Zircon (missile)

This article is about the Russian hypersonic missile. For other uses, see Zircon (disambiguation).

3M22 Tsirkon Zircon
Type	Hypersonic missile
Place of origin	Russia
Service history
In service	In production
Used by	Russia
Production history
Designer	NPO Mashinostroyeniya
Produced	2012–present
Specifications
Engine	Scramjet
Fuel capacity	600 miles (970 km)
Operational range	400 kilometres (250 mi)
Speed	5,328 miles per hour (8,575 km/h){mach 7}
Launch platform	Aircraft, submarines, ships, and ground based SAM systems

Zircon or 3M22 Tsirkon (Циркон, NATO reporting name: SS-N-33) is a maneuvering hypersonic missile being developed by the Russian military. Its last successful launch was on June 3, 2017, almost a year earlier than had been announced by Russian officials.

Design

The Zircon or 3M22 Tsirkon is a maneuvering hypersonic missile that represents a further development of the HELA (Russian: "Hypersonic Experimental Flying Vehicle") that was on display at the MAKS airshow in 1995. Developer NPO Mashinostroyeniya.

Development

Prototypes were test-launched first from a Tu-22M3 bomber in 2012-13. Launches from a ground platform followed in 2015, with first success achieved in 2016. Completion of state trials on the whole family is targeted for 2020. The Zircon is believed to be a winged cruise missile with a lift-generating center body. A booster stage with solid-fuel engines accelerates it to supersonic speeds, after which a scramjet motor in the second stage accelerates it to hypersonic speeds. Range is estimated to be 135 to 270 nautical miles (155 to 311 mi; 250 to 500 km) at low level, and up to 400 nmi (460 mi; 740 km) in a semi-ballistic trajectory; average range is around 400 km (250 mi; 220 nmi)/450. The missile can travel at speeds of Mach 5–Mach 6 (3,806–4,567 mph; 6,125–7,350 km/h; 1,701.5–2,041.7 m/s). Such high speeds have led to concerns that it could penetrate existing naval defense systems; the Royal Navy's Sea Ceptor surface-to-air missile is only capable of intercepting targets flying up to Mach 3. In April 2017, it was revealed that the Zircon had reached a speed of Mach 8 (6,090 mph; 9,800 km/h; 2,722.3 m/s) during a test.

According to the state-owned media, the longest range is 540 nmi (620 mi; 1,000 km) for this purpose a new fuel was created. The Zircon will be incorporated into the Kirov-class battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov in 2018, and the Pyotr Velikiy in 2022. The ships will have their Mach 2.5, 630 kilometres (390 mi; 340 nmi)-range P-700 Granit anti-ship missiles replaced with 3S-14 vertical launch systems capable of holding P-800 Oniks and Kalibr missiles as well as the Zircon; each battlecruiser will be equipped with 72 (Frigate 8-16) of the missiles. Depending on the choice of types of missiles will amount to 40 - 80. It will also be used by undersea and aerial platforms, including the Lider-class destroyer, Husky-class submarine, Yasen-class submarine and Tu-160M2 Blackjack and PAK-DA bomber. In flight, the missile is completely covered by the stealth shell, the shell completely absorbs any rays of the radio frequencies. Missiles exchange information in flight, can be controlled by commands if necessary.

A version for export will have range limited to under 300 km in compliance with the MTCR, 400.

Service

In active service already.

See also

• BrahMos-II
• Kh-90
• Boeing X-51
• Kh-22 up to 1000 km
• skiff (missile) for seabed-based (in service)

Further reading

• Photo of the hypersonic missile in flight
• Hypersonic missile "Zircon" why NATO is afraid of new Russian weapons (Russian)
• Hunting in Russian "Zircon" (Russian)