The media explained why the Zircon missile is "the biggest scam of the Ministry of Defense of Russia"

The Russian agency "turned a blind eye" to the fact that the failed attempt to increase the missile's range will not help in destroying the targets.

The warhead of the ZM22 anti-ship hypersonic missile Zircon - the biggest scam of the Ministry of Defense of Russia and its developer - the corporation Tactical missile weapons. This was reported by the specialized publication Defense Express on Wednesday, March 27.

Combat unit zircon is about 100-150 kilograms, of which the explosive substance is up to 40 kilograms. The rocket has a high-explosive fragmentation design, an uncharacteristic shape and low weight.

The combat power of the missile is lower than that of other missiles:

• • X-47 Dagger - 500 kilograms of warhead;

• • Kh-101, Kh-555, Kalibr cruise missiles - 400 kilograms of warhead;

• • Onyx - 300 kilograms of warhead.

The closest equivalent to zircon – Kh-31 with 150 kg and Kh-35 with 135 kilograms of explosives.

The warhead directly affects which ship the missile is able to sink. In the case of Zircon we are talking about the ability to sink only corvette-class ships, not frigates or destroyers, "not that an aircraft carrier whose water displacement is under 100 tons," the publication adds.

The missile was equipped with such a small warhead in order to ensure the fulfillment of the tactical and technical task - a range of 1000 kilometers. If the missile is not capable of such a range, then the easiest option to fix it is to reduce its warhead. In particular, this explains why the flight range zircon gradually increased from 400 kilometers to the 1000 kilometers declared by the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin.

Tactical missile weapons reduced the weight of the combat unit to the minimum possible, due to which it fulfilled the range task.

"The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation turned a blind eye to the fact that this would in no way help in destroying the specified targets and officially adopted the 4M2023 on January 3, 22 Zircon to arms," ​​the publication notes.