When will this fast, high-tech weapon be deployed and ready for serial production?
Russia’s hypersonic Tsirkon cruise missile inches ever closer to deployment, with defense officials announcing a timetable for its final trials and subsequent entry into service.
Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Alexey Krivoruchko announced late last month that the Tsirkon missile is on the verge of completing state trials. “These positive results,” he said, in reference to prior Tsirkon tests, “make it possible to begin the next trial stage: firing from submarine carriers.”
3M22 Tsirkon, also known as Zircon (North Atlantic Treaty Organization reporting name SS-N-33) is a winged, hypersonic anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile that entered testing and development in the early 2010s. There is some recent indication, offered by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the late 2019, that a land-based Tsirkon variant is being developed, but the missile seems to be primarily intended as a submari
Russia to Start Serial Delivery of Zircon Missiles in 2022 Our Bureau 3715
Serial deliveries of Russia’s Zircon (Tsirkon) hypersonic missiles will start next year.
“The positive results allow us to proceed to the next stage of development - launching from underwater carriers, to complete state tests in 2021 and to start serial deliveries starting in 2022,” Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said Friday.
During a test launch in October, the anti-ship cruise missile hit a sea target 450km away. The rocket speed was more than Mach 8.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had stated in 2019 that the Tsirkon will reach speeds of Mach 9 and that its striking range capability would exceed 1,000 km.