Russian warship armed with zircon hypersonic missiles capable of traveling at nearly 7,000mph ‘will cruise off UK coast ahead of war games early next year’

Vladimir Putin will soon send a warship armed with nuclear-capable hypersonic Zircon missiles off the coast of Britain.

The frigate Admiral Gorshkov will lead a Russian naval task force west in a show of force in early 2023.

The new mission is expected to take Gorshkov from Severomorsk off the coast of Britain on his way to war games in the Mediterranean amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“Admiral Gorshkov is expected to begin his naval combat duty in January 2023,” a source close to the Russian Defense Ministry told state news agency TASS.

“It will carry out its combat duties in the Mediterranean with Zircon hypersonic missiles on board.”

Russian Zircon missile test launched in the Barents Sea in July 2021

The ship arrived at the Northern Fleet’s main base in the Arctic port of Severomorsk this month after scheduled maintenance at the Kronstadt Naval Shipyard.

Not surprisingly, the Russians have not announced the exact route or when the frigate will sail past the British coast.

Oleg Gladkiy, commander of the missile ships of the Russian Northern Fleet, said: “The ship is armed with cruise missiles, including long-range and hypersonic Zircon missiles.

“Obviously it comes with a certain responsibility.”

Frigate Admiral Gorshkov is pictured

This is the moment when a Zircon missile is launched from a ship in the Barents Sea

Russian propaganda channel TV Zvezda boasted that the frigate “will very soon become the most dangerous enemy of surface ships on the world’s seas,” and hinted that it will conduct tests of its fearsome Zircon missiles, the capabilities of which Putin says are unprecedented .

The hypersonic weapons can fly at speeds of up to 11,000 km/h and carry nuclear warheads.

News of the frigate’s planned trip to the Mediterranean comes just a day after Putin authorized several new warships and a nuclear submarine to the Russian Navy.

Yesterday, the Russian president gave the go-ahead for Russian flags to be raised on the new ships via video link from his Novo-Ogaryovo presidential residence outside Moscow and promised to strengthen his armed forces.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the ceremony marking the commissioning of new warships for the Russian Navy December 29, 2022 via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo State Residence outside Moscow, Russia.

Russia’s new warships included the Grad corvettes, the minesweeper Anatoly Shlemov and the nuclear submarine Generalissimus Suvorov (see Putin in video link).

During his two decades in power, Putin has technologically upgraded the capabilities of his armed forces, equipped the navy with new warships and added Zircon missiles to Russia’s arsenal.

New ships included a corvette, a minesweeper and the nuclear-powered ballistic missile-launching submarine Generalissimus Suvorov.

Another nuclear submarine, Kaiser Alexander III, was also put to sea on Thursday and will be put into service after sea trials.

“We will increase the pace and volume of building various ships and equip them with the most modern weapons,” the Russian leader said in a televised address.

“All in all, everything to reliably ensure the security of Russia and the protection of our national interests in the world ocean,” he added.

The captain of the Admiral Gorshkov frigate, Igor Krokhmal, said of the Zircon: “No one will see the missile launch or its flight. I don’t think there will be anything to counter that in the next few years.

This still, from a clip broadcast on Russian TV, shows animation of the Zircon rocket

The Russian president has expressed great interest in the development of the Zircon rocket, announcing a year ago that a “flawless” salvo launch of the new-age rocket had been successfully completed.

The first test shot was described by Russian state media as “a major event for our country, an important step towards improving Russia’s security and increasing its defense capacity”.

TV Zvezda said: “The speed of the Zircon hypersonic missile is so high that it prevents the enemy’s air defense system from detecting the impact in time.”

The missile has a “variable trajectory” to avoid detection, viewers were told.

The captain of the Admiral Gorshkov frigate, Igor Krokhmal, said of the Zircon: “No one will see the missile launch or its flight.

“You don’t see until the missile hits the target. A surface target or a coastal target.

“I don’t think there will be anything to counter that for years to come.”