Russia to Start Serial Delivery of Zircon Missiles in 2022

Serial deliveries of Russia’s Zircon (Tsirkon) hypersonic missiles will start next year.

“The positive results allow us to proceed to the next stage of development - launching from underwater carriers, to complete state tests in 2021 and to start serial deliveries starting in 2022,” Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said Friday.

During a test launch in October, the anti-ship cruise missile hit a sea target 450km away. The rocket speed was more than Mach 8.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had stated in 2019 that the Tsirkon will reach speeds of Mach 9 and that its striking range capability would exceed 1,000 km.

Moscow plans to deploy Zircon on warships built for launching Kalibr cruise missiles. Work is underway to develop even land-based variant of the Zircon.