Zircon
The 3M22 Zircon is a Russian-made scramjet-powered maneuvering anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile. It represents a significant escalation in missile technology due to its extreme speed and ability to evade traditional air defense systems.
The Zircon (3M22) is a cornerstone of Russia's hypersonic arsenal, designed to strike both naval and land-based targets at speeds reportedly reaching Mach 8 or higher. Unlike standard ballistic missiles that follow a predictable arc, the Zircon is a cruise missile that maintains high speeds within the atmosphere, utilizing a scramjet engine to sustain hypersonic flight. This combination of speed and maneuverability makes it exceptionally difficult for modern radar and interceptor systems to track and neutralize.
For Israel and the broader Middle East, the deployment of Zircon missiles in active combat zones like Ukraine serves as a critical case study in modern missile defense. The proliferation of hypersonic technology—or the transfer of such capabilities to regional adversaries like Iran—poses a direct challenge to the multi-layered defense architecture that Israel relies on for national security. Monitoring the Zircon's performance against Western-supplied defense systems in Ukraine provides essential intelligence for the IDF and Israeli defense industries as they develop next-generation interceptors.
Recent reports indicate that Russia has integrated the Zircon into large-scale combined strikes. In early September 2026, the missile was used alongside Iskander ballistic missiles and Kalibr cruise missiles in a coordinated attack on Kyiv. This operational use confirms that the Zircon is no longer merely a developmental prototype but a functional component of Russia's long-range precision strike capability, used to overwhelm urban air defenses through sheer velocity and varied flight profiles.