Russia’s Yasen-M Submarines Will Fire the Zircon Hypersonic Cruise Missile

By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior

(Washington D.C.) Russia’s Yasen-M ballistic missile submarines will fire the Zircon hypersonic cruise missile by 2025 from the ocean, a development marking a potential new era in maritime warfare threats.

The first Yasen-M boat in the class to fire the weapon will be the Perm, a vessel slated for commissioning in 2024, according to Russia’s TASS news service.

“Among the nuclear submarines of project 885M, the fifth submarine Perm will be the first regular carrier of the Zircons, which will be structurally slightly different from its predecessors,” the paper quotes a source saying.

Should the U.S. Navy succeed with plans to fire hypersonic missiles from attack submarines by 2028, something former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday told Congress several years ago, they might be behind the Russian timeline, should TASS be accurate.

Yasen: A Threat Beneath the Surface

Lurking beneath the surface within striking distance of enemy territory, hypersonic missile-armed submarines would present adversaries with quite an advantage, as they could hit enemy targets on shore while remaining quite difficult to detect by enemy ground or air radar systems. A surface ship or lower-flying aircraft, by contrast, would likely be seen and known by an enemy at great distances, whereas a submarine might succeed in eluding detection and be in a position to launch surprise attacks capable of destroying high-value enemy targets from the ocean within minutes.

Overall, Russia will operate 11 Yasen-class submarines, with 10 being the modern Yasen-M variant. The first Yasen, called the Serverodvinsk, emerged 10 years ago, whereas the first Yasen-M boat, the Kazan, appeared in 2021. Russia recently announced it will build two more as-of-yet-unmanned Yasen-M submarines.

Russian and American Submarines Keep Similar Technologies

The Yasen-M boats are built with a KTP-6 Monoblock life-of-core reactor which, while decreasing size and space, also brings quieting technologies to the submarine. The largest advantage of a life-of-core reactor, which is what is now being built into the U.S. Navy’s emerging Columbia-class boats, is that it enables continued operational service and deployment without having to pause for mid-life refueling.