Ukraine dissects Russia’s Zircon missile as Moscow leans on harder-to-intercept weapons

Ukraine's main subject intelligence agency published a breakdown of Russia's Zircon missile, a limb Moscow has progressively employed successful its intensifying strikes.

Russia has been investing heavy successful advancing its rocket arsenal, upgrading systems and making them harder for aerial defenses to intercept. That guidance to Ukrainian air-defense wins now represents a awesome situation arsenic interceptors tally low.

On Monday, Ukraine's GUR, the country's subject intelligence agency, shared specifications connected Russia's 3M22 Zircon missile, including its components and production.

It besides provided specifications connected the main shaper NPO Mashinostroyeniya, a Russian defense institution that is portion of the Tactical Missiles Corporation, and overseas parts utilized successful the weapon, which included immoderate made by US companies. The disclosure besides named much than 70 companies and dozens of group progressive successful its production.

In its caller assessment, the GUR referred to Zircon arsenic a ballistic missile, a departure from Russia's explanation of it arsenic a hypersonic cruise missile. New specifications published by Ukraine picture it as a two-stage ballistic missile featuring a solid-fuel booster and a solid-fuel sustainer for flight.

Cruise missiles and ballistic missiles disagree successful really they alert and scope their targets. Ballistic missiles typically climb connected a ballistic trajectory earlier descending astatine precocious velocity toward their targets, while cruise missiles are jet-propelled and alert little wrong the atmosphere.

Ukraine's appraisal challenges Russia's long-standing characterization of the weapon.

The GUR also assessed that the Zircon is slower than claimed, pinch a maximum velocity of Mach 6.8. Russia claims that the rocket tin scope speeds of Mach 9.

Russia has antecedently touted the Zircon rocket arsenic 1 of its "invincible" hypersonic weapons. It first utilized the rocket against Ukraine successful February 2024. At that time, Ukraine estimated that Russia had astir 40 stockpiled.

The arsenal has since grown, though estimates vary, and Russia has progressively fired these missiles successful strikes connected Kyiv and different Ukrainian cities, leaning harder connected much precocious missiles arsenic Ukraine has demonstrated it tin intercept different Russian systems.

"Since we learned to sprout down much than 90% of cruise missiles and drones pinch gasoline piston engines, Russia has decided to trust connected ballistics and pitchy drones," Yehor Cherniev, the lawman president of the Ukrainian parliament's nationalist security, defense, and intelligence committee, told Business Insider.

Russia did not instantly respond to Business Insider's petition for remark connected Ukrainian assessments of its weapons and motives.

Cherniev said that Ukraine assesses that Russia has reduced accumulation of Kinzhal missiles because of accuracy issues and alternatively focused connected producing Iskander and Zircon missiles. Russian forces person ramped up ballistic rocket attacks connected Ukraine this year, including debuting a caller upgraded version of its Iskander series, the Iskander-1000, earlier this summer.

These ballistic missiles are much difficult for Ukraine to intercept, and Russia's increasing reliance connected them comes as Ukraine struggles pinch shortages of captious air-defense interceptors. Ukraine relies connected the US-made MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air rocket strategy to face Russia's much difficult missiles, but it has warned that interceptor stocks are moving low.

"This is simply a caller and highly vulnerable shape of the war, which requires america to beryllium much effective successful the conflict against high-speed pitchy drones, arsenic good arsenic further assistance from the United States successful the shape of PAC-3 missiles for Patriot systems," Cherniev said.