Russia’s Game-Changing Hypersonic Missile Deployment: U.S.-China Face-Off in the Pacific

Russia Dispatches Escort Ship to the North Sea
Equipped with Zircon Hypersonic Cruise Missiles
A Strategy to Support U.S.-China Tensions

The emergence of hypersonic missile technology represents a significant shift in the global arms race, marking the first time since the Cold War that the United States finds itself sharing the lead and even seeking to gather intelligence about it. Russia and China have successfully developed and deployed hypersonic missiles, which have become a potent element in shaping U.S. foreign strategy. Russia, in particular, has conducted operational tests of its hypersonic weapons, notably in Ukraine, to accumulate valuable data on their capabilities.

Recently, Russia has been moving the escort ship Admiral Kasatonov, equipped with its hypersonic Zircon missile, to the North Sea, injecting new tension into the Pacific. How can a ship dispatched to the North Sea affect the Pacific?

Russia’s Main Ship
The World’s First Operational Deployment

Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate, to which Admiral Kasatonov belongs, is Russia’s latest main escort ship, designed to replace aging existing escort ships, with many Western-style modern ship designs reflected. It is equipped with a stealth design and fixed phased array radar, and its air defense capability and the level and quantity of onboard firepower are overwhelming.

This ship has become a hot topic because it is equipped with the 3M22 Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, which Russia boasts as the world’s first to be deployed in actual combat. As the name suggests, it is a weapon that strikes the enemy at a tremendous speed of Mach 8. With excellent low-altitude flight capability, making detection difficult, it is a weapon suitable for preemptive attacks due to its high surprise effect.

Russia Strengthens Pacific Power

Russia has dispatched this fleet to the North Sea, not far from the Pacific. Given that Russia is currently building a nuclear submarine fleet on the Kamchatka Peninsula, it seems that it will check the United States with powerful naval power in the Pacific region while giving strength to China, which is currently in conflict with the United States.