3M22 Zircon Hypersonic Cruise Missile

Doesn't really matter if they take 5 years to get it in to service... the improved Onyx missiles at 800km range and mach 5 are already damn formidable anyway and even the original Onyx missiles were a problem.

Russia does not need the firepower to obliterate the west... that would cost too much and the money and people and time invested achieving that would be a bit of a waste if they never actually use it... and I hope they don't.

The west is like a wasp... it routinely uses its sting to get what it wants... but Russia is more of a bee... it can sting too, but it would prefer to make honey.

Arrow wrote:There is no information about the new Onyx. There was also no information about Onyx testing at 5M speed

Correct

Onyx doesn't go anywhere near 5M

Source: from the Admiral Gorshkov will conduct a salvo launch of" Zircons"."

MOSCOW, January 4-RIA Novosti. The frigate of the Northern fleet project 22350 "Admiral Gorshkov" until the end of 2021 for the first time will perform a salvo launch of hypersonic missiles "Zircon" on tests, a source in the military-industrial complex told RIA Novosti.

As reported by the Ministry of defense, in 2020, Gorshkov performed three launches of Zircons: two-at sea targets and one-at a ground target. In all cases, only one missile was fired.

"According to the plan of state tests of the missile system, by the end of 2021, the first salvo firing of several Zircon missiles will be performed from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate. The missiles will be launched from the ship with an interval of several seconds, " the source told RIA Novosti.
He explained that the salvo firing "is designed to provide not only missile tests, but also to test the capabilities of the ship's weapons control system, in particular, when it performs tasks with a massive missile strike simultaneously on sea and land targets."

The launches will be carried out in an environment of powerful electronic countermeasures. According to the source, the Zircon is equipped with a unique homing system in terms of noise immunity characteristics, and they want to confirm its capabilities during tests.
The zircon is the world's first hypersonic cruise missile capable of performing long – term aerodynamic flight with maneuvering in dense layers of the atmosphere, using its own engine thrust throughout the route, while its speed reaches about nine speeds of sound, and the maximum firing range is up to a thousand kilometers. The complex can hit both surface and ground targets with the same efficiency.

Serial deliveries of hypersonic missiles "Zircon" for the Russian Navy should begin in 2022.

https://ria.ru/20210104/tsirkon-1591931630.html

Swede55 wrote:How does hypersonic ASM guidance work? Wouldn't active or passive radar be blocked by plasma generated by the high speed and heat, let alone by infrared methods.

Don't know exactly but Kinzhal for example has a rectangle part in the back of the missile which is covered with protective red plastic when on the ground so it's likely that they put navigation and sensors over there where there is much less heat than in the front

Only radar would have the necessary range and all weather capability.

They have developed a range of temperature resistant metals and materials I would expect they would have not problems finding suitable heat resistant radio transparent materials...

It is probably a large part of why its development has taken so long.

Underwater launching of Tsirkon initiates a new era in US-Russia relationship, just saying...

Arrow wrote:If only they had powerful naval forces. They could dominate the seas and oceans. Unfortunately, there is a significant limitation in terms of the number of submarines and surface ships. However, they have a chance to achieve nuclear supremacy over the world.

I am not talking bout any kind of dominance, simply that Russia now has the same kind of "gun in your head" than US has by placing missiles close to Moscow and St. Petersburg, and in general by deploying NATO forces right up to the Russian border. Russia did not have such option before, due to geography. And in fact that gun is not even necessarily nuclear, but with a level of threat almost as high, because it can be delivered right in the decision centers of the country and other equally painful locations, within very few minutes and without the need of anything else than one sub lurking close the US. This is huge event for the escalation balance of both countries, not joking