Russia has carried out a new test launch of the hypersonic Zircon missile. “The tests were carried out successfully, flawlessly. This is a great event in the life of the country and an essential step to increase Russia’s security, increase its defense capacity, ”said President Vladimir Putin during a meeting of the State Council, quoted by the Sputnik news agency.
Zircon is the world‘s first hypersonic cruise missile capable of long aerodynamic flights by maneuvering through dense layers of the atmosphere using only its own propulsion power. The maximum speed of the missile reaches about nine the speed of sound. Its maximum range is 1,000 kilometers.
The one on Christmas Eve is certainly not the only one and will not be the last test of the Russians: other launches were carried out during the month of December, and even earlier in November, in autumn and in summer, when they started. the experiments.
The new weapon, defined by Putin as “unrivaled”, was successfully tested in October 2020 and then several other times with the dissemination of videos as happened on July 19, with a launch from the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, in the White Sea: according to what also reported by the magazine Analysis Defense, the Zircon “hit a land target on the coasts of the Barents Sea located 350 kilometers away, flying at a speed of Mach 7”. According to what has been widespread up to now, the targets have always been placed at a distance of about 400 kilometers, despite a potential range of the missile that is more than double.
According to Vladimir Putin’s announcement at the beginning of November, in the course of 2022 the Russian Navy should be equipped with Zircon missiles, as part of a strategic modernization plan of the country’s armed forces that also involves a huge economic commitment.