Putin to test-launch ‘unstoppable’ new nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles

The ‘unstoppable’ Zircon missiles will be test-fired from a frigate during naval exercises off the coast of Africa.

They will be aimed at a surface target at a distance of more than 310 miles.

The so-called ‘training launch’ of the nuclear-capable missile is the latest show of strength by the Kremlin dictator.

It comes amid deep tension with the West during Putin’s war against Ukraine.

The Mach 9 hypersonic launch will come during drills in the Indian Ocean, off KwaZulu-Natal province between 17 and 26 February.

‘During the upcoming exercise with the navies of South Africa and China, a training launch of a Zircon hypersonic missile will be carried out, to be the first-ever during an event of this kind,’ a source told Russian state news agency TASS.

The Admiral Gorshkov frigate carrying the missiles is being closely monitored by NATO navies.

Putin made it clear this mission was intended as a show of strength to the West, and personally took part – remotely – in the farewell ceremony when the warship departed from Arctic naval base Severomorsk on 4 January.

The vessel then sailed ostentatiously through the English Channel on 11 January, monitored by the Royal Navy.

Earlier it was closely watched by the Norwegians, and later the Portuguese and US navies.

Putin has long boasted about the effectiveness of his hypersonic missiles, which supposedly has ‘no equivalent in any country in the world.’

Source of data and images: metro