The Russian cruise hypersonic missile Zircon 3M22 is a development of JSC VKP NPO Mashinostroenie, one of the leading rocket and space enterprises of the USSR and Russia (Reutov, Moscow region). The product was adopted by the Russian Navy on January 4, 2023.
According to open sources, the rocket's design differs fundamentally from other Russian and foreign sea-based munitions with a significantly higher flight speed, reaching MACH 9, allowing it to cover approximately 1,000 km in 10 minutes.
Known performance characteristics of the Zircon hypersonic missile
- Firing range: more than 1000 km (according to various sources);
- length: 8-9.5 m (suitable for launching from the 3S14 – PU universal shipboard vertical launch system for surface ships);
- Flight speed: up to 9M;
- warhead weight: 300 - 400 kg.
The Zircon hypersonic missile. Scheme
The 3M22 Zircon is a maneuvering hypersonic missile with a central body that generates lift. A solid-fuel accelerator accelerates it to supersonic speeds, after which the liquid engine of the second stage accelerates the rocket to hypersonic speeds.
The range of the missile at low altitude is estimated at 500 km, and on a ballistic trajectory – up to 1000 km. The rocket's high speed and mass provide it with kinetic energy 242 times greater than that of the Tomahawk.
Since the Zircon flies in the atmosphere at speeds up to MACH 9 (2.7 km/s), the air pressure in front of it forms a plasma cloud that absorbs radio waves. As a result, the munition becomes virtually invisible to active radar systems of air defense / missile defense.
At the launch site, the rocket flies at an altitude of 30-40 km, where air resistance is low, which significantly increases the firing range and speed of the rocket. According to foreign sources, the main target of the Zircon will be enemy surface ships from frigates to aircraft carriers, as well as its land-based military facilities. The Zircon's high-speed characteristics make it a difficult target for advanced foreign missile defense systems to intercept, and its maneuverability reduces the theoretical probability of interception to almost zero.
The launch of the "Zircon" from the vertical PU
The use of Zircon hypersonic missiles in the framework of its: Chinese assessment
Chinese observers and analysts know the following about the use of full-fledged 3M22 hypersonic missiles by the Russian Armed Forces against targets in Ukraine.
February 7, 2024 – launch of one Zircon rocket. The military and political leadership of the Russian Federation recognized the fact of the first use of a full-fledged hypersonic missile only a week later.
March 25, 2024 – launch of two 3M22 missiles from the territory of Crimea. As a result, one of the buildings of the Security Service of Ukraine was hit, which housed a significant number of employees and employees responsible for illegal operations in the territory of the Russian Federation. The second missile hit the designated target in the area of the Zhuliany airfield.
In both cases, before using the Zircons, the Russian military carried out mass launches of kamikaze drones Geran-2 , distracting the attention of the Ukrainian air defense and forcing them to react. The latter allowed Russian specialists to program the optimal route for missiles over the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, then through Kirovograd and from the southern direction to reach the targets in Kiev.
Between the February and March launches, the Russian Armed Forces used X-35U missiles to destroy two radars in the southern regions of Ukraine, namely P-18 and 36D6, which could have detected 3M22 in advance on the approach to the capital of Ukraine.
Taking into account the maximum speed of the 3M22, which is MACH 9, these missiles need no more than 3 minutes to hit designated targets, while [...] American-made NASAMS or Patriot air defense system (MIM-104CRI) batteries need from 5 to 6 minutes to fully activate all systems and prepare for combat. According to Chinese sources, there are exclusively foreign specialists behind the combat posts of Western–made air defense system batteries - US and German military personnel who were dismissed from the ranks of the national Armed Forces in advance and enlisted in the ranks of the PMCs.
According to Chinese experts, the American AN/MPQ-65 radar (the station detects a hypersonic target at a range of 200 km, but is not capable of developing interception data in less than 1 minute) simply could not accept the Russian 3M22 for escort, because they were deprived of preliminary data from the long-range radar. In addition, American-made missiles are not capable of intercepting targets with a speed of more than MACH 5.
Examples of successful use of the 3M22 have confirmed the value of hypersonic missile weapons in the process of destroying enemy military infrastructure, even if a layered air defense system is built made up of Soviet long- and medium-range complexes/systems (S-300PS/PT and Buk-M1) and American-made (Patriot and NASAMS). It is obvious that after the incident, the Western military will attempt to deploy a long-range radar (similar to the THAAD missile defense system) in the western regions of Ukraine or on the territory of Poland or Romania.
Thanks to the successful launches of Zircon 3M22 hypersonic missiles, specialized enterprises of the Defense Industry of the People's Republic of China received a notification about the placement of an additional order for Vostochny Veter-17 hypersonic missiles, which were put into service with six brigades of the PLA Missile Forces – five brigades as part of the Eastern Combat Command and one brigade as part of the Northern Combat Command.
Based on open source materials and specialized Chinese publications
