A recent video published by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the first time allowed us to examine in detail the design of the Russian hypersonic anti-ship missile "Zircon", launches of which had previously been demonstrated only from a considerable distance. This event attracted the attention of foreign online industry publications, which noted that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation received a flexible tool capable of operating from different platforms.
The launch in question took place on December 3, 2024, during joint exercises between groups of forces of the Navy and the Russian Aerospace Forces in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. In a press release from the Ministry of Defense, it was noted that the firing of hypersonic Zircon missiles was carried out by the frigates Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov and Admiral Golovko operating as part of the strike group.
The published footage showed launches from various angles, on the basis of which experts drew some conclusions about the device of the Zircon.
What was considered
First of all, attention was drawn to the nose fairing of the rocket, which was covered, according to one version, by a "cylindrical casing", the purpose of which "one can only guess", and on the other, by a special unit that stabilizes the rocket immediately after its launch and then shoots back.
The latest version, in particular, is confirmed by video footage capturing one of the launches from afar. They clearly showed that the front section of the rocket, after leveling the position of the munition in an upright position, detaches from it, while the rocket itself takes off, gaining speed.
The Zircon upper stage also attracted the attention of specialists, but it was not possible to examine it in detail on the video.
Experts of the Army Recognition portal believe that the Zircon propulsion system consists of two stages: a solid-fuel upper stage and a ramjet engine to maintain hypersonic speed and ensure maneuverability in the main section of the flight path. The specialized portal The War Zone (TWZ) believes that the casing in the nose of the rocket hides an annular air intake that provides cooling of the Zircon ramjet engine.
TWZ noted that the launch of the Zircon in a recent video of the Ministry of Defense was carried out from the installation of the 3C14 vertical launch on board the frigate project 22350, to which Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral Golovko belong. The publication's specialists also compared the new video of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation with previous footage published in October 2020 and May 2022, stating that all three videos probably show a missile of the same type.
In addition, they recalled the version of the origin of the hypersonic Zircon from the supersonic Onyx cruise missile, which was discussed in the West back in 2020 due to the fact that both missiles can be launched from the 3C14 shipboard installation. After watching a recent video, TWZ finally ruled out the similarity of the Zircon to the experimental American X-51 Waverider missile. The image of the latter had previously been used by many media outlets to illustrate the alleged appearance of the Russian missile.
Development of "Zircon"
The development of a Russian sea-based complex with a hypersonic missile - the future Zircon - was announced back in February 2011. By 2016, as a TASS source in the military-industrial complex reported, the program had reached the flight test stage. In the summer of 2019, Boris Obnosov, General Director of the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation, announced intensive missile tests (Zircon was created by the NGO of Mechanical Engineering, which is part of it).
In January 2020, the first launch of this missile took place from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate. In October 2021, the Severodvinsk nuclear submarine carried out a test launch of the Zircon from the Barents Sea.
On December 24, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the launch of the Zircons. The tests, he said, were "successful, flawless." In February 2024, addressing the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Putin said that the serial production of such missiles had begun, which at that time had already been tested in a special military operation.
The Zircon is capable of reaching speeds of about 9 Mach numbers (according to some reports, this figure reaches 10 Mach numbers - approx. TASS). The missile can hit surface and ground targets at a range of over 1 thousand km. The commander of the Admiral Gorshkov, Captain 1st rank Igor Krokhmal, stated that the range of the ship-based Zircon is 1.5 thousand km.
Obnosov himself pointed out in an interview that intercepting such a missile "requires a very effective missile defense system and an air defense system." As Georgy Roslyakov, commander of the Admiral Gorshkov missile and artillery combat unit, noted, "in addition to its speeds, stealth technologies are also embedded in the product itself."
The American newspaper The Washington Times cited the conclusions from the report of the Congressional Research Service. In it, experts noted that existing American ground-based and space-based missile detection systems are not able to detect and track the flight of hypersonic missiles.
Coastal complex and nuclear warhead
Despite the fact that the main carriers of the Zircons are surface ships and submarines, there is evidence of the development of a coastal complex (DBK) for these hypersonic missiles. A TASS source close to the Russian military department reported in November 2022 that a launcher had already been created for them. It can also fire supersonic Onyx missiles.
According to Army Recognition, "one of the features of Zircon that causes the most concern is the flexibility of its application." According to the portal, "the missile provides a serious strategic advantage, since it is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads." They also noted that "the missile can be launched from various carriers, including surface ships and coastal missile systems, which provides Russia with the opportunity to deploy and use it in various combat scenarios."
