Next month’s joint military drills between China, South Africa and Russia will reportedly feature the participation of frigate ‘Admiral Gorshkov’, a new-generation hypersonic cruise weapons-armed Russian warship.
A Monday report by the Russian news agency TASS officially made the first announcement of the participation of the frigate.
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“Admiral Gorshkov… will go to the logistic support point in Syria’s Tartus, and then take part in joint naval exercises with the Chinese and South African navies,” said TASS, citing an unidentified defence source.
The “admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov,” is armed with Zircon missiles. These missiles form the centrepiece of the frigate’s hypersonic arsenal and, as per Moscow, fly at nine times the speed of sound, and have a range of more than 1,000 km or 620 miles.
It also carries the Avangard glide vehicle that, as per a Reuters report, entered combat duty in 2019. These, as per the Center for Strategic & International Studies, are part of the six “next generation” weapons which were described by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a speech in 2018.
The drills will run from February 17 to February 27 near the port city of Durban and Richards Bay. As per the South African National Defense Force, the exercises aim “to strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China.”
These are the second such round of exercises involving the three nations. Their last military drills were in 2019.
(With inputs from agencies)
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