Russia has developed a hypersonic anti-ship missile, dubbed Zircon, which is able to achieve a maximum speed of 7400 km/hr. Russian defense ministry released a picture of the missile for the first time. The news of this hypersonic missile has sent shock-waves around the world.
According to Russian scientists, Zircon missile can attack a target with a speed 5 times that of the speed of sound. Once launched, it would be almost impossible to stop this missile. Russian scientists say no missile defense system in the world can stop the missile after its launch. Even if it is intercepted before impact with the target, the vast kinetic energy of the missile will ensure that the debris causes unprecedented damage to the target.
Zircon can destroy its target in a range of 240 to 400 km within few minutes. It can cover 155 miles in just 2.5 minutes. Russia is planning to induct this missile in Army by 2022. The missile gets power from a scramjet engine that has no moving parts and uses oxygen from the air.
Russia’s new Zircon missiles have already been tested successfully. Experts believe one of the Kirov-class nuclear-powered battle cruisers is most likely to be the first ship to be equipped with Zircon missile. Russian Navy has two such ships in its fleet.
“Hypersonic missiles are virtually unstoppable,” one senior UK Naval source told the Sunday People.
“With no method of protecting themselves against missiles like the Zircon the (UK) carrier would have to stay out of range, hundreds of miles out at sea.”
India is also trying to develop a similar hyper sonic missile, and will use scramjet technology in that missile. India is also developing the second generation of Brahmos-2 missile in association with Russia. These missiles will use the same technology as used by Zircon missiles. According to initial reports, the range of new Brahmos-2 missiles will be 600 km and they will be ready for trials by 2020.
You must be logged in to post a comment.