“4 Jan. - Russia’s national weapons export firm Rosoboroneksport has made it public that it has concluded a pact with People’s Liberation Army that it will sell two more SOVREMENNY Class missile destroyers to China. Two destroyers of this class have already been in the service of the Chinese Navy since 2000.

The price of the two destroyers is reported to be about one billion US dollars. They will be handed over to China by the end of 2005. This class of destroyer has the SSM ‘MOSKIT’ anti-ship missile that flies at the speed of Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound).

No one, not even the US Navy, knows how to cope with it. The US Navy tried to build a similar missile to be used as a decoy to practice the defense against this Russian missile, but it failed. Then the USN tried to import one hundred missiles of this type from Russia, but was refused. Those new Chinese destroyers will be a force that can’t be matched by any other navy in the Far East.”