In his annual address to the Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin gave details of the progress on the weapon systems he himself presented in a speech last March during the Russian presidential campaign.
Among these systems, the anti-ship missile Tzirkon continues its development , "In accordance with forecasts" according to the Russian president, and should therefore enter service by 2021. More specifically, the Russian president specified that the new hypersonic missile, capable of reaching mach 9 for a range of 1000 km, could be implemented by all present and future buildings equipped with Kalibr missiles.
This suggests that the Tzirkon is designed to use the same vertical launchers as the Russian naval cruise missile which made its operational debut in 2015 when 3 corvettes in the Black and Caspian Seas launched their missiles at targets in Syria. In fact, the new Russian hypersonic anti-ship missile can be “rapidly” deployed by many vessels in the fleet, ranging from the new Admiral Gorshkov frigates to the 636.3 Improved Kilo submarines, including numerous classes of corvettes.
Without more information on the missile's effective guidance system, it is difficult to prejudge its real effectiveness, and its ability to maintain hypersonic speed in the terminal phase of attack, just as it is impossible to evaluate the effectiveness of jamming and decoy systems in operation on current Western surface ships. On the other hand, what is certain is that a missile traveling at mach 9 will be almost impossible to intercept by current anti-missile systems, and that the reaction times between detection of the threat and impact will be extremely reduced, posing a proven threat to all NATO surface vessels.