculiarity of the anti-ship "Zircons", as well as the hypersonic "Dagger" air-based, is not only in speed, but also in the possibility of vigorous maneuvering at the final stage of the trajectory while maintaining speed characteristics.
It is known that the first carrier of hypersonic missiles "Zircon" will be the frigate "Admiral Gorshkov", on which test launches were conducted. At the same time, the missile can be launched from UKSK launchers - Universal ship firing complexes 3S14, manufactured by the Morinformsystem-Agat concern, which are installed on all the latest ships of the Russian Navy. These are used to launch anti-ship missiles P-800 "Onyx" and "Caliber". Thus, the Zircons can be used even by small missile ships from the waters of the Baltic and Black Seas, from where a range of a thousand kilometers allows them to reach targets both at sea and on land.
In addition to surface ships, the Zircon will be put on nuclear submarines of the 835M Yasen-M project. From such a boat - Severodvinsk - in October 2021, launches of "Zircons" were made in the Barents Sea.
"In addition, the Zircons are also "sharpened" for coastal missile systems. By analogy with the supersonic anti-ship missile P-800 "Onyx", known in the export version as "Yakhont". It is used on surface and submarines, and is also part of the Bastion coastal system complex. Zircon also has the same range capabilities, only it is much faster," he told the newspaper.Ru" military expert Sergey Belousov.
Russia has gained a huge advantage in the defense sphere due to new military developments that have no analogues in the world yet, Belousov added.
"Hypersonic missiles occupy a special place here precisely due to the lack of opposition from the enemy. Just a month ago, the next tests of the American Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missile failed. They also want to put it on ships. It is possible that foreign developments of such weapons will move forward, and the same USA will complete the tests. But we are already one step ahead. It is important that until the country has mastered hypersound technology, it does not know how to deal with it. The developers of the S-500 claim that their complex is capable of fighting hypersonic missiles. So the American hypersound will not scare us anymore," the expert believes.
Victor Sokirko
