EWAN PALMER
Russia has announced it has conducted another successful test launch of a Zircon [Tsirkon] hypersonic cruise missile.
In a statement, Russia's Defence Ministry said its Admiral Gorshkov warship fired the hypersonic cruise missile at a ground target located on the coast of the Barents Sea.
The missile is said to have traveled at seven times the speed of sound and hit its intended target from a distance of 350 km (217 miles).
"During the tests, the tactical and technical characteristics of the Zircon missile were confirmed," the Defence Ministry said.
The missile launch test was also posted on social media.
#Footage #RussianNavy continues tests of the #Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missiles. In the White Sea, the #AdmiralGrigorovich frigate successfully strikes a land target with a #Tsirkon missile on the coast of the #SeaOfBarents https://t.co/olmWB2oCUo#MissileLaunch #RussianWeapons pic.twitter.com/dgn8kfj4SH— Минобороны России (@mod_russia) July 19, 2021
Russia said it is hoping to equip its submarines and surface ships with the Tsirkon missile system.
The missile launch arrived after reports that Russia is hoping that state trials to test the Tsirkon hypersonic missile from a surface carrier will be carried out by August.
"The first launch from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate within the state trials is planned for the first part of August. The second part of August will see flight trials of Zircon from the Severodvinsk nuclear submarine," an unnamed source in the military-industrial complex told the Russian News Agency TASS.
The Tsirkon missile has been much hyped by Russia's President Vladimir Putin and touted as being part of a new generation of missile systems he claims are more advanced than any other country's weapons.
Putin described in 2018 how Russia has a new line of nuclear-capable weapons that can breach U.S. defenses and hit a target "anywhere in the world".
"A low-flying low-visibility cruise missile armed with a nuclear warhead and possessing a practically unlimited range, unpredictable flight path and the capability to impregnate practically all interception lines is invulnerable to all existing and future anti-missile and air defense weapons," Putin said during his annual state-of-the-nation speech on March 2018, reported TASS.
"The containment of Russia didn't succeed. It's time to recognize that reality. This isn't a bluff."
"No one has listened to us," he added. "You listen to us now."
Russia previously tested a launch of the Tsirkon missile on Putin's birthday on October 7, 2020.
Putin described the test-firing of Tsirkon— said to be the first time the missile had successfully struck a target at sea— as a "great event not just in the life of our armed forces but for all of Russia," Al-Jazeera reported.
Putin added he believed Russia's weapons are unequaled anywhere in the world and "will without doubt in the long term boost the defense capabilities of our state."
The Russian defense ministry said it has carried out a successful test launch of its new Zircon hypersonic cruise missile.RUSSIA DEFENSE MINISTRY
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