Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sent a frigate armed with the country’s latest Zircon hypersonic missile on a trans-ocean cruise in a show of force as tensions with the West escalate over the war in Ukraine.
Russia says the Zircon missile can evade any Western air defenses by flying at an astounding 11,265 kilometer per hour.
Here is a glance at the ship and its weapons.
Pride of the Russian navy
Commissioned by the navy in 2018 following long trials, the Admiral Gorshkov is the first ship in the new series of frigates that were designed to replace the aging Soviet-built destroyers as a key strike component of the Russian navy.
Armed with an array of missiles, the ship is 130 meters long and has a crew of about 200.
In 2019, it circled the world oceans on a 35,000-nautical mile journey.
Intensive tests
The Admiral Gorshkov has served as the main testbed for the Zircon, Russia’s latest hypersonic missile.
In recent years, Zircon has undergone a series of tests, including being launched at various practice targets. The military declared the tests successful, and Zircon officially entered service last fall.
Zircon is intended to arm Russian cruisers, frigates and submarines and could be used against both enemy ships and ground targets. It is one of several hypersonic missiles that Russia has developed.
Putin praises Zircon as ‘unique’
Putin has hailed Zircon as a potent weapon capable of penetrating any existing anti-missile defenses by flying nine times faster than the speed of sound at a range of more than 1,000 kilometers.
Putin has emphasized that Zircon gives the Russian military a long-range conventional strike capability, allowing it to strike any enemy targets with precision.
Russia’s hypersonic weapons drive emerged as the U.S. has been working on its own Conventional Prompt Global Strike capability that envisions hitting an adversary’s strategic targets with precision-guided conventional weapons anywhere in the world within one hour.
Putin heralded Zircon as Russia’s answer to that, claiming that the new weapon has no rival, giving Russia a strategic edge.
Months before ordering the invasion of Ukraine, Putin put the U.S. and its NATO allies on notice when he warned that Russian warships armed with Zircon would give Russia a capability to strike the adversary’s “decision-making centers” within minutes if deployed in neutral waters.
Speaking via video link during Wednesday’s sendoff ceremony, Putin again praised Zircon as a “unique weapon” without an “equivalent for it in any country in the world.”
Other Russian weapons
Russia has commissioned the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles for some of its ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles that constitute part of Russia’s strategic nuclear triad. Putin has hailed Avangard’s ability to maneuver at hypersonic speeds on its approach to target, dodging air defenses.
The Russian military also has deployed the Kinzhal hypersonic missiles on its MiG-31 aircraft and used them during the war in Ukraine to strike some priority targets. Kinzhal reportedly has a range of about 1,500 kilometers.
Patrol duty
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin on Wednesday that the Admiral Gorshkov will patrol the Atlantic and Indian oceans and the Mediterranean Sea but didn’t give further details.
Shoigu said the Admiral Gorshkov’s crew will focus on “countering the threats to Russia, maintaining regional peace and stability jointly with friendly countries.” He added the crew will practice with hypersonic weapons and long-range cruise missiles “in various conditions.”
Some military experts say a single, hypersonic missile-armed warship is no match for the massive naval forces of the U.S. and its allies.
But others noted that the frigate’s potential deployment close to U.S. shores could be part of Putin’s strategy to up the ante in the Ukrainian conflict.
“This is a message to the West that Russia has nuclear-tipped missiles that can easily pierce any missile defenses,” pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergei Markov wrote in a commentary.