The picture shows the Zircon missile.
The Zircon missile designed by the Russian Chelomé Design Bureau has superior performance, a maximum range of 1,000 kilometers, and flies at 8 times the speed of sound, because the speed is extremely fast, the missile flight trajectory is difficult to capture, and the general air defense system cannot intercept it, and can effectively strike at the enemy's important military facilities, and can also cause damage to the aircraft carrier, so the Zircon missile is also known as the "aircraft carrier killer".
During the Cold War, the United States developed an integrated air and ground defense system, which is now the initial defense system of the "Aegis" system, and the Soviet Union put forward the concept of hypersonic anti-ship missiles in order to break through the defense of the United States. Compared with the subsonic anti-ship missiles of the same period, the penetration capability of the ideal hypersonic anti-ship missile is much superior. After the establishment of Russia, many achievements have been made in hypersonic missiles over the years, such as the "Sandfly" and Kh-22 missiles, etc., the Zircon missile is based on the traditional hypersonic missile, and flight tests were carried out in 2015, in June 2023, the Russian army's current newly built frigates will be equipped with "Zircon" missiles, and in August 2023, Russia's "Yasen"-M multi-purpose nuclear submarine is also equipped with this missile. Between 2015 and 2023, Russia tested more than 10 times. So, what exactly is the performance of the Zircon missile? In this regard, I have made the following three analyses.
The picture shows the test launch of the Zircon missile.
First of all, the Zircon missile is very good at penetrating defenses. The Zircon missile is an air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile, which adopts a wave-control design, is smaller, has a bomb load of 450 kg, an effective range of 1,000 kilometers, and a maximum speed of Mach 9. Using active or semi-active radar guidance, before launch, the radar system captures the image of the target ship, calculates the launch trajectory, and after launch, it can change the original trajectory according to the target to carry out a more effective strike, which makes the Zircon missile in a changeable environment, can also achieve precise strikes. Because of its special ballistic trajectory, the missile is fast, so that the enemy's air defense and missile interception systems cannot react in time. In addition, the penetration speed of the Zircon missile at the end reaches Mach 8, while the US air defense interception system does not exceed Mach 3; theoretically, the success rate of the Zircon missile penetration is more than 95 percent, and it has miraculous results in striking large ship clusters and land targets, and is known as the "aircraft carrier killer."
The picture shows the Zircon missile.
Secondly, the power system of the Zircon missile is very powerful. The Zircon missile uses the most advanced science and technology, the most technically difficult scramjet engine, this engine uses air as an oxidizer, and is powered by the heat energy of combustion mixed with the fuel it carries, and the difference between the traditional engine is that the thrust generated by the scramjet engine is 4 times that of the traditional engine, which makes the speed of the Zircon missile reach the maximum.
The picture shows the test launch of the Zircon missile.
Finally, the Zircon missile can be launched on different platforms. The Zircon missile can be launched not only on the surface, but also on an underwater nuclear submarine using the 3S14 universal launch system. Launching on the water requires overcoming the problem of being intercepted by enemy air defense and not being able to strike effectively; There are many more problems to be overcome in underwater launches, such as complex ocean currents, stable water exit problems, and communication problems with missiles and nuclear submarines, but these problems have been overcome. And at the end of February 2020, the frigate "Marshal Gorshkov" was successfully test-launched, and on October 4 of the same year, the "Severodvinsk" nuclear submarine Zircon missile was successfully test-launched, and the land launch is also being studied.
To sum up, the performance of the Zircon missile is excellent. Advanced radar and power systems can effectively strike at the enemy. Because of the design and small size, it is very concealed. Moreover, the Zircon missile can be launched on multiple platforms, and can be used by land, sea and air, and the future prospects are considerable.