The Zircon missile, originally designed for ships, may have been adapted for air and ground use. This was reported by the Telegram channel "Voennaya Khronika".
The missile's range is 1000 kilometers. The missile develops speeds of up to Mach 8, the authors added.
Engineer Valery Ageev suggested that the Zircon was made from refractory coatings and composites based on boron and carbon fibers.
When flying at hypersonic speeds, a plasma cloud forms around the body. It is capable of shielding radar signals, but at the same time, it can hinder the operation of its own communication and guidance systems, Ageev noted.
Military analyst Fabian Hinz also doubted the perception of the Zircon as a full-fledged hypersonic missile. He suggested that it is a quasi-ballistic system.