Flying Death: New Russian Corvettes Receive Hypersonic Zircon Missiles Invulnerable to Any Air Defense System

Russian Project 20385 corvettes Gremyashchy and Provorny have received an upgraded universal shipborne firing complex (UKSK) with eight cells for launching various types of cruise missiles. The updated launcher allows the use of not only Onyx and Kalibr cruise missiles, but also hypersonic Zircon missiles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned the intention to arm at least one Project 20385 ship with the latest Zircon hypersonic missiles back in 2019 during a visit to the then-under-construction Gremyashchy.

Military expert Dmitry Kornev noted that Zircons are very difficult to intercept with currently existing air defense systems.

Analyst Dmitry Boltenkov also expressed the opinion that corvettes will be able to operate not only in the near sea zone. He recalled that the Pacific Fleet currently has several corvettes of the previous Project 20380 - and they are constantly going on long voyages.

It is known from open sources that the missile from the Zircon complex is capable of developing a speed equal to 9 Mach numbers (speeds of sound) and has a range of more than 1,000 km.

Earlier, Putin announced the need to produce medium- and short-range missiles. According to the President of Russia, the deployment of such missiles by the United Statescauses concern in the Russian Federation.

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