Navy chief announces: Kremlin wants to equip submarines with hypersonic missiles

Chief of the Navy announces
Kremlin wants to equip submarines with hypersonic missiles

3/17/2023 1:36 am

The “Admiral Gorshkov” is currently Russia’s only warship capable of firing Zirkon-type hypersonic missiles. But according to Moscow’s plans, the entire submarine fleet will soon be equipped with modern combat missiles.

The Russian Navy wants to equip its submarines with modern hypersonic weapons. “Let no one doubt that we are doing this,” said the head of the Navy, Nikolai Yevmenov, in an army newspaper “Krasnaja SwesdaThe admiral did not name a date for the conversion of the submarine fleet to the new missiles.

According to him, there are currently around ten submarine types in service, belonging to four different generations. The modern guided missiles of the Kalibr type have been tested on second-generation submarines. “And today, all submarines in service can be equipped with it, including strategic submarine cruisers.” The next step would then be to upgrade with hypersonic missiles, according to Yevmenov.

Russia has so far introduced three types of hypersonic missiles: the Avangard, the Zirkon and the Kinzhal. Due to their high speed, these are currently considered practically unattainable for air defense. The Zirkon missiles, which can potentially also be equipped with nuclear warheads, are ship-based. So far, however, only one ship in the Russian fleet, the frigate “Fleet Admiral of the Soviet Union Gorshkov”, has been equipped with it.

Putin announced the development of the Zircon missile in February 2019. At the time, he said the missile, with a range of 1,000 kilometers, could reach nine times the speed of sound. The rocket was tested for the first time in October 2020. There have already been several tests with the Zircon rocket, both from the “Admiral Gorshkov” and under water from the “Severodvinsk” submarine.