Russia promised a scramjet superweapon. Ukraine says Zircon runs on solid fuel
Ukraine's military intelligence puts Zircon's highest recorded speed at Mach 6.8, below Moscow's Mach 9 claim, and says both its motors are solid-fuel. Its component catalogue also names two US-manufacturer chips inside.
Ukraine's military intelligence confirmed that Russia's Zircon missile utilizes solid-propellant motors, contradicting Moscow's claims of it being a scramjet. The missile, originally designed for ships and later adapted for coastal launchers, is an anti-ship weapon. Solid fuel does not slow down the missile, as it still reaches hypersonic speeds of Mach 6.8.
While Russia once claimed the missile could fly at Mach 9 and cover 1,000 kilometers, Ukrainian experts have found it to be an air-breathing solid-fuel missile. Inside the Zircon, Ukrainian intelligence identified components from US manufacturers, including a programmable gate array from Altera and an amplifier from TriQuint Semiconductor. The missile carries a 120-kilogram warhead and is assembled by Russian forensic experts.
Written by urgent.news from Euromaidan Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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