Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that a successful “firearms” operation was carried out with the Zircon hypersonic missile on Friday morning.
“This is a major event for the country and an important stage in strengthening Russia’s security and defense capabilities,” the president said in a televised meeting.
According to Russian media reports, Moscow has now announced for the first time a series of launches of the Zircon missile. The Ministry of Defense has not provided more detailed information yet.
The first official launch of the Zircon missile was completed in October 2020. Several other tests have been conducted in the Russian Arctic since then, including on board the frigate Admiral Gurskov and a sunken submarine. Prior to Friday, a test launch of this missile took place on December 16.
In the midst of tensions with Western countries, most notably the United States, Russia has made several announcements to develop new weapons, which President Putin has described as “indomitable.”
Zircon missiles with a maximum range of about 1,000 km will be deployed on warships and submarines of the Russian fleet.
A new generation of hypersonic Avangard missiles capable of reaching Mach 27 (twenty-seven times the speed of sound, about 33,000 km/h) and changing direction and altitude was put into service in the Russian Army in December 2019.
Home: MTI / EPA / Sputnik / Russian Presidential Press Service / Mikhail Tyereshchenko
