The Zircon missile could be more conventional than researchers thought.

The 3M22 Zircon missile could be an atmospheric hypersonic missile. But it will not be a hypersonic cruise missile. 

Russian 3M22 Zircon missile can be impressive, but it’s less impressive than Russia claimed. Rumors say that the Russian Zircon missile uses an air-breathing ramjet engine. That two-stage missile has speed. 

It will be about Mach 9. The speed of this missile is impressive. But there is no visible sign of an air intake on that missile body. That suggests. The Zircon is probably regular. A two-stage missile that uses two solid-fuel rocket engines. This gives it a higher altitude than a regular cruise missile. The Zircon’s flight altitude is about 30- 50 kilometers. This makes that system a so-called quasi-missile. That missile has a hypersonic speed. But the other technology is more conventional. There is a possibility. 

An improved version of the Iskander missile could be the Zircon. 

Zircon could be a horizontally flying missile. This means the missile follows a horizontal trajectory in the atmosphere. The difference is that the Zircon uses a rocket engine. A cruise missile uses a jet engine. So. We could call the Zircon an atmospheric missile. Or a hypersonic missile that uses a conventional rocket engine. 

“A Kh-47M2 Kinzhal being carried by a Mikoyan MiG-31K interceptor” (Wikipedia, Kh-47M2 Kinzhal)

9K720 Iskander. 

The codename of that missile is 9M723-2 or “Iskander 1000”. The missile is a so-called quasi-ballistic missile. 

Another possibility is that. Russians put new hope in the land-launched, ground-attack version of the Zircon missile. 

Russian media said. An improved version of the 9K720 Iskander missile will enter service. This winter.  And that will give more strike capacity. For. Russian troops. Could that new missile concept be Zircon? Or rather, saying. Ground-launched version of the Zircon missile. When we compare Zircon with the Iskander and Kinzhal.

Could the Zircon missile be the ground-launched version of the Kinzhal? 

The Kinzhal is a hypersonic atmospheric missile. Kinzhal missile reaches only hypersonic speed. It is launched from a MiG-31 aircraft. Maybe the Russians replaced the MiG-31 interceptors with a solid-fuel rocket stage. And that could raise the speed of that missile to Mach 9. If the Russians just replaced the launching aircraft with a solid-fuel rocket. That makes it possible to launch those missiles from ships, trains, and road-mobile platforms. That makes it harder. 

To find those missiles. The system can increase the strike capacity of the Russian systems. 

https://defencesecurityasia.com/en/russia-iskander-1000-9m723-2-missile-combat-debut-ukraine-nato/

https://luftlage.substack.com/p/not-quite-a-diamond

https://www.twz.com/sea/russias-zircon-may-not-be-a-hypersonic-cruise-missile-after-all

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K720_Iskander

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3M22_Zircon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh-47M2_Kinzhal