Putin’s navy frigate armed with hypersonic missiles ‘sails towards US’

A Russian frigate carrying “unstoppable” Mach 9 nuclear-capable hypersonic cruise missiles has veered off course and is sailing toward the US coast, reports say.

Admiral Gorshkov, armed with Zircon missiles that Vladimir Putin boasts “has no equivalent in the world,” is being closely monitored by NATO navies during his maiden voyage.

Earlier this month, the frigate was escorted through British waters by the Royal Navy, and escorted by French and Spanish ships across the Atlantic.

It was scheduled to head south past South Africa to the Indian Ocean and then enter the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal.

But monitoring sites say it suddenly veered off course and headed west toward Bermuda.

An unconfirmed report from the Russian Telegram channel says the warship was “detected on radar in neutral waters of the Atlantic Ocean, within effective salvo launch distance from the US coast.”

The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the Navodka canal claim.

Radar monitoring sites suggest that Gorshkov separated from its tailings tanker Kama in the Bay of Biscay and headed west.

The Kama has continued its route to the south, passing through the Azores.

The frigate carrying the Mach 9 missiles had been tracked 807 miles west of the Portuguese island of Flores in the Azores, ItaMilRadar suggested.

Russia’s Admiral Gorshkov is shown during a test launch of his Zircon missiles in the Barents Sea.

Monitoring sites claim it suddenly veered off course and headed west toward Bermuda.

Pictured: ‘Unstoppable’ Zircon nuclear-capable hypersonic missile launching from Admiral Gorshkov

Pictured: The Russian frigate ‘Soviet Union Fleet Admiral Gorshkov’ armed with Zircon hypersonic weapons leaves the naval base in Severomorsk, January 4, 2023

If so, at this distance it would not at this point be within range of the US for its deadly Zircons.

The frigate also carries Kalibr missiles, a type used in Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

Putin personally participated, remotely, in the farewell ceremony as the warship left the Severomorsk Arctic naval base on January 4.

He made it clear that this mission was intended as a show of force for the West.

He boasted that NATO could not match his “state of the art” hypersonic firepower.

He said: “I am sure that such a powerful weapon will allow us to reliably protect Russia from possible external threats and help ensure the national interests of our country.”

The leading frigate Gorshkov will sail to the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean on this mission.

Next month it will take part in exercises with the Chinese and South African navies near the ports of Durban and Richards Bay.

It is not clear why the frigate would head towards the US.

The Royal Navy Type 23 frigate HMS Portland monitored the Russian warship and accompanying tanker Kama as they sailed near the UK.

Previously, the Norwegian navy paid a lot of attention to Putin’s hypersonic mission.

Moscow has boasted that the Gorshkov is “the most dangerous enemy of surface ships in the world’s oceans” now that it is armed with the new hypersonic missile.

The frigate’s captain, Igor Krokhmal, previously said: ‘No one will see the launch of the missile or its flight.

‘They will only see when the missile hits the target.

One surface target, one coastal target. I don’t think there will be anything to counteract this in the next few years.