A Russian warship armed with new-generation hypersonic cruise weapons is to participate in joint exercises with the navies of China and South Africa next month, the Russian news agency TASS said yesterday.
It was the first official mention of the participation by the frigate, Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov, which is armed with Zircon missiles.
The missiles fly at nine times the speed of sound, with a range of more than 1,000km, Russia says.
Photo: EPA-EFE
They form the centerpiece of its hypersonic arsenal, along with the Avangard glide vehicle that entered combat duty in 2019.
“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,” the agency said, citing an unidentified defense source.
On Thursday, the South African National Defence Force said the drills, to run from Feb. 17 to 27 near the port city of Durban and Richards Bay, aim “to strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China.”
The exercise would be the second involving the three countries in South Africa, after a drill in 2019, the defense force added in its statement.
The Gorshkov this month held exercises in the Norwegian Sea after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent it to the Atlantic Ocean in a signal to the West that Moscow would not back down over the war in Ukraine.
Russia sees the weapons as a way to pierce increasingly sophisticated US missile defenses that Putin has warned could one day shoot down its nuclear missiles.
China, Russia and the US are in a race to develop hypersonic weapons, seen as a way to gain an edge over any adversary because of their speeds, greater than five times that of sound, and because they are harder to detect.
Meanwhile, South Africa defended the drills amid criticism over its noncommital stance on the war in Ukraine.
The South African Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans said it has conducted similar military maneuvers with the US, the UK and France without attracting “hype.”
“South Africa, like any independent and sovereign state, has a right to conduct its foreign relations in line with its own diplomatic relations and national interests,” the ministry said in a statement.
The exercise is aimed at “further strengthening the strong bonds that exist between South Africa, Russia and China,” it said.
The furor about the exercises comes as Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov yesterday arrived to hold talks with his South African counterpart, while US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen is due to arrive today.
South Africa has abstained on a number of UN resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Key government officials have made comments that have stoked criticism of the government’s approach to the conflict at a time when the Western nations opposing Russia’s action are among its main trading partners.
“Contrary to the assertions by our critics, South Africa is not abandoning its neutral position on the Russian-Ukraine conflict,” the ministry said. “We remain firm in our view that multilateralism and dialogue are keys to unlock sustainable international peace.”
While South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has historic ties to Russia, which supported the fight against apartheid, there are few economic links between the two nations.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS