The 10-day exercise, which is taking place off South Africa’s eastern coast and coincides with the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has raised alarm among Western governments.

Russia’s TASS news agency reported earlier this month that a frigate participating in the drills would perform a training launch of the Zircon missile system during the exercise.

However Captain Oleg Gladkiy, who is heading the Russian contingent, said during a media briefing that no test launch would take place.

“The hypersonic weapon will not be used in the context of these exercises,” Gladkiy said. “There is no hidden meaning in the exercises that we are performing today.”

President Vladimir Putin has called the Zircon, which can travel at more than five times the speed of sound, “unstoppable”.

(Reporting by Siyabonga Sishi in Richard’s BayWriting by Joe Bavier)