The Russian nuclear fleet will receive hypersonic rockets by 2020

TASS agency on Friday, February 19, released information about the upcoming equipping of the nuclear cruiser Peter the Great with the newest model of armaments - hypersonic cruise missiles. This officially confirmed the actual completion of the development of this fantastic weapon. The availability of the Zirkon missiles at the disposal of the Russian fleet radically changes the military situation in the world's oceans, the balance of forces and combat capabilities. Modernization will also undergo the second cruiser with an atomic power plant - "Admiral Nakhimov".

Navy tasks

The Russian fleet is relatively small, it is much smaller than the US. The huge size of the armada of the probable enemy ensures the global dominance of the US Navy in the ocean spaces. The cyclical defense budget burns hundreds of billions of dollars, and a very complex problem arises to counter this onslaught. On the one hand, costs are required to ensure that the country does not feel military pressure; on the other hand, if the expenditure is excessive, the economy can not withstand such a burden, and Russia will be defeated without even engaging in battle. The output is found, and it consists in taking asymmetrical measures. This means that while maintaining an approximate number of ships in the Russian Navy, their combat effectiveness should be increased, one of the main components of which is considered to be firepower. It should be provided by the new Zircon missile systems.

Task - to overcome the hypersonic barrier

The problem of hypersonic weapons is being fought by engineers from at least two other countries with developed military-industrial complexes - the USA and the PRC. To achieve the ability of rockets to fly at a tremendous speed in a controlled mode, many times exceeding the sound, is not easy. The missile friction against the air is extremely heated, why the onboard equipment breaks down, the hull collapses, the antennas that provide communication are melted. A plasma cloud appears around the skin, the regulation mechanisms are unstable. It is these physical reasons that have become an obstacle to access to the hypersonic barrier, as in due time the flutter prevented the supersonic line from exceeding to jet aircraft. How the Russian scientists have managed to overcome numerous technical and technological problems, the general public does not need to know, especially since their methods at the moment are a state secret. Even the appearance of the Zircon rocket is secret.

What is Zircon?

When comparing published information with previously known information, it can be concluded that this is a 3K-22 inter-species missile complex that includes a 3M22 hypersonic ammunition for operational purposes. A system was developed in the "NPO Mashinostroeniya". The main advantage of this cruise missile is the impossibility of its interception by existing and prospective missile defense systems of the countries-likely adversaries, due to a sharp reduction in flying time, that is, the gap between launching and hitting the target. Judging by the information leaked to the press, the completion of the draft project falls on 2011. Already in 2012, the testing of the newest projectile with the use of an aircraft carrier, the Tu-22 bomber began, and despite the then failure, it can be assumed that the prototype became the key to future success.

Hypersonic Sword

A year later, another test flight took place, more successful. Almost the missile completed the program, but, according to Boris Obnosov, the head of Tactical Missile Weapons Corporation, she was able to fly at a speed of Mach 4.5 only a few seconds. This was also an achievement, and on the basis of the experience gained, the team justified the possibility of creating a means moving much faster, up to 14 Mach (12,000 km / h). Now it is clear that the developers have achieved their goal. The previous model of the ultra-high-speed cruise missile "Onyx" played its role; it served as a base, but could develop only 2.6 Mach at a range of up to 500 kilometers. The new means falls under the notion of a "hypersonic strategic cruise missile," which characterizes it as a means of combat, capable of inflicting unacceptable damage on a likely enemy in the event of a military conflict.

Fuel

One of the components that determined the ultimate success, of course, can be considered the newest fuel, known as the "Decylin-M." About this unique fuel told in short, and without going into too much detail, Army General Bulgakov, Deputy Minister of Defense. "Decilin-M" is already in service with the Russian armed forces, and its use, apparently, caused surprise by Western analysts with the combat capabilities of Russian missiles that believed that a distance of more than a thousand kilometers is not accessible to them. The attacks of the ships of the Caspian flotilla "Calibrami-NK" in practice have proved that they can reach the enemy much further than was previously assumed. New hypersonic strategic cruise missiles are used as fuel "Decylin-M" or its subsequent modifications.

Plans for modernization of ships

At the moment, the heavy nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great is armed with twenty long-range anti-ship cruise missiles Granit P-700 with an operational radius of 550 km, placed in the SM-233 launchers, located below the upper deck. In 2018, it is planned to start modernization, during which the same place will be installed universal launch systems 3C-14-11442M in the amount of ten, with a capacity of eight missiles each. The firepower of the ship will increase fourfold, but even this is not the main thing, but the irresistible impact that the cruiser can inflict. However, the TASS report does not mention the "twin" of the formidable giant, "Admiral Nakhimov", whose modernization has already been going on in Severodvinsk since October 2015. According to the concluded agreement between the Almaz-Antei concern and the Sevmash plant, the deliveries of PU 3S-14-11442M have already been planned and, according to a strange coincidence, just in the quantity of ten pieces.

Expected Result

Both nuclear cruisers will receive such powerful weapons that, given their practically unlimited operational radius, this will make them fast-moving platforms with eight dozen cruise missiles, which it is almost impossible to intercept. Another issue is that ships of this class need an escort of escorts, otherwise they can be targeted by submarines and target for mine attacks. This is also an important problem, and the Russian military-industrial complex will have to solve it. At the same time, the cruise missiles Zirkon are inherently a universal weapon, capable of hitting any targets, both maritime and terrestrial.

Timing

Shipbuilders plan to have time until 2020, this period is allowed to re-equip the nuclear cruisers Admiral Nakhimov and Peter the Great with missiles and launchers of the sixth generation, in comparison with which all the systems that the fleets of possible adversaries have, can be attributed to Class obsolete. Serial production of Zircon rockets is being set up in Orenburg, at the Strela production association. Since 2011, the Leading Designers Sergey Bunakov, Denis Vitushkin, Yury Vorotyntsev and Alexey Naidenov have been leading the 3M22 project in the "Scientific and Production Association of Mechanical Engineering". It remains to wish them good luck and success.