/Pogled.info/ “Nezalezhnaya” has become a training ground where Russia and the West improve their military technologies and test different types of weapons intended for the “great war” between them. Hypersonic was no exception in this regard. According to Ukrainian sources, on Wednesday, January 7, Russia used the “Zirkon” sea-based hypersonic missile for the first time in an attack on Kiev.
The sources showed debris from the missile labeled 3M22, matching the code for “Zircon.”
Field trial
It is still not clear what target our military hit. At the time of writing, the Russian Ministry of Defense has not commented in any way on this information, and Ukrainian media and government agencies, while silent on the attacks on military, industrial and infrastructure sites, show a picture of destruction in the residential sector. to give the impression that the evil Russians are spending their extremely expensive missiles on destroying ordinary homes of ordinary people.
True, here it is necessary to clarify that, according to Western experts, the price of one Zircon is approximately 210 million dollars, that is, the missile costs almost three times more than the F-35 fighter-bomber. This estimate can vary widely in any direction, but it is unlikely that there are any targets on the territory of Ukraine that would be justified to be destroyed with Zircons.
Therefore, the use of the rocket serves an entirely different purpose. Most likely, it consists in testing the missile as a means of destroying ground targets.
The fact is that “Zircon” was created as a means of destroying American aircraft carriers ($10 billion each). Therefore, the rocket has outstanding characteristics:
Most of the way, Zircon flies at an altitude of 30–40 km, and guidance is carried out using an inertial navigation system and its own radar.
And it is the adaptation of guidance systems that is the key issue when trying to use naval missiles in a land theater of operations, since target selection at sea and on land are fundamentally different tasks in complexity.
The hypersonic on the fronts of the Special Military Operation
If the use of Zircon really took place, then this is already the second hypersonic system that Russia has tested in Ukraine within the framework of the special operation. The first was the Dagger complex.
Although, of course, the event is epoch-making. The second of three types of hypersonic weapons received a baptism of fire. It is also unclear whether it was launched from land, sea or air systems,– notes the Telegram channel “Russian Engineer”.
We would like to add that the third and last type of Russian hypersonic weapon that has not yet been tested in Ukraine is the Avangard strategic complex.
At the same time, looking at the history of the use of “Daggers”, we will see that each time they were used to destroy the most protected targets that could not be hit by other means.
In March 2022, as part of the first combat use of the Dagger, a deep underground ammunition depot in the Ivano-Frankivsk region was struck, followed by a series of attacks against strategically important targets that were well protected by systems for air defense. In the spring of 2023, Daggers were used to eliminate the American Patriot air defense system in Kiev.
Could “Zircon” be similarly used to destroy a particularly important object? Yes, it is quite possible. But data confirming this version has not yet been received by any of the parties.
The platform problem
The question of who actually released Zircon on the territory of Ukraine is also interesting. The fact is that the missile is naval, but it can only be used by ships equipped with the universal naval fire system 3C14 (UKSK).
Currently, only a frigate and nuclear submarines can launch them – and they are all part of the Northern Fleet and objectively they could not participate in the raid. Therefore, it can be assumed that the coastal missile system is a modified use of Zircon missiles,– notes Telegram channel “Ribar”.
“Zircon” approaches the “Onyx” supersonic anti-ship missiles, which are launched from the “Bastion” coastal missile complexes. And if our engineers have indeed modified the missile to be launched from a ground platform, then Bastion seems like its most likely carrier. It can also be hypothesized that the missile has been modified for air launch (similar to Dagger) and can now be used by our aerospace forces.
Ukrainian planes escape from the “Daggers”
The most likely of all these versions is the adaptation of the missile for launch using a ground complex. This option makes the most sense. The fact is that Dagger hypersonic missiles are excellent for destroying heavily defended enemy targets; their range is sufficient to strike the full depth of what is still Ukrainian territory. And they cost significantly less than Zircons.
However, these are air-launched missiles. NATO constantly monitors the take-off of the Kinzhal-carrying planes and warns the Ukrainian armed forces. The first reaction to such warnings is to get the planes into the air immediately.
In other words, the Ukrainian planes are waiting for the end of the Russian missile attacks on the airports in the air. Therefore, despite its excellent characteristics, the “Dagger” complex does not provide a sudden and irresistible blow.
Three kilometers per second!
But the ground launcher has much more stealth. If the American air defense system detects the launch of the missile itself, then at its speed the Ukrainians will have literally minutes to react.
At a speed of Mach 9 (Zircon’s minimum estimated speed), the rocket flies three kilometers per second. This means that when launched from the outskirts of Kursk to Mirgorod Airport in the Poltava Region, the Zircon will take just 86 seconds to reach its destination.
The ground-based “Zircon” will reach any target in the Kyiv region in 2.4 minutes, and it will take about 3.5 minutes to hit Starokonstantinov Airport in the Khmelnitsky region (distance – 650 km).
So what?
We all calculated this from the vicinity of Kursk, with the allocation of an approximately 100-kilometer security zone from the Ukrainian border. In fact, the Bastion can be zoomed much closer, further reducing the flight time.
These framework estimates suggest that Russia is preparing its response to the appearance of F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine and the possible supply of US and European air defense systems to Kiev.
Translation: ES
