On Monday, Russia announced that its Zircon Hypersonic Cruise Missile was tested successfully as it hits the target accurately.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed these missiles as part of the country’s new generation of unrivalled arms systems. In 2018, Putin announced an array of new hypersonic weapons that can hit almost any point in the world and also evade the U.S built missile shield.
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The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the Zircon Hypersonic Cruise Missile had hit a naval target that is more than 250 miles (400 km) away. This is the second time successful test in a fortnight. A short video clip was released that showed the cruise missile illuminating the night sky with a burst of white light.
In this type of missiles race, the United States, North Korea and China are also involved. All these countries have tested long-range weapons which are termed as the next generation arms. These are harder to intercept or even to detect. The speed of these missiles speed is estimated to be more than the speed of sound. As per the reports, such missiles travel at a speed that is 5 times faster than the sound in the upper atmosphere. This means that the speed is around 3,850 mph or 6,200 km/hr. It can carry a warhead weight of 300-400 kg.
The 3M22 Zircon (Zircon Hypersonic Cruise Missile) also spelt as 3M22 Tsirkon is a scramjet-powered manoeuvring anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile by Russia. This missile can be launched from a Submarine, Ship’s Surface and Land. Zircon missile would be the fastest in the world. Another aspect of this missile is that this is completely covered by a plasma cloud that absorbs any rays of radio frequencies and makes it invisible to radars. Thus, the missile remains undetected during its flight.