Russia has used its new hypersonic 3M22 Zircon missile in Ukraine for the first time in nearly two years of the conflict, according to multiple news reports, marking a potential significant escalation of the war.
The Zircon is part of a Russian family of “superweapons” unveiled in March 2018 that are designed to penetrate emerging US missile defense systems and thus increase Russia’s bargaining power in strategic arms negotiations with the US.
Preliminary analysis by the Kiev Scientific Research Institute for Forensic Examinations (KNDISE) of missile fragments from a Russian attack on February 7 claims that a Zircon missile had been used.
The missile is claimed to have a range of 1,000 kilometers and travel at nine times the speed of sound. Its hypersonic speed could mean significantly reduced reaction time for air defenses and the capability to attack large, deep and hardened targets.
Russia has not commented on the weapon’s alleged use in Ukraine. If its use in war is more widely confirmed, the weapon could pose an additional challenge to the embattled country’s air defenses amid uncertainty over the sustainability of Western military aid.
The Zircon missile was first flight-tested in 2015 and declared operational by 2022. Russia tested the missile off two warships, the Admiral Gorshkov frigate and the Severodvinsk submarine, before using it to arm the frigate in January 2023.
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Got to ask a few hard questions here.
1) Are there any women-owned businesses that make these?
2) What kind of emissions do these produce? What plans are there to offset these emissions?
3) If these fall short of target, are they biodegradable?
4) Can an electric version be used for testing over California?
5) How diverse are the engineers that work on this?
@AboardPepperPatriot2yrs2Y
Very Good. I don't think China or Russia asked those questions. Bet they are really sorry they didn't. You left out a few other questions, like:
Are these weapons racist?Can the gender of these weapons be modified?And finally, will any of these questions matter if China overpowers the US.
Enquiring minds need to know.
The root of the problem is generation after generation being indoctrinated in the belief this is not a country worth defending.
Your kind would have us believe it's a country "stolen" from Indians and "built by slavery".
Why would you defend a country you believe was illegitimate from its founding?
@AboardPepperPatriot2yrs2Y
Go into a high school today. Ask the kids what they think of the founding fathers for example. The answer you get is they were all racist, evil white men.
But the kids will certainly gush on about the civil rights movement, gay rights, transgender bravey, etc. etc. All necessary to fight this evil country we live in.
It's only going to get worse from here.
@9CJ6CB62yrs2Y
Hilarious, every word of your statement was false.
@9CJ6CB62yrs2Y
You wouldn’t defend it, you’d improve upon it and make sure nothing like those atrocities ever happens again.
@9CJ6CB62yrs2Y
Very creative, haha funny.
It's funny, but it's also distributing that some people are stupid enough to actually think about those considerations, like race, gender, and DEI.
@9CJ6CB62yrs2Y
Most leftists don’t, most of the DEI initiatives of democrats is to try and virtue signal to the leftist side of the U.S., and it fails miserably at every turn, because they care about looking like they’re doing some rather than actually doing something.
If most leftists don't, why does virtually every major corporation in existence in this country buy into this BS? Amazon, Google (For Heaven's sake, you can't get an image of a white person on their new AI, Gemini, that they launched yesterday!) Disney, Bud Light, Ford, the list goes ON AND ON AND ON. Not to mention that for DECADES pretty much every major college in this country instituted racist policies designed to overlook whites! Not to mention that businesses EVERYWHERE constantly turn down white applicants, who are MORE qualified 99% of the time for the job, in favor of "minority" groups who are normally LESS qualified, because they refuse to higher based on anything but skin color, sex, and mental health conditions like transgenderism, etc.
@LardSummerNo Labels2yrs2Y
This is another visible indication our military strength is in terminal decline.
Americans by and large won't understand the significance until it's too late, a day I fear is going to be upon us much sooner than anyone could've guessed just a few decades ago.
I strongly suspect many veterans understand this intuitively, which is why they're telling their children to steer clear of the military.
@SeahorseMartyDemocrat2yrs2Y
You severely underestimate our military and probably have never served.
You have no idea what we have developed.
@LardSummerNo Labels2yrs2Y
Tell me, how long before China's navy, which has far surpassed us numerically in the last few years, has an insurmountable advantage? Leveraging their massive civilian shipbuilding yards, They already have the ability to build new ships many times faster, each generation far better than the last.
We have few shipyards left, can't build new ones, and it's impossible to catch up at this point.
So please, in this simple example, by what miracle will we stop their meteoric rise to naval dominance? I'm all ears armchair warrior.
Tell me, how long before China's navy, which has far surpassed us numerically in the last few years, has an insurmountable advantage? Leveraging their massive civilian shipbuilding yards, They already have the ability to build new ships many times faster, each generation far better than the last.
We have few shipyards left, can't build new ones, and it's impossible to catch up at this point.
So please, in this simple example, by what miracle will we stop their meteoric rise to naval dominance? I'm all ears armchair warrior.
@JumpyNomineeLibertarian2yrs2Y
Skipping over small details like our submarine fleet response capability etc... This is a fear and scare, sales pitch piece for more tax payer money to the military industrial complex . Which only considers it's own profit margin. Not the security of the United States.
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
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