Zircon hypersonic cruise missile has successfully hit a target in theBarents Sea, the Russian Ministry of Defence stated. The military stressedthat the missile flew around 450 kilometres, reaching Mach 8 speeds.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed the successful test of a Zirconmissile,linkstatingit was an important event for the country and contributes to the nation’ssecurity. He also expressed gratitude to all of the people involved in theproject, thanking Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the GeneralStaff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov as well.
“I would like to thank all of you for the work done, for its results andexpress hope that in the future all of the specialists involved in therearmament of the Russian military will [continue to] work as efficientlyand as persistently as it has done to this point”, the president saidduring a video meeting with the General Staff.
Putin made the statement after the military confirmed the successfulcompletion of the test.
“Yesterday, the frigate Admiral Gorshkov launched the Zircon cruise missilefrom the White Sea at a target located in the Barents Sea. The task wascompleted successfully, a direct hit was registered. The range of theflight reached 450 kilometres [279 miles], maximum altitude totaled 28kilometres, and the duration of the flight totaled 4.5 minutes. The missiledeveloped a speed of over Mach 8”, General Gerasimov said.
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The 3M22 Zircon is a scramjet-powered manoeuvring anti-ship hypersoniccruise missilelinkthatis expected to enter service in the coming years.
Testing of the Zircon began in 2015, with nearly a dozen launches completedby 2018. President Putin mentioned the Zircon in his 2018 speech toparliament as one of the main strategic systems capable of evading Americanmissile defences and thus guaranteeing Russia’s response capability.
Courtesy: Sputnik
