Among the new weapons deployed by the Russian armies in recent years, the hypersonic 3M22 Tzirkon missile was, along with the Avangard hypersonic glider, the most worrying for the Western camp.
This missile, with a range of 1000 km, had, in fact, the potential to profoundly transform the geometry of air and naval combat, by considerably reducing the reaction times of the targeted ships, while being almost invulnerable to the anti-aircraft and anti-missile defenses existing today. today, like the American SM-6, or the French Aster 30.
To the point that many voices have been raised to question the sustainability of large naval air and amphibious surface units, like aircraft carriers or assault helicopter carriers, described as preferred targets for this type of missile.
The performance of the other hypersonic missile, or presented as such by Moscow, the Kinzhal, in Ukraine, should probably have called for more caution in this area, as this one turns out to be neither hypersonic, nor invulnerable to defenses. modern Ukrainian anti-missiles.
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Moscow launches Tzirkon hypersonic missiles against Ukraine
If the Kinzhal remains a formidable ballistic weapon, which requires, to be intercepted, that the anti-missile battery be positioned near the intended target, it lost, in Ukraine, the aura of invincibility which had been built by communication about her.
This is perhaps what prompted Moscow to use, this week, its second Wunderwaffen (miracle weapon), against Kyiv, the 3M22 Tzirkon missile, although it was initially designed as an anti-ship missile with of strikes towards land, and not as a surface-to-surface cruise missile.
Unlike the Kinzhal, the Tzirkon has a super-stato-reactor, and maneuvering capabilities, making it a true hypersonic weapon, capable of evolving at more than Mach 5, to thwart the most modern enemy anti-aircraft defenses, such as the American Patriot PAC-3, or the Aster 30 of the Franco-Italian SAMP/T Mamba system.
The Tzirkon's speed worked as expected. Indeed, where the inhabitants of Kyiv had, until now, several tens of minutes to reach the shelters after an alert was launched, they were surprised to note that the explosions of the Ukrainian DCA, then the missiles themselves themselves, arrived only a few minutes after the alert was given.
Lesser performance than expected from the 3M22 Tzirkon missile, according to the Ukrainian specialist press
It seems, however, that other surprises awaited the Ukrainians regarding these strikes, but not bad ones this time. Indeed, according to the Ukrainian specialized press, if the Tzirkon indeed had a hypersonic transit speed, it would have slowed down to around Mach 4,5, for its final dive phase.
It is certainly a question of simultaneously reducing the phenomena of heat release around the missile, when it reaches the lower layers of the atmosphere, as well as, possibly, of allowing the guidance system to realign itself, or even to acquire its target to come and strike it.
In doing so, the Tzirkon, despite its high speed and its maneuvering capabilities, would enter the interception envelope of the Patriot PAC-3 and the Aster 30 Ukrainians, as long as they are positioned close to the intended target.
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We had already discussed this subject when this missile was officially released.
It should be put in the same bag as the Poseidon torpedo or the Sarmat Mesc***illes.
These are pretty crude propaganda powerpoints.
A 5th grade student solves physics problems to demonstrate that a torpedo cannot in any way release the energy of a tsunami and that a missile with more than mach 5 is uncontrollable at low level (it would not resist the change of direction )