Zircon or Brahmos II attains 8 mach speed during test

Russia recently tested  their Zircon missile and the missile during the recent testing successfully attained hypersonic speed of  8 mach. Previous year during the testing the missile attained the speed of 6 mach and this time it surpassed the expectations when it crossed the expected maximum speed of 7 mach.

Brahmos  II is the export variant of Russian Zircon and the difference between two was that Brahmos II had a shorter range of 290 kms when the project was originally planned. This reduced range was because India was not a part of  MTCR or Missile Technology Control  Regime but now as India has joined MTCR we could possibly see a range extension of same too like  India has started extending the range of the Brahmos missile which are in active service (read @ Range of all active Brahmos being upgraded).


* The zircon range shown in image is with context of Brahmos II as planned earlier.


Now as India is a part of MTCR the range of  Brahmos II is expected to  be in between 450-800 kms. 

Zircon is expected to be fully tested by 2018 and the missile may enter service by 2018-20. Brahmos  II  is expected to join Indian Armed Forces by 2020.