Russia flexes military muscle with hypersonic missiles and bombers during drills
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Russian MiG-31 fighter jets armed with hypersonic missiles taking part in joint military drills with Belarus.
PHOTO: EPA
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MOSCOW – Russia said on Sept 14 it fired a Zircon (Tsirkon) hypersonic cruise missile at a target in the Barents Sea, and that Sukoi Su-34 supersonic fighter-bombers carried out strikes as part of joint military exercises with Belarus.
Russia’s “Zapad”, or West, joint strategic exercise with Belarus began on Sept 12 aiming to improve military command and coordination in the event of an attack on either Russia or Belarus, the Defence Ministry said.
Moscow and Minsk have said the exercises are exclusively defensive, and that they do not intend to attack any Nato member, though the US-led military alliance announced an “Eastern Sentry” operation after the incursion of Russian drones
Russia’s Defence Ministry released footage of the Northern Fleet’s Admiral Golovko frigate firing a Zircon hypersonic missile at a target in the Barents Sea. The footage showed a missile being launched vertically from the frigate and then powering off at an angle into the horizon.
“According to objective monitoring data received in real time, the target was destroyed by a direct hit,” the ministry said.
The ministry said long-range anti-submarine aircraft of the Northern Fleet’s mixed aviation corps were also involved in the exercise. It said Su-34 crews practised a bombing strike against ground targets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in 2019 that the Zircon can fly at nine times the speed of sound and hit targets at sea and on land at a range of more than 1,000km.
Russian media sources say the missile, known as the 3M22 Zircon in Russia and the SS-N-33 by Nato, has a range of 400km to 1,000km, and that its warhead mass is around 300kg to 400kg. REUTERS
