1. Russia Test Fires Submarine-Launched Hypersonic Tsirkon Missile For First Time
04 Oct 2021
Russia’s defence ministry said that the Severodvinsk submarine had fired the missile in the Barents Sea,successfully hitting its chosen target.
Russia said on Monday it had successfully test launched a Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missile from a submarine for the first time, a weapon President Vladimir Putin has lauded as part of a new generation of unrivalled arms systems.
The defence ministry said that the Severodvinsk submarine had fired the missile in the Barents Sea, successfully hitting its chosen target.
The launch took place at night, video footage released by the ministry showed.
Courtesy: ET
2. Analysis: Russia’s Tsirkon Hypersonic Missile Trials Enter Final Stage – Part 2
Russia is holding top secret trials of Tsirkon hypersonic missile. Media leaks have intentional omissions. However, it is possible to suggest when the important weapon may be accepted into service, the Vzglyad business daily writes.
The secrecy of the trials has its own specifics. Few people know the date of the launch. Few licensed people are allowed to attend. The access to the test site is strictly restricted. The fly-over time of adversary intelligence satellites, the movement of foreign delegations, and weather are taken into account. Telemetric data are taken from specific places. In other words, the secrecy is high also for the personnel to rule out unsanctioned photos and videos.
Open sources said the hypersonic 3M-22 missile was designed by NPO-machinostroeniya in Reutov in Moscow region. It is a part of 3K-22 (Tsirkon code) complex which NATO reports as SS-N-33. The missile can develop a speed of Mach 9 and fly at an altitude of 30-40 km where the range and speed increase as air resistance is smaller. Experts estimate the payload at 300-400 kg and the missile length at 8-10 meters. Tsirkon is to be fired from universal vertical launchers 3S-14 on warships and submarines and from Bastion mobile coastal missile launchers.
Lieutenant-General and formed chair of Almaz-Antey military-technical commission Alexander Gorkov said:
“I can say that after such tests the missile may be launched into batch production in less than a year. Lettering should be assigned to the missile. Design documentation should be finalized for industrial production. It will not take much time,”
The technical and tactical charac project teristics are not disclosed and the world records the missiles set are not officially registered in contrast to airplanes. Over 500 km can mean 800 and 1200. If you say over 1000, it may be 1500, he added.
885 Yasen-class submarine launching a Kalibr cruise missile
Tsirkon is mostly an antiship missile, but can also hit ground targets. It is fired by te same launchers as Onix P-800 and Kalibr 3M-54. Hypersonic missiles can be fired by heavy warships, including the prospective nuclear Leader-class destroyer of project 23560, Yasen-M-class nuclear submarines of project 885M, Antey-class project 949AM and prospective fifth-generation nuclear submarines.
Tsirkon like Kalibr can be fired by ground launchers. In this case, it will mostly target US intermediate-range ballistic missile launchers if they are deployed in Europe and the Pacific region, the Vzglyad said.
Courtesy: Naval News