Moscow, April 5 A leading Russian missile designer, Alexander Leonov, who was involved in the development of the Zircon hypersonic missile and the new Indo-Russian BrahMos NG, died at the age of 74 on Sunday, local media reported.
Leonov was the CEO and Chief Designer of NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOMASH), the Russian joint venture partner in BrahMos Aerospace, based in New Delhi.
His press service did not disclose the cause of his death or the location where he died, according to the RBC news portal.
Leonov was credited with designing Russia's Zircon (Tsirkon) – a ship-based hypersonic cruise missile designed to destroy surface and land targets, and is part of the 3K22 missile system, which was put into service in January 2023.
The missile is launched from surface naval platforms and submarines, and can be used for coastal defense.
According to RBC, quoting open sources, the Zircon can reach speeds of up to Mach 9 (9 times faster than sound) and has a range of 400 to 1,500 km, and can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads.
Leonov, who was awarded the Golden Star of Hero of Labour, oversaw the design work on space and missile systems, participating in the development and adoption of the Granit, Vulcan, and Bastion coastal defense systems, along with the Onyx (BrahMos) missile, including for the Russian-Indian BrahMos JV, as well as the work on advanced hypersonic vehicles, Russian news agencies said.