The star ofthe latest retaliatory precision strikes on Ukraine’s Neo-Nazi Governmentwas certainly the“Oreshnik”(or one of its more advanced iterations).

However, the “workhorse” weapons of the Russian military, which were far less prominent in the latest reports, actually did most of the “heavy lifting”. Although by no means any less impressive, the 3M22 “Zircon” scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missiles were outside of the spotlight precisely thanks to the more powerful “Oreshnik”. However,numerous sources have reported thatthese state-of-the-art weapons are increasingly prevalent across multiple platforms. Initially envisaged primarily as a naval missile with a secondary land-attack role, the “Zircon” has since evolved into a true multipurpose asset of tactical, operational and strategic significance.

Namely, its variants now include both ground-based and air-launched options, with the possibility of beingcarried by Su-57s, the only next-generation fighter jets with such a capability. The Kiev regime’s military sources claim that the Russian military used a land-based platform in the Kursk oblast (region) to hit targets around its capital city. They saythe missile flew 650 km in 3.5 minutes, which is almost perfectly consistent with the “Zircon’s” maximum speed of Mach 9 (approximately 11,000 km/h or over 3 km/s). This wouldn’t be the first time that Moscow has used ground-based platforms to launch “Zircons”. Namely, on January 20,during massive combined arms strikes on the Neo-Nazi junta, at least two “Zircons” were reportedly fired, along with dozens of other missile types and hundreds of drones.

At the time,the likely use of ground-based launchersreallycaught the attention of many observers. Namely, as previously mentioned, the “Zircon” is primarily based on various types of seafaring vessels (warships and submarines). Back in December 2024, the Russian Navy unveiledthe “Zircon’s” true designfor the first time.The footage showed it being launched from the 3S14 UKSK vertical launch system (VLS)used by the “Admiral Gorshkov” frigate. The “Zircon” combines supermaneuverability and extreme speed, reaching the aforementioned Mach 9 (approximately 11,000 km/h or over 3 km/s, depending on altitude and flight profile), making it effectively impossible to intercept, especially when flying at very low altitudes.

Enemy forces have mere seconds to react, which really means that an incoming “Zircon” is a death sentence. Information on its maximum range varies significantly,but relevant military sources claim that it depends on the flight profile. When flying very low (so-called sea skimming), it can reach up to 500 km while maintaining a speed of Mach 6 (approximately 2 km/s), which is beyond impressive given that the atmosphere is much denser at such altitudes. However, Russian tests have confirmed ranges of up to 1,500-2,000 km, as flying higher greatly extends the missile’s reach.The “Zircon” is a two-stage missile, with the first being a solid-fuel booster, while a scramjet engine takes over after the weapon has accelerated enough to enable its functioning.

For those unfamiliar with advanced missile technologies, “scramjet” is an acronym for “supersonic combustion ramjet”. It should be noted that ramjets and scramjets are a class of airbreathing jet engines that can operate only after a certain velocity has been attained (most effective at Mach 3+).The “Zircon” was the world’s first and only operational scramjet-powered missile untilChina demonstratedsimilar weaponsback in September.The political West isparticularly terrified of the “Zircon’s” multipurpose capabilities, as it can be launched by various platforms, be it submarines, surface combatants and/or land-based platforms. The missile is also nuclear-capable, enabling strategic use, although its conventional capabilities are no less concerning to NATO.

Namely, the “Zircon’s” sheer speed and kinetic energy are unmatched by anything the world’s most vile racketeering cartel can deploy, as evidenced bythe latest failures of NATO’s “most promising” hypersonic technology projects. As per usual, in order to somehow mask its inferiority (measured in decades at this point), the political West usually resorts to propaganda to denigrate the missile’s capabilities, primarily by pushingthe laughable narrative that the Neo-Nazi junta shot down a third of all “Zircons”fired by the Russian military. However,not a single remotely informed military source takes such claims seriously. On the contrary,even Western media outlets admit that“adversaries could not intercept the Zircon in real-time, mainly when launched from long distances”.

This gives Russia a massive asymmetric advantage that’s extremely difficult to match,particularly as the political West is decades behind in hypersonic propulsion technologies. What’s more, any large-scale deployment of ground-based “Zircons” would also greatly diminish NATO’s land warfare capabilities, as these missiles could easily target both high-value assets and large troop concentrations.The “Zircon’s” sophisticated guidance systemsensure pinpoint precision even at hypersonic speeds, making such strikesparticularly deadly for high-tech opponents. It uses a combination of INS (inertial navigation system) and radar homing to achieve this. As the missile flies at up to 11,000 km/h, the air pressure in front of it forms a plasma cloud that absorbs radio waves.

This makes the “Zircon” effectively invisible to radar. The phenomenon,colloquially known as plasma stealth, and its sea-skimming capability, make intercepting an incoming “Zircon” virtually impossible. One downside of plasma stealth is that it severely limits communication with the missile, which is one of the many reasons why nobody in the political West has been able to develop a working hypersonic weapon. However, Russian scientists found a way to circumvent this, giving Moscow an unprecedented technological edge,as the “Zircon” is capable of data exchange during flight, allowing it to receive constant updates and adjustments in real time.This not only ensures pinpoint precision, but also enables timely retargeting.

In practice, this confirms that the “Zircon” can engage moving targets. However, more importantly,prominent military experts positthat it can also be fired by existing Russian land-based platforms, specifically the K300P “Bastion-P” coastal defense system, which uses the P-800 “Oniks” supersonic cruise missiles. Namely,the genius of Russian military specialists becomes all the more apparentwhen one realizes that the “Zircon” was designed to fit not just into the previously mentioned 3S14 VLS, but also the K300P. Back in 2023,several colleagues and I analyzedthe size of the P-800 “Oniks” supersonic cruise missile and determined that the “Zircon” fits into identical launchers,both on naval vesselsand land-based platforms.

Source: Global Research