Vladimir Putin announces that Russia’s navy will deploy Tsirkon hypersonic missiles in 2022

(Reuters) – Tests of the Russian hypersonic cruise missile Tsirkon are nearing completion and deliveries to the Russian navy will begin in 2022, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

The move is part of an attempt by Moscow to advance the arms race with the United States and other countries to deploy the next generation of long-range weapons that are more difficult to detect and intercept.

Last month, Russia said it had successfully tested launching a Tsirkon missile from a submarine for the first time.

Weapons to “further strengthen” Russia’s security, says Putin

“Now it is especially important to develop and implement the technologies necessary to create new systems of hypersonic weapons, high-powered lasers and robotic systems that will be able to effectively counter possible military threats, which means that they will further strengthen the security of our country,” he said. Putin in televised remarks.

He further said that in tests the missile had successfully hit land and sea targets when fired from underwater or from surface ships.

Some Western experts have questioned the degree of advancement of the new generation of Russian weapons, although they acknowledge that the combination of speed, maneuverability and altitude of hypersonic missiles makes them difficult to track and intercept.

How do hypersonic missiles work?

Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound in the upper atmosphere, that is, at about 6,200 kilometers per hour. This is slower than an ICBM, but the hypersonic glide vehicle’s shape allows it to maneuver towards a target or away from defenses.

Combining a glide vehicle with a missile that can launch it partially into orbit – the so-called fractional orbital bombardment system (FOBS) – could strip adversaries of reaction time and traditional defense mechanisms.

Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), by contrast, carry nuclear warheads on ballistic trajectories that travel into space but never reach orbit.

Both the United States and the USSR studied FOBS during the Cold War, and the USSR deployed such a system beginning in the 1970s. It was withdrawn from service in the mid-1980s. Submarine-launched ballistic missiles had many of the advantages of FOBS – reducing detection times and making it impossible to know where an attack would come from – and were considered less destabilizing than FOBS.

Who is leading the arms race for hypersonic missiles?

The Financial Times reported in October that China had launched a rocket carrying a hypersonic glide vehicle that flew through space, circling the globe before descending toward its target, which it missed for about two dozen miles.

In July, Russia successfully tested a Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile that President Vladimir Putin touted as part of a new generation of missile systems. Moscow also tested the weapon from a submarine for the first time, and there was another test in October.

The United States said in late September that it had tested a hypersonic air-breathing weapon – meaning it sustains flight by itself through the atmosphere like a cruise missile – marking the first successful test of that class of weapon since. 2013.

The State Department said in October, following the failure of another test, that it wanted defense contractors to lower the ultimate cost of hypersonic weapons, as high-speed missiles currently being developed cost tens of millions per unit.

Days after the US announcement, North Korea fired a newly developed hypersonic missile, calling it a “strategic weapon” that boosted its defense capabilities, although some South Korean analysts called the proof of failure.

Because it is important?

The recent tests are the motions of a dangerous arms race in which smaller Asian nations are striving to develop advanced long-range missiles alongside major military powers.

Hypersonic weapons, and FOBS, could be of concern as they can potentially evade anti-missile shields and early warning systems.

Some experts warned of the importance of missiles like the one China tested in August.

“China already has about 100 nuclear-armed ICBMs that can hit the United States,” Jeffrey Lewis, a missile specialist at the US-based James Martin Center for Non-Proliferation Studies, told Reuters in response to the report. from the FT on Twitter. “Although the glider is a nice touch, it is an old concept that is once again relevant as a way to defeat missile defenses.”