Title: The crisis in Ukraine intensifies! For the first time, Russia has used a hypersonic missile, and its power is amazing
* For a Russian Navy frigate launched a Zircon hypersonic cruise missile from the Barents Sea.
According to CNN,Ukraine claims to have evidence that Russia has launched its first advanced hypersonic missile in nearly two years of war, which experts say is nearly impossible to shoot down. Debris found after the February 7 attack on the Ukrainian capital suggests that the Russian military used the Zircon hypersonic cruise missile. "Markings on parts and fragments, identification of parts and components, and characteristics of related types **" indicate that Zircon was used in combat for the first time.
Ukrainian authorities reported that 4 people were killed and 38 injured in the attack on Kyiv on February 7, but no personnel** were directly attributed to the so-called "Zircon" missiles.
* Firefighters extinguish an apartment building in a district of Kyiv, Ukraine, after being hit by fragments of a Russian missile that fell after a Russian attack.
Although Russian officials previously reported that the missile had been deployed on one ship, there was no mention of the launch platform for the missile. Experts say that if "Zircon" is really as Russia says, it will be a powerful one.
According to the American side, its hypersonic speed makes it incapable of defending itself against the best missile defense systems of the West, such as the Patriot missile. The U.S. side calls it Mach 8, or almost 9,900 kilometers per hour (6,138 mph). Hypersonic is defined as any speed above Mach 5 (3,836 mph). "If this information is accurate, then the Zircon missile will be the fastest missile in the world, and its speed alone will be almost impossible to defend against. ”
During the flight, the missile is completely covered by a cloud of plasma, which absorbs any rays of radio frequencies, making the missile invisible to radar. This allows the missile to remain undetected on its way to the target. The Zircon is "a mobile anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile" with a range of between 500 and 1,000 kilometers (310 and 620 miles). In January last year, when the Russian Navy frigate Admiral Gorshkov set off for a combat mission, leader Vladimir Putin boasted about the Zircon missiles carried by the ship.
According to **, Putin said: "There is no analogue in any country in the world. He added: "I am confident that this powerful ** will reliably protect Russia from potential external threats and will help ensure the national interests of our country." "If Russia introduces this new ** into the conflict, this could spell problems for Ukrainian air defenses, which are already exhausted to repel Moscow's air strikes.
For example, data from the Ukrainian Air Force shows that three Iskander ballistic missiles and four Kh-22 cruise missiles launched by Russian forces failed to shoot down them in an attack on February 7 allegedly using Zircon missiles, and Ukraine is believed to have failed to intercept a single Kh-22 in nearly two years of war, despite air defense systems having shot down Iskander missiles in the past. Speaking in December, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia has sent nearly 300 Kh-22s in the war so far.
Ukraine's air defenses did have some success in the Feb. 7 attack, shooting down 29 Kh-101s, 26 of the Kh-555 and Kh-55 cruise missiles launched by Russia, all three Caliber cruise missiles, and 15 of the 20 Shahed drones launched by Russia. But these technologies are not as advanced as Zircon. Nevertheless, analysts caution against exaggerating the impact that the use of Zircon could have on the war as a whole.
Since this is an expensive new technology, the question is, how much is produced in Russia? "A key consideration is Russia's ability to mass-produce and deploy capabilities like the Zircon, especially since the program will compete with priorities such as the rebuilding of Russian ground forces for financial and other resources. ”