A Russian warship armed with Zircon hypersonic missiles and Onyx and Kalibr cruise missiles enters the Mediterranean Sea

A Russian warship equipped with hypersonic missiles entered Mediterranean waters this Sunday after transiting the Suez Canal, after which Moscow said the ship would “fulfill its assigned tasks”, without providing further details.

“The Pacific Fleet frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov has transited the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean Sea. The ship’s crew is performing its tasks as part of its long sea voyage,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on its website. Executing.”

Thus, he stressed that “in the Mediterranean, the battleships of the Pacific Fleet will operate in accordance with the previously planned combat and training plan.” There are currently no further details about this plan or how much time Marshal Shaposhnikov will spend in the region.

The ship, which was conceived as a destroyer and reclassified as a frigate, has a displacement of 6,840 tons, a maximum speed of 30 knots and can carry two Ka-27 anti-submarine helicopters. In fact, it is a threat to submarines, as it has two quadrangular launchers with a range of more than 54 kilometers. These missiles also exceeded the range of torpedoes mounted on NATO submarines. In addition, it is armed with two 100 mm artillery pieces, anti-aircraft artillery and other weapons.

It is a modernized Udaloy-class destroyer of the Russian Navy, commissioned in 1985. The ship serves in the Russian Pacific Fleet. On 6 April 2003, Marshal Shaposhnikov left port to begin deployment to the Indian Ocean, where exercises with the Indian Navy were planned for May 2003.

In November 2014, Marshal Shaposhnikov was part of a deployment of four ships to Australia’s international waters. The deployment is believed to be linked to the 2014 G-20 Brisbane summit and rising tensions between the two countries.

In 2017, the ship received upgrades to its weapons and sensor systems. The upgrade included 16 3S14 VLS cells for Kalibr, Onyx or Zircon cruise missiles and two 3S24 quad launchers for 3M24 anti-ship missiles.

In 2020, already reclassified as a frigate, it began sea trials after receiving improvements. In April 2021, it launched Kalibr missiles against land and naval targets located at ranges of more than 1,000 km and 100 km, respectively. The same month, she was returned to active duty as part of the permanent training of the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet.