In November 2021 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his country would soon have a hypersonic missile to add to its arsenal.
The Russian leader added that the latest Zircon hypersonic missiles will enter official use in 2022.
Russia test-fired a Hypersonic Zircon missile around that time over the White Sea hitting a target 400 kilometers away.
Russian Navy test-fires Hypersonic Zircon Cruise Missile in the White Sea, hitting a practice target 400 kms. President Vladimir Putin has said Zircon would be capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of 1,000 kms.
Russian Navy test-fires Hypersonic Zircon Cruise Missile in the White Sea, hitting a practice target 400 kms. President Vladimir Putin has said Zircon would be capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of 1,000 kms. pic.twitter.com/XSSgQDa3Zc
— Fiona KJ Bruce (@FionaEBruce1) November 30, 2021
In February 2022 Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in a pre-planned strategic deterrence forces training. The purpose of the exercises was to check the readiness of military command and control bodies, launch combat crews, crews of warships and strategic missile carriers to carry out assigned tasks, as well as the reliability of the weapons.
According to reports, Hypersonic missiles, ICBMs, and nuclear submarines were involved in the exercises.
This week Putin announced he is set to unleash ‘unstoppable’ hypersonic Zircon missiles during upcoming war games with China and South Africa in the coming weeks.
The Daily Mail reported:
Vladimir Putin is set to unleash ‘unstoppable’ hypersonic Zircon missiles during his upcoming war games with China and South Africa.
The new Mach 9 nuclear-capable Zircon missiles, which travel at speeds of nearly 7,000mph, will be fired from the Russian warship Admiral Gorshkov during naval exercises off the coast of South Africa.
The ‘training launch’ of the missile, one of the world’s deadliest weapons, will be aimed at a ‘surface target’ at a distance of more than 310 miles.
The upcoming launch of the deadly missiles comes after the Admiral Gorshkov conducted an ‘electronic’ launch at an ‘enemy surface target’ as it sailed in the western Atlantic off the coast of United States last week.
The Zircon missiles will also now be fired from the Russian frigate during naval drills between Russia, China and South Africa in the Indian Ocean.
The three nations will engage in the war games from February 17 to 27 off South Africa’s east coast near the cities of Durban and Richards Bay.