TASS:
MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. Russia’s multirole nuclear-powered submarine The Kazan (project 885M) will launch a hypersonic missile Tsirkon for the first time in 2020, a source in the defense-industrial complex has told TASS.
“The multirole nuclear-powered submarine The Kazan (project 885M) will start test-launching the missile Tsirkon from surface and submerged positions in 2020,” the source said. The Kazan will enter service at the end of 2019 upon completion of government certification tests, he added.
So far the hypersonic missile was fired only with a ground launcher. A source told TASS the Tsirkon would be launched from a combat surface ship – the frigate The Admiral Gorshkov (project 22350) at the end of 2019.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in his February 20 message to the Federal Assembly said that the missile Tsirkon was capable of flying at a speed nine times the speed of sound (Mach 9).
