Russia tests hypersonic missile it says is impervious to U.S. missile defense systems

Russia’s said the Zircon would go into serial production in 2018.

 

Russia has conducted the first test of a hypersonic missile it claims can fly at 6 times the speed of sound and makes U.S. missile defense systems obsolete.

Military analyst Vladimir Tuchkov told government-controlled news agency Sputnik: “It (the Zircon missile system) is expected to be added into Russia’s arsenal between 2018 and 2020.”

Russia’s ‘US Missile Defense-Killing’ Hypersonic Rockets Arriving Soon

A hypersonic missile design displayed at an exhibition staged by the Raduga Design Bureau. Image courtesy Sergey Mamontov and Sputnik.

 

Russian defense analyst Vladimir Tuchkov analyses Russian, Chinese and American developments in hypersonic weapons technology, including the expected timeframe for their deployment, which is sooner than you may expect.

Last week, Tactical Missile Systems Corporation general director Boris Obnosov told Russian media that he was confident that Russia would be introducing hypersonic missiles capable of speeds between Mach 6 and Mach 7 by the year 2020.

The director emphasized that such weapons would significantly weaken the potential of enemy missile defense. “It’s obvious that with such speeds – when missiles will be capable of flying through the atmosphere at speeds of 7-12 times the speed of sound, all [air] defense systems will be weakened considerably.”