New Delhi: Zircon, the universal hypersonic cruise missile designed to destroy sea and ground targets, will be supplied to the Russian Armed Forces in the coming months, the country’s President Vladimir Putin has announced.
As it underwent several tests in the Barents Sea over the past year, Putin had promised that Zircon, which according to him is capable of reaching speeds of about Mach 9 and hitting targets at a distance of more than 1,000 km, would be put on combat duty soon.
Addressing the Main Naval Parade in St Petersburg on the occasion of Russia’s Navy Day, Putin said that Admiral Gorshkov, one of the most modern ships of its Northern Fleet, will be the first one to be equipped with the “unmatched” missiles which have “no obstacles”.
“The Admiral Gorshkov frigate will be the first to go on combat duty with this formidable weapon aboard. The area in which the ship equipped with Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles will carry out its duty will be selected based on Russia’s security interests,” said Putin.
The announcement was labelled as a “chilling threat” by a section of the media in the West.
“At this speed it would reach London in about five minutes,” said UK’s Daily Mirror.
It was on February 20, 2019 that the Russian President – during his annual Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly – informed about Zircon, the “promising innovation” also spelt as 3M22 Tsirkon, for the first time officially.
“It can be launched from water, from surface vessels and from submarines, including those that were developed and built for carrying Kalibr high-precision missiles, which means it comes at no additional cost for us,” he had said then.
As it moved ahead with its plan to equip submarines and surface ships with the Zircon complex, the flight tests of the hypersonic cruise missile continued even during Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. The Russian Defence Ministry released a video on May 28 which showed Zircon being fired from Gorshkov in the Barents Sea and hitting a target in the White Sea after travelling a distance of 1,000 km (625 miles).
“The flight of a hypersonic missile corresponded to the specified parameters,” the Russian Defence Ministry had commented after Zircon’s last test.
Analysts in New Delhi too have been closely watching the bigger picture unfold at a time when the defence ties between India and Russia continue to grow.
“The successful test launch of a Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile shows that Russia continues to pioneer emerging defence technologies. Therefore, despite diversification, it is important for India to continue to develop defence partnerships with Moscow,” Professor Gulshan Sachdeva, Chairperson, Centre for European Studies at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, had told IndiaNarrative.com, last year.
Meanwhile, Putin said on Sunday that the current environment requires “commensurate, prompt, and decisive actions” from Moscow.
“First and foremost, these are our waters of the Arctic, the Black Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea, and the Baltic and Kuril Straits. We will ensure their protection rigorously and using all available tools,” he said at country’s the naval capital with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Nikolai Yevmenov also in attendance.
IANS