Mock 9

Putin has a frigate with Zircon hypersonic anti-ship missiles on the way to the Atlantic. Is this just another attempt at bolstering the strategic influence of a faltering army? Or is Putin putting the pudding on the table and pushing NATO well passed pleased?

"On 20 February 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the missile can accelerate up to Mach 9 and destroy both sea and land targets within 1,000 km (540 nmi; 620 mi).^[12][23] By the year's end, on 24 December 2019, Putin stated that Zircon's land-based version was in development.^[13"

"Zircon is believed to be a maneuvering, winged hypersonic cruise missile with a lift-generating center body. A booster stage with solid-fuel engines accelerates it to supersonic speeds, after which a scramjet motor with liquid-fuel (Decilin ^[ru]) (JP-10 jet fuel) in the second stage accelerates it to hypersonic speeds."

The Atlantic Ocean is a big place and Putin needs to travel a minute before the Black Sea, so the question is, will he be able to navigate through international and potentially NATO allies' waters to reach the destination? These weapons have a range from 135 to 270 nautical miles which mean there will be plenty of NATO countries within striking distance during the voyage to Ukraine.

I'd like to see some form of NATO doctrine along the lines of not allowing a foreign aggressor to travel within striking range of NATO allies on the way to war. Is there a way to moniter, track and possibly make these weapons impotant without directly bringing us into war? ... outlook, doubtfull.

Ukraine may not be a direct ally, but there are plenty of us in the scope on the way to the Black Sea. Could this be Putin's way of (non) threatening Western Countries and having a laugh on the way? Either way this is no joke.