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Russia tests new hypersonic cruise missiles

Xinhua, March 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

Russia launched its first tests of the new hypersonic Zircon anti-ship cruise missiles, local media said Thursday.

"The tests of the hypersonic Zircon missiles have begun using a ground-based launching site," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted an unnamed high-profile defense industry source as saying.

The characteristics of the new missiles are classified, but according to the Russian state news agency Tass, the new missile range may be up to 400 km and is capable of flying at least five times faster than the speed of sound.

Russia's nuclear-powered battlecruiser in operation Pyotr Veliky, also the world's largest surface combatant warship, will be deployed with Zircon missiles in a 2019-2022 upgrade, Tass reported.

Another Russian Kirov class nuclear-powered battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov is also expected to be armed with Zircon after it finishes refit and rejoins the Russian Navy in 2018.

The missile, also known as the 3M22, has been designed by Military Industrial Corporation NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM), one of the leading aerospace enterprises in Russia, according to NPOM's website. Endi