Russia to develop a new anti-ship hypersonic missile Zmeevik

Europe, News July 16, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Russia has started developing a new anti-ship hypersonic capable ballistic missile named Zmeevik. The new missile system would improve Russia’s coastal defense capabilities.

Russian media has dubbed the Zmeevik as an ‘aircraft carrier killer’. According to Russian military sources “The Zmeevik ballistic missile with hypersonic combat equipment has been in development for quite a long time. It will be designed to destroy large surface targets, primarily aircraft carriers.”

Not many production details have been provided about the newly announced Zmeevik, however, it is being speculated that the Reutov-based NPO Mashinostroenia enterprise is working on the initial design and development of Zmeevik. The NOP Mashinostroenia has also developed several of Russia’s missile systems including the Tsirkon anti-ship missile, Sarmat Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), and Onyx Supersonic missiles. NPO Mashinostroenia has neither confirmed nor denied any news about its involvement in the Zmeevik project.

Russia’s Zmeevik missile would be similar to China’s DF-21D and DF-26 missiles. The DF-21 (DongFeng-21) is a medium-range road-mobile ballistic missile that has been in service for Chinese defense forces since the early 1990s. China has developed several different variants for its DongFeng missile system including nuclear-capable variants as well as a hypersonic variant. DF-26 is an intermediate-range ballistic missile with a range of 4,000 kilometers. DF-26 is also China’s first nuclear-armed hypersonic ballistic missile that can conduct precision strikes as far as Guam. An anti-ship version of DF-26, named DF-26B, was tested by China in 2020.

Russia’s Zmeevik missile would follow the same design features and characteristics as China’s DF-26B anti-ship missile with additional hypersonic capabilities. Russia already has a hypersonic capable missile air-to-surface missile system that was used against Ukraine. In March 2022, Russian forces claimed to have used the Kinzhal or Dagger hypersonic missile against Ukraine to target an arms depot near Kyiv. This was the first ever claim of using a hypersonic missile in an active battle.

*^{Russia’s Kinzhal hypersonic missile placed in the belly of the Mig 31 aircraft. (Image Credit: Radio Sputnik/The Diplomat)}*

Kinzhal is Russia’s first hypersonic nuclear-capable air-to-surface missile that was commissioned around the end of 2018, while in early 2020 Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw naval exercises in the Black Sea that involved multiple missile launches including the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system.

The Zmeevik hypersonic missile would become Russia’s first anti-ship hypersonic missile and the first hypersonic missile to enter the service of the coastal missile units of the Russian navy.

Russia and China’s increasing hypersonic weapons capabilities have brought a great deal of pressure on western defense manufacturers. U.S.-based defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, General Atomics, and Northrop Grumman have paced up their efforts to develop hypersonic capable weapons for the U.S. military.