According to information published by Tass on July 29, 2022, the advanced Tsirkon hypersonic missile designed for Navy surface ships is set to enter service in September 2022.
Earlier, the Tsirkon missile was expected to enter service with the Russian Navy by the end of 2022.
Tsirkon hypersonic missile
The Tsirkon hypersonic missile was developed and is produced by the Research and Production Association of Machine-Building (NPO Mashinostroeniya, part of the Tactical Missiles Corporation) in Reutov in the Moscow Region.
On February 20, 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his state-of-the-nation address that the Tsirkon hypersonic missile could develop a speed of Mach 9 and had a range of over 1,000 km (621 mi).
Being twice as heavy and almost eleven times as fast as Tomahawk, the Zircon has more than 242 times the on-cruise kinetic energy of a Tomahawk missile (~9 gigajoules, or equal to 2,150 kg TNT explosive energy).
Its 8-9 mach speed means that it cannot be intercepted by existing missile defense systems and its precision makes it lethal to large targets such as an aircraft carrier.