A couple of days ago, the media reported on the creation of a new Russian hypersonic Zircon rocket and the beginning of its tests. Its speed will exceed the speed of sound 5-6 times (5-6 Max).
First of all, this rocket is being developed to arm the submarines of the new generation Husky. Work on them is currently engaged in KB "Malachite". This is not the first information about Russian hypersonic missiles, as early as February of this year, representatives of the Russian military industrial complex reported on the successful completion of the design stage of testing this type of weapon.
In August 2011, B. Obnosov, director of the Tactical Missile Concern concern, announced that his team was working on a cruise missile capable of speeds of 10-11 Mach. A year later, such information was voiced by the deputy defense minister of the Russian Federation. Recall that the average speed of modern cruise missiles is 2-2.5 Mach.
The development of the new missile system is held by NPO Mashinostroeniya, the rocket's characteristics are still kept secret. There is evidence that the Zirkon is a hypersonic version of the Russian-Indian Brahmos anti-ship missile, which, in turn, is a modification of the Onyx anti-ship missiles. The speed of the new cruise missile will presumably be 5-6 Mach, and the range - 400-500 km. It can be said absolutely precisely that the adoption of these missiles for armament can drastically change the balance of forces in the water area of the World Ocean.
The concept of using a new weapon is also being developed and the possibility of using it not only to arm submarines is being studied.
It should be noted that the creation of hypersonic aircraft is one of the most promising areas for the development of strike weapons. At present, there is a real “competition for hypersound” between the leading world powers. Hypersonic aircraft are developed in the USA and China.
It is believed that due to the tremendous speed, they will be virtually invulnerable to existing air defense systems. In addition, such weapons can be used for non-nuclear destruction of strategic objects in the deep rear of the enemy. A rocket that flies at hypersonic speed does not require an explosive, the target will be destroyed due to the enormous kinetic energy.
However, the development of such devices is associated with a large number of technical problems, which have not yet been effectively solved. The largest of these is the significant heating of the aircraft structure due to air resistance. Thanks to the new design solutions and the use of unique materials, this problem was partially solved, but the thermal barrier is the most serious obstacle to hypersonic speed.
