Tsirkon hypersonic missile first time test-fired from Northern Fleet submarine

The launch happened on the night of October 4 and was said to be successful, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow who posted a video of the launch on its YouTube channel on Monday. 

“The missile hit a conditional target in the Barents Sea,” the Defence Ministry said.

Update: A second test launch was reported by the Defense Ministry later on Monday. This time, the “Severodvinsk” submarine test-fired a Tsirkon missile from submerged position, at a depth of 40 meters. The second test was also said to be successful with the missile hitting its target in the Barents Sea. 

Claimed to be able to penetrate NATO’s existing defence systems, the 3M22 Tsirkon has previously been tested several times from the Northern Fleet frigate “Admiral Gorshkov”, both in 2020 and 2021. Previous tests have also included Tu-22M bombers taking off from airbases at the Kola Peninsula.

The scramjet manoeuvring wing anti-ship cruise missile is by President Putin said to be capable of accelerating up to Mach 9 (nine times the speed of sound) and have a range of up to 1,000 kilometres.

Both existing and future multi-purpose submarines and new frigates sailing for the Northern Fleet are supposed to be armed with the Tsirkon-missile.