The Ukrainian Air Power has reported that the Russian Amed Forces launched a Zircon hypersonic cruise missile throughout an in a single day strike on the nation on January 20. The place prior launches of the missile have been carried out from ships, nonetheless, this newest firing was reported to have been carried out from a ground-based launcher on the disputed Crimean Peninsula. The primary fight check of the Zircon was introduced in February 2024, three years after the primary missiles have been delivered to the Navy, with their mixture of Mach 9 speeds and 1,000 kilometre ranges permitting them to comfortably surpasses the capabilities of all identified non-Chinese language missile sorts. Though designed primarily as an anti-ship missile, the Zircon may also be used to strike floor targets as a secondary operate.
The event of a floor based mostly cell launch car for the Zircon has lengthy been anticipated to revolutionise the capabilities of Russia’s coastal defences, which deploy anti-ship missiles from cell launchers as a considerably more economical technique of delivering firepower. At the moment operational Russian Bastion coastal defence programs deploy the Zircon’s predecessor, the shorter ranged and considerably slower P-800, which continues to be thought-about one of many world’s most succesful anti-ship cruise missiles and has a Mach 3 velocity. A lot because the Bastion has confirmed extremely potent in a land assault position for the reason that outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian Struggle in February, so too is it potential that the Zircon could possibly be used for precision strikes towards land targets with a attain significantly additional and quicker than its predecessor.
Russian state media outlet TASS beforehand reported citing defence ministry sources {that a} coastal defence system based mostly on the Zircon was set to enter service by the tip of 2022, and was underneath improvement at NPO Mashinostroyeniya within the city of Reutov close to Moscow. The sources additional highlighted that the missile could be able to attacking floor targets. This isn’t identified to have materialised, nonetheless, though service entry in 2026 stays potential. The missile sort is at present deployed from a variety of Russian warship lessons, with the primary Yasen-M class nuclear powered assault submarine outfitted with the missiles having been launched in March 2025. As Russian shipyards haven’t laid down any new destroyers or cruisers for the Navy for the reason that Soviet period, the Zircon stays vital to compensating for lots of the shortcomings of the nation’s floor fleet.
