Alexei Rakhmanov, the head of United Shipbuilding Corp., Russia's largest shipbuilder, said Yasen-class submarines, like the one pictured, are being outfitted with hypersonic Zircon missiles. (Sevmash)
Russia is outfitting its new nuclear submarines with hypersonic Zircon missiles, the head of the country’s largest shipbuilder said in an interview published Monday.
Work is already underway to equip Yasen-M variant submarines with the advanced weaponry, which can travel several times the speed of sound, Alexei Rakhmanov of the United Shipbuilding Corp. was quoted by Russian state news agency RIA as saying.
Moscow’s most potent attack subs will continue to be fitted with the Zircon system on a regular basis, Rakhmanov said. The name is sometimes written Tsirkon, reflecting the Russian spelling.
“In a sense, the challenge for NATO remains the same,” Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow at the at the Royal United Services Institute, said in response to the news.
That challenge is countering Russia’s nuclear-powered attack submarines and cruise missile submarines, he said.
The speed of the new missiles and the relative quietness of the launch platform will complicate NATO’s efforts, Kaushal added.
The United States, Russia and China are among the countries racing to develop hypersonic weapons, which are seen as a way to gain an advantage over enemies because of their speed and maneuverability. They travel at least five times the speed of sound.
The Kremlin in particular sees the weapons as a way to breach U.S. missile defenses, which have become increasingly sophisticated, and which Russian President Vladimir Putin warned could one day shoot down his country’s nuclear missiles.
Prior to Monday’s announcement, analysts had predicted that Zircon missiles would ultimately become a key component of the armaments of the Yasen-class cruise missile submarine, Russia’s quietest submarine to date, according to the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence.
But the limited number of the subs will likely constrain the operational effectiveness of the submarine-based Zircons, Kaushal said.
Russia is believed to operate three Yasen-class submarines with a total of about 10 in the pipeline, according to Russian media reports. They’ve been built to replace Soviet-era nuclear attack submarines as part of a program to modernize the army.
In January, the Zircon system was first deployed on the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, which was bound for the Atlantic and Indian oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.
Weeks later, Putin said Russia would start mass production of Zircon missiles as part of efforts to boost the country’s nuclear forces.
A U.S. Congressional Research Service report on hypersonic weapons published in February said Russia and China were designing hypersonic missiles to be used with nuclear warheads.
The U.S. and Japan are expected to announce an agreement in the coming days to jointly develop missile interceptors for hypersonic weapons, in light of a growing threat from North Korea, Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday.
