From the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Black Sea Fleet spread out in the waters of the Aegean and Black Seas, and imposed a naval siege on the country. The naval blockade disrupted Ukrainian exports, mainly of wheat, and greatly affected Ukraine’s economic capacity, as well as the economy of the Middle East and Africa.
In the last month, the fighting in Ukraine has taken a turn, and began to develop at sea as well, when the Ukrainian navy decided to act against the Russian navy. On the one hand, the Ukrainians began scattering marine mines, mainly around the coastal strip of Odessa and in the Snake Island area, which controls the maritime trade routes between Ukraine and the rest of the Black Sea countries and the exit to the Dardanelles and Bosphorus.
In addition, the Ukrainian Navy began operating Neptune-made beach-to-sea missiles, through which two flagships of the Black Sea Fleet were sunk. The successful launch of the missiles prompted the Americans and the British to express intentions to equip the Ukrainian navy with Harpoon-style beach missile batteries, and possibly other models as well.
Russia did not remain indifferent to the American and British moves, and last Saturday as an act of deterrence, the Russian navy conducted its first operational experiment with its new supersonic missile, the Zircon model. The experiment was carried out in the White Sea, when Noah threw a Russian warship at a target 1000 km away.
The zircon is a hyper-sonic missile, propelled by advanced Scram-jet propulsion, which allows the missile to fly at a speed of about 9 Mach, a speed more than three times the speed of the Yakhont missile.
The zircon, the next generation of the yacht, is an anti-vessel missile, launched from a wide range of launchers – land, vessels and submarines. The missile was developed by the Russian company NPO Mashinostroyeniya, and is apparently operational.
The missile is about 9 meters long, with a maximum range of about 1500 km on a high-altitude flight and a maximum range of about 500 km on a low-altitude flight. The missile incorporates a warhead weighing about 400 kg.
The Zircon missile is a product of a joint development with the Indian Navy, a project that began between the countries in 2010 on the basis of their cooperation in the Yakhont missile. The Yakhont missile, whose Indian version is called BrahMos, was developed using Indian funds after development was halted in Russia due to a lack of budget in the early 1990s.
The agreement between the countries was that under Indian funding, over $ 250 million, a production line would be set up in India for an “Indian” missile, most of whose components (excluding the head of the home and engine) would be manufactured in India. All components of the missile will be assembled in India.
The Brahmus project was an impressive success, and the Navy, Air Force and Indian Land Force purchased a very large quantity of it, an amount estimated at about 2000 missiles.
The success of the Brahmus gave birth to the Brahmus-2, the zircon, a new co-financed missile (though mostly Indian), as mentioned with impressive operational and technological capabilities. In India the missile has not yet entered operational service, and Russia was expected to begin serial production during 2022. Apparently the war in Ukraine did not allow this.
At the same time, and after the successes of the Ukrainian navy in sinking the Russian warships using Neptune missiles, it seems that the Russians are gearing up in the naval arena. The test firing carried out this week and operationality are definitely a warning sign to the Western Navy and with an emphasis on the US Navy.
US Navy ships have no real defensive response to a zircon missile barrage, and the Navy will now be required to develop appropriate defenses in front of it – whether it is upgrading a standard or ESSM interceptor missile array, or upgrading electronic warfare systems.