The frigate Admiral Golovko fired a hypersonic Zircon missile at a simulated enemy warship in the Barents Sea. Target data was relayed to the command center by a Tu-142 anti-submarine aircraft of the Northern Fleet, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced today.
Video released by the Russian military shows the Admiral Golovko’s crew locking onto the simulated target and firing. The Zircon missile launches from the frigate’s vertical launch system, stabilizes its trajectory, and rapidly accelerates.
Real-time monitoring data confirmed the missile’s direct hit on the target, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
This launch was part of the Zapad-2025 joint strategic exercise, taking place from 12/9 to 16/9 at training grounds in Russia and Belarus, as well as in the Baltic and Barents Seas. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that some training activities within the exercise would occur near the Polish border.
Moscow asserts the exercise aims to improve command and combat coordination in the event of an attack on Russia or Belarus. Both countries maintain the exercise is purely defensive and not directed at any specific nation.
The 3M22 Zircon is one of Russia's hypersonic weapons. President Vladimir Putin first revealed the Zircon missile in a February 2019 speech. He stated it could strike sea and ground targets within a 1,000 km range at speeds exceeding 11,000 km/h, nine times the speed of sound.
Russia first fired the Zircon in October 2020 and conducted 12 test launches from surface ships and submarines in 2021, all hitting their targets. In February 2024, President Putin announced the Zircon had entered mass production for deployment on Russian warships and submarines.
The Russian military has also fired Zircon missiles at targets deep within Ukrainian territory on multiple occasions.
Huyen Le (Theo Zvezda, Reuters)
