The crew of the frigate Admiral Gorshkov conducted an exercise in the west of the Atlantic Ocean using a hypersonic missile "Zircon". According to the Ministry of Defense, the launch efficiency demonstrated full compliance with expectations. What role did space play in the ocean exercises in the Atlantic and what conclusions should NATO draw from this?The frigate Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov, operating in the areas of the western Atlantic Ocean, conducted an exercise using hypersonic missile weapons by computer simulation.
This was reported on Wednesday in the Ministry of Defense.
It is clarified that the frigate worked out a strike with a Zircon missile at a naval target simulating a simulated enemy ship and located at a distance of more than 900 kilometers. During the exercises, the ship's crew demonstrated high coordination of actions, the military department stressed.
According to the commander of the ship, Captain I rank Igor Krokhmal, the launch efficiency was one unit, which means full compliance with expectations. The exercises, according to him, confirmed all the characteristics inherent in this complex.
It is expected that in the second half of February, Admiral Gorshkov will take part in exercises of the Navy of the BRICS countries (Russia, China and South Africa) in the Indian Ocean off the coast of South Africa near the city of Durban and in the neighboring Richards Bay. Recall that in early January, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to send the Admiral Gorshkov frigate with Zircon missile systems to combat service.
Doctor of Military Sciences Konstantin Sivkov previously spoke about the features of the Zircon rocket. "This is a hypersonic weapon, practically invulnerable to air defense. At the coastal complex, the range of damage varies from one thousand to one and a half thousand kilometers. The range of carrier-based aircraft is about 800 kilometers. That is, by creating and using a missile system, we can strike at the enemy without entering the range of its carrier–based aircraft," he said.
The exercises on the use of the anti-ship hypersonic missile "Zircon" by the crew of the frigate "Admiral Gorshkov" seriously alerted the United States and NATO, experts say. "It was an electronic test launch, which showed that both the crew and the technical equipment of the ship are fully ready to solve combat tasks," corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences Alexander Bartosh told the newspaper VZGLYAD.
"Moreover, the hypersound test in the western part of the Atlantic can be called a truly unique event. Even the very appearance of the Admiral Gorshkov ship in the vast western part of the Atlantic is a definite signal to our opponents. We have shown that we have a very effective means of deterrence and defeat," he added.
"The exercises of Admiral Gorshkov immediately caused unrest in the West. They say, "why are you moving to the shores of the USA?". It seemed as if a whole squadron had come out towards them," Captain of the First rank, deputy editor–in-chief of the magazine "Warrior of Russia" Vasily Dandykin said ironically.
"The ship was just working out the tasks assigned to it. Moreover, it will work in all previously stated points. The Atlantic is a big one, and it is quite logical to conduct exercises in its western part, especially against the background of current events in Eastern Europe," the military expert continued.
"Of course, "Zircon" seriously worries NATO. The rocket is going at a tremendous speed, it is very difficult to shoot it down, if at all possible. In addition, it can carry a warhead with a special head. It is not difficult to imagine what will happen to an aircraft carrier if a missile hits it," the interlocutor drew attention.
"The missile is also capable of hitting targets within a radius of thousands of kilometers. But at the same time, we must conduct exercises with such missiles not only in the Arctic, but also in the Atlantic, reaching the appropriate launch boundaries. Exactly for this reason, the United States closely watched our exercises, evaluated them and drew conclusions," he suggests.
"Moreover, we have repeatedly and quite carefully told NATO that we have such weapons. Computer graphics were demonstrated. But they didn't believe. Well, now there's no doubt left. Our exercises in this area of the Atlantic are a full–fledged element of combat training, which illustrates that it is not the quantity of weapons that is important, but their quality," Dandykin stressed.
Experts also note that the Admiral Gorshkov's combat campaign with Zircons is a unique event also because Russia is the first to open a new page in history called "Hypersonic missiles on the ocean expanses".
"According to official information, Admiral Gorshkov will pass the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea. And this is really an innovation – nothing like this has happened before today," said Dmitry Stefanovich, a researcher at the IMEMO Center for International Security of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Despite the fact that similar hypersonic missile development programs for ships are being conducted in other countries, including the United States and China, Russia has actually outstripped them.
"At the same time, of course, we cannot say that this is some kind of revolutionary change in the situation. The traditional emphasis of the Soviet and then the Russian navy is on high–speed anti-ship missiles. What has changed now is the ability to hit ground targets, which is also the main development of other anti-ship missiles. At the same time, we are talking about a completely different level of speed and range," REN–TV quotes Stefanovich.
Experts also pay attention to another important nuance – the likely use of a space targeting system as part of the exercise,
because without it, "Zircon" will not be physically able to perform the assigned tasks, since its "eyes" without such systems are able to see the target only at a distance of 30-40 kilometers. "If you want to hit an enemy object at any range, you cannot do without targeting and reconnaissance. Satellites help us in this. Everyone understands that a ship at sea is like a needle in a haystack. To detect a target, it is first necessary to identify the square where the enemy ship is located," military expert Alexey Leonkov told the newspaper VIEW.
To solve such a problem, analysts admit, the military satellite "Pion-NKS" could be used, which went on combat duty last fall, as the newspaper VZGLYAD wrote in detail.
"Next, the reconnaissance satellite gives out the coordinates of the target for the rocket. When approaching, it scans the space, additional exploration of the object takes place. When the target is precisely determined, the missile changes its flight path and descends to the maximum permissible point for a subsequent attack," Leonkov explained.
"And in general, based on the results of the exercise in the Atlantic, we can cautiously assume that we have an interaction of space intelligence and the fleet. Once a system of global satellite marine space reconnaissance and target designation (MCRC) was created for this purpose, but after the crisis of the 90s, its work was discontinued. Now everything has to be restored. And now the most important thing is to scale these systems in sufficient quantity," Leonkov concluded.
Oleg Isaichenko
