The Russian air-naval exercise that began on June 25 continues, with the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier right nearby. The Russian Defense Ministry posted a four-minute video yesterday, showing, among other things, two Mig-31K’s taking off from the Latakia air base in Syria, armed with Khinzhal hypersonic missiles, and two Tu-22M3 bombers, each armed with a pair of anti-ship missiles. The Khinzhal can be used against either land or maritime targets. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that the crews of the ships worked out the tasks of repelling the attack of enemy air assets and conducted training for the air defense forces, and aircraft carrying hypersonic missiles made training flights accompanied by fighters.
“While this is the second time that the Tu-22M3 has been deployed to Syria, the emphasis on the type’s maritime strike mission is noteworthy, especially as it coincides with the high-profile appearance of HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Mediterranean for the first time, as first of its first operational cruise, as part of Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21),” writes Thomas Newdick in The War Zone. “The MiG-31K and its Khinzhal missile have not been deployed outside of Russian territory before this, and it seems highly likely they are also on hand to practice the anti-shipping mission, too.”
