This video shows the ‘Marshal Shaposhnikov’ destroyer of the Russian Navy successfully launching a new anti-submarine missile at an underwater target in the Sea of Japan months after nearly blowing itself up.

The successful test follows a botched missile launch that nearly blew up the warship earlier this year, with the blunder hitting headlines the world over.

The video of the latest test was posted online by the Russian Ministry of Defence today (Wednesday, 15th December).

In the earlier, botched weapons test, carried out in April, the Udaloy-class destroyer launched a Kalibr cruise missile, which immediately began to spin out of control and broke up mid-air before landing mere yards away from the vessel, in the sea.

The Russian Navy did not acknowledge the failed launch at the time. However, the Defence Ministry’s new video showing the Navy’s display of might appears to be a tacit answer to the earlier blunder.

The new missile system, dubbed ‘Otvet’, meaning ‘Response’, passed state tests in November last year. It was reported at the time that it was to be adopted by the Russian Navy in December 2020 to January 2021. The missile system is designed to destroy submarines.

The Marshal Shaposhnikov, commissioned in 1985, serves in the Russian Pacific Fleet.

The National Interest, an American bimonthly conservative international relations magazine, reported in June this year that the Pacific Fleet’s recent drills are probably aimed at NATO and the US Navy in particular.

The Pacific Fleet’s recent muscle flexing has had alarm bells ringing particularly in the US state of Hawaii, which lies in the Pacific Ocean.