The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for the first time showed the launch of the hypersonic rocket "Zircon" (photo)
During the maneuvers, the frigates launched the hypersonic missiles "Zircon", and the submarine "Novorossiysk" launched the rockets "Caliber", the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reports. "Crews of frigates" Admiral Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov "and" Admiral Golovko ", which acted in the shock group of the Navy of Russia, performed firing hypersonic rockets" Zircon ", and diesel-electric submarine Marine target position, " - the message reads.
The Russian Defense Ministry also published a corresponding video of rocket launches. It is noteworthy that in fact these are the first footage that recorded the start of hypersonic "zirconic", where several interesting design features of the rocket are noticeable. For example, the cylindrical casing closes its nasal part. It is likely that it is fired after starting to protect the ammunition from damage at the stage of preparation.
Also in the tail part of the rocket there is a acceleration block, but its design parts on the presented frames are difficult to consider. Russia positions the 3M22 "Circon" rocket as an advanced weapon, emphasizing its key role in the strategy of restraint at the marine theaters. The rocket was stated as a hypersonic, at a speed up to 9 strokes (about 11025 km/h) and a range from 400 to 1000 km. The weight of its combat part was previously estimated at 300-400 kg.
However, the data of the rocket fragments of the rocket launched over the territory of Ukraine suggest that the actual weight of the combat unit is 100-150 kg. This raises the question of its efficiency against large ships, for which the rocket was intended. Experts say that such a battle charge may be insufficient to guarantee the destruction of large marine goals.
It is noteworthy that the demonstration of launches of weapons of this class is somewhat reminiscent of the history of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the Dnieper so -called hypersonic rocket "Oreshnik". At that time, Kremlin head Vladimir Putin justified the use of these weapons as a certain response to the attacks of Ukrainian long -range ATACMS missiles on military facilities in Russia, which was granted by the United States.
The current maneuvers near the shores of Syria and the launches of "zirconies" are caused by the exacerbation and threats of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al -Assad, which arose after the onset of the rebel forces. Recall that the anti-government group "Guy'at Tahrir Ash-Sham", which leads an offensive in Syria, approached the Russian air base Khmeimim at a distance of 35 km.