The first warship fitted with new Zircon hypersonic missiles is set to begin routine service early next year, the Russian president has said
Putin provides details on Russia’s hypersonic missiles
The first naval vessel fitted with Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles is set to begin its routine combat duty early in January, Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed. The president made the remarks on Wednesday during a meeting with the country’s top defense officials.
“In early January next year, the Admiral Gorshkov frigate will enter combat service with the latest, I repeat once again, not having any analogues in the world, sea-launched Zircon hypersonic missile systems,” Putin stated.
At the meeting Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu also announced that silo-based Sarmat ICBMs are already being deployed into Russia’s strategic missile forces.
The new hypersonic missiles, officially known as the 3M22 Zircon, have been actively tested over the past few years, after first being announced by Putin back in 2019. The Admiral Gorshkov, a modern missile frigate with Russia’s Northern Fleet, has already performed multiple test launches of the new missiles.
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Still, little is known about the weapon, which is heavily shrouded in secrecy. The projectiles are reportedly able to reach speeds of at least 9 Mach – just over 11,000kph – while retaining the ability to maneuver, making them effectively impossible to intercept. The projectiles can cover a distance of at least 1,500km (932 miles), Igor Krokhmal, commander of the Admiral Gorshkov, revealed early this year.
The new missiles reportedly fit into the standard launch tubes of Russia’s naval vessels, which are equipped with older missiles such as the cruise Kalibr or anti-ship Onix missiles. This compatibility potentially allows any Russian cruise missile-carrying vessel to be fitted with the Zircon. Apart from surface ships, the new missiles are expected to be fitted on certain cruise missile-capable submarines, after the first submarine test-launch of the Zircon performed by the nuclear-powered Severodvinsk late in 2021.
https://www.rt.com/russia/568671-putin-hypersonic-cruise-missiles/
Any moment now I am expecting John Cleese (a veteran of Monty Python) to jump out of the bushes and announce the creation of the Ministry of Silly Wars, with Donald Trump as the deranged leader. For you youngsters out there, Monty Python’s skit, The Ministry of Silly Walks, helped make the members of MP legends. I had to reference Monty Python because the line of bullshit the Trump administration is feeding the American people and the world about the amazing, obliterating US attack on Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday morning, is more ridiculous that all of the silly walks pictured in the following video:
My hopes that Donald Trump would finally act like a responsible adult are dashed. He’s a dangerous buffoon. While the team around him are working frantically to maintain the fiction that Trump has a vision and is calling the shots on the foreign policy front, he is careening around the globe like an out-of-control cue ball on a billiards table. It started a week ago… first, he claimed...
Tuesday marks the third anniversary of the launch of the Fujian, China's first aircraft carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults. Official media said China is about to enter a three-aircraft-carrier era, with the Fujian expected to enter service by 2025.
After the launch of the Fujian on June 17, 2022, it carried out its first sea trial from May 1 to 8 in 2024. Since then, the Fujian has completed multiple sea trials, accumulating more than 100 days of sea trial, China Central Television (CCTV) News reported on Tuesday.
Wei Dongxu, a Chinese military affairs commentator, said that the aircraft carrier Fujian has been making steady progress in sea trials, and is expected to be commissioned within this year, CCTV News reported.
With a full displacement of more than 80,000 tons, the Fujian is the world's first conventionally powered aircraft carrier to feature electromagnetic catapult technologies, according to CCTV News. The report noted that it will carry a wide variety of carrier-borne...
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China and Central Asian countries have explored and formed the China-Central Asia Spirit, which features mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, mutual assistance, and the pursuit of common modernization through high-quality development.
Xi made the remarks in his speech at the second China-Central Asia Summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana.
Xi said that the Chinese side has decided to establish three cooperation centers and a trade facilitation platform within the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism.
When addressing the summit, Xi said these institutions include the China-Central Asia poverty reduction cooperation center, the China-Central Asia education exchange cooperation center, the China-Central Asia desertification control cooperation center, as well as the China-Central Asia trade facilitation cooperation....more below
