Putin deploys warship with Zircon hypersonic missiles to Atlantic
Russian President Vladimir Putin dispatched a warship to the Atlantic Ocean armed with advanced hypersonic missiles on Wednesday, in the Kremlin’s latest move to signal its military prowess to the West despite setbacks in Ukraine.
A still image taken from a handout video made available on 04 January 2023 by the Russian Defence Ministry shows ceremony to launch the frigate Admiral Gorshkov armed with hypersonic missiles Zircon at a undisclosed location.EPA/RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY / HANDOUT
According to Russia’s state TASS news agency, the frigate “Admiral Gorshkov” has set sail for the Atlantic, to the Mediterranean Sea and into the Indian Ocean.
“The ship is equipped with the latest hypersonic missile system – 'Zircon’,” said Putin in a video conference with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Igor Krokhmal, commander of the warship. “I am sure that such powerful weapons will reliably protect Russia from potential external threats”, the Russian president said.
He added that the missile had “no analogues in any country in the world”.
The Russian military first test-launched a Zircon missile in October 2020. At the time, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that it flew at a speed of 8 mach before hitting a target nearly 300 miles away.
Since then, several tests have been conducted, with the most recent one last May.
According to a US Congressional Research Service report quoted by Reuters, Russian and Chinese hypersonic missiles are designed to be used with nuclear warheads.
Reuters also reported that the target of a hypersonic weapon is much more difficult to calculate than for conventional missiles because of their maneuverability and speed, which reaches up to 3 kilometers per second.
(jh)
Source: Reuters
