A recent drill by the Russian Armed Forces in the Mediterranean has provided us with a more detailed view of the shadowy Zircon hypersonic missile, a weapon that has only been glimpsed in the past and shown up in the form of fragments after being combat tested in Ukraine. The maneuvers come as Russia’s position in Syria — home to its two major Mediterranean bases — increasingly looks to be under threat, as rebels continue their rapid advance south, threatening the rule of Bashar al-Assad, a key Kremlin ally. You can read more about the potential implications for Russia here.
As for the new video of the Zircon — also sometimes transliterated as Tsirkon — this was published by the Russian Ministry of Defense in the form of a video documenting the Mediterranean exercise. From several different angles, the missile is seen emerging from the 3S14 vertical launch system (VLS) on the deck of a Russian Navy Project 22350 Admiral Gorshkov class frigate. The missile is seen pulling up, stabilized by vectoring rockets, before continuing on a vertical trajectory, at which point the video ends.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the live-fire exercise took place in the eastern Mediterranean yesterday and involved sea-based and air-launched missiles. The frigates Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral Golovko are said to have fired Zircon missiles, while the diesel-electric submarine Novorossiysk launched a Kalibr subsonic cruise missile. Meanwhile, on the Syrian coast, a Bastion coastal defense system launched an Oniks supersonic cruise missile. Another video showed a Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile being prepared under a MiG-31I fighter, although it’s unclear if this missile was also launched.
Undoubtedly, various U.S. and NATO assets will also have been closely monitoring this exercise and likely yielding much new high-quality intelligence on Zircon and other systems.
It’s worth noting that Russian Navy activity related to these maneuvers led to speculation that the service might be evacuating vessels from its facility at the port of Tartus in Syria, according to reports that now appear to have been premature.
We have seen an official video purporting to show a Zircon launch from close quarters before, but on that occasion, it was very difficult to see any details of the missile. This even led to some debate around whether that earlier video — released in October 2020 — may have been edited by splicing together a combination of footage showing one or more other weapons, and not just the Zircon. The 2020 video claimed to show the first test launch of the Zircon against a naval target, from the Gorshkov.
A Russian Ministry of Defense video that claims to show the Zircon test in the White Sea on Oct. 6, 2020:
Another video, released by the Russian Ministry of Defense in May 2022, is said to show the Gorshkov launching a Zircon, although the missile is seen only at a distance with no details visible:
Comparing the new video with the one from 2020, it seems we are looking at the same missile, but there are still some questions about how it actually operates.
Interestingly, much of the speculation around the Zircon back in 2020 focused on its potential relationship to one particular older design, the Oniks supersonic missile, which can also be fired from the 3S14 VLS.
The Oniks has also been used against land targets in Ukraine and in past fighting in Syria, and the Zircon is similarly billed as a dual-use weapon.
In the past, the Russian Ministry of Defense has claimed that the Zircon has reached a speed “more than Mach 8” in tests, while Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the weapon has a top speed of around Mach 9 and a range of approximately 620 miles. If true, that would put it firmly in the hypersonic category.
In contrast, the Oniks flies at a maximum speed of up to Mach 2.2, powered by a liquid-fuel ramjet motor. Its maximum range is said to be 180 miles, although this is greatly reduced when flying a low-altitude profile.
The Zircon looks very different from the ‘waverider’-type hypersonic missile that the Russian media has used to illustrate it in the past. As in the U.S. Air Force’s experimental X-51 Waverider, this type of missile uses supersonic shockwaves to maintain the flight vehicle’s lift and stability. It would typically use a conventional rocket motor to bring it to the required speed and altitude, before an air-breathing high-speed engine, such as a scramjet, takes over.
In January 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that the Gorshkov had set out on a deployment armed, for the first time, with Zircon missiles, as you can read about here.
Officials in Russia have said in the past that they expect a number of other types of ships and submarines, including the Russian Navy’s advanced and extremely quiet nuclear-powered Yasen and Yasen-M class submarines, to be able to employ Zircon in the future. In October 2021, Russia claimed that it had successfully test-launched the Zircon from a submarine for the first time, as you can read about here.
However, the apparent combat debut of the Zircon appears to have made use of a ground-based launcher of some kind.
In February this year, Ukrainian scientists claimed that Russia had, for the first time, used the Zircon in attacks on at least one target in Ukraine. Alongside these claims, the scientists showed a video of the alleged Zircon wreckage — “fragments of the engine and steering mechanisms [with] specific markings.”
Most interestingly, the Kyiv Scientific-Research Institute for Forensic Examinations also provided a line drawing of a supposed Zircon missile that looks very different from previous renderings.
Instead of a waverider-type design, the drawing showed a missile with more in common with a very high-speed ramjet-powered design. The two-stage weapon features a cap over the nose that likely conceals an annular air intake, which feeds the main engine once the first-stage booster falls away. A similar approach was used in the Boeing HyFly, a demonstrator for a hypersonic ramjet-powered cruise missile.
This would also seem to broadly tally with the video of the Zircon from yesterday’s exercise in the Mediterranean.
The apparent evidence from Ukraine, combined with the latest video of the Zircon also point to a missile with similar overall dimensions to the Oniks, and, most likely, an annular air intake. Similarity with the Oniks would also make it easier to fire the Zircon from the same type of ground launcher, which appears to have been the case when it was used against Ukraine. In the video we see the missile bulbous nose cap that will separate as it transitions to forward sustained flight.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense assessed that, when used against Ukraine, the Zircon was likely fired from the land-based Bastion coastal defense system, which normally fires Oniks missiles.
“It is likely the Russians are testing a newly operational weapon system in a live conflict environment to provide assurance and demonstrate capability,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense added.
In many ways, the Zircon remains an enigmatic weapon, with precise details of its operating principle and performance still unconfirmed. The operational status of the missile is also somewhat unclear, although Russia does now seem to be more willing to show the Zircon in greater detail than was the case in the past.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com