[imagesource: Naval Press Service]

Above, you’ll see a Russian frigate named ‘Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov’.

It’s armed with hypersonic cruise weapons and it is coming to South Africa for military training.

Apparently, it is scheduled to take part in joint naval exercises with the Chinese and South African navies in February, according to Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency.

The South African National Defence Force has said the drills will run from February 17 to 26 near the port cities of Durban and Richards Bay on the east coast, Al Jazeera reported.

The hope is that these joint exercises will “strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China” – yikes – and is said to be the second set of exercises involving all three countries here in South Africa, after a drill in 2019, the defence force added.

President Vladimir Putin sent the Gorshkov to the Atlantic Ocean to signal to the West that Russia would not back down over the war in Ukraine, and says that the frigate and its Zircon missiles have “no analogues in the world”:

The frigate is armed with Zircon missiles, which fly at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of more than 1,000km (620 miles).

The missiles form the centrepiece of Russia’s hypersonic arsenal, along with the Avangard glide vehicle that entered combat duty in 2019.

Putin reckons the weapons are a way to pierce the US’ increasingly sophisticated missile defences.

Looks like South Africa is on board with all this.

[source:aljazeera]