Media: AFU Shoot Down Russian Hypersonic Missile Zirkon For The First Time

The Russians used it to strike Kyiv.

During yesterday's missile attack on Kyiv, Russia tried to use its new hypersonic missile ZM22 Zirkon, which has not yet been officially adopted for service, but it was shot down.

This was reported by Defense Express.

One of the pieces of debris that fell in the Dneprovsky neighbourhood was marked "3M22", which corresponds exactly to this missile.

Since it is unlikely that the power line was the target of the Zirkon, it was shot down, the publication believes.

Meanwhile, the Air Force Command report lists only cruise missiles such as the Kh-555/101 and Kalibr among the intercepted missiles.

According to Defense Express' own sources, the fragmentation of the missile is quite high, which makes its identification much more difficult, as the ZM22 Zirkon has not been publicly demonstrated.

However, it has become known that yesterday's debris matches the wreckage of another unidentified missile used by the Russians on 29 December 2023 during another massive missile attack, fragments of which were found in Zaporizhzhia.

Of the carriers of this missile, which was designed to be launched from ships and submarines, only the frigate Admiral Gorshkov (project 22350) and the nuclear submarine K-560 Severodvinsk (project 885 Yasen) are known to be far beyond their launch range in Ukraine. Therefore, the enemy could most likely use the "Bastion" complex to launch them.

According to open sources, the 3M22 Zirkon is a promising hypersonic air-launched anti-ship cruise missile under development and testing in Russia. The missile is being manufactured in Reutov, Moscow Region. In January 2020, the first test of the Zirkon missile took place - it was launched from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate. It hit a coastal target at a distance of 500 kilometres.

The characteristics of the missile are not disclosed, but some parameters are given:

Range almost - up to 1,500 km;

Flight altitude - 30-40 km;

Flight speed up to Mach 8-9;

It is possible that the Zirkon is a two-stage missile, with the first stage powered by a solid-fuel rocket engine and the second stage by a direct-flow air-jet engine.