Russia successfully tests fired Hypersonic Cruise Missile ‘Zircon’:

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Why in the news?

Recently, Russia has carried out a successful test of its Zircon hypersonic cruise missile.

Key highlights:

• Zircon is a Hypersonic Cruise Missile developed by Russia.
• The missile was launched from the Admiral Gorshkov warship towards a test target set in Arctic waters of the White Sea in northern Russia.
• The Zircon will join the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle that was put into service in 2019 and the air-launched Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles in Russia’s arsenal.
• This successful test of Zircon is being termed as good news for India as it will hasten the development of the delayed BrahMos-II hypersonic cruise missile, a joint India-Russia project.
•  Russia destroyed its own satellite in low-earth orbit using an Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Missile named ‘Nudol’, which led to the formation of a cloud of space debris that could potentially destroy other orbiting satellites & the International Space Station (ISS).

Features:

• The missile flies with an advanced fuel that the Russians say gives it a range of up to 1,000 kilometers. 
• The missile speed is also so fast that the air pressure in front of the weapon forms a plasma cloud as it moves, absorbing radio waves and making it practically invisible to active radar systems.
• Target: It is capable of hitting targets in land and sea.
• Hypersonics can travel more than five times the speed of sound and are much harder to track and intercept.

About BrahMos:

• BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile.
• It is a joint collaboration between India and Russia.
• The missile is capable of being launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against surface and sea-based targets.
• BrahMos was flight tested with an Indian-made seeker for the first time, at Pokhran test range, Rajasthan.