MOSCOW — Russia’s navy successfully test-fired a prospective hypersonic missile, the military said on Monday, according to AP.
The Defense Ministry said that the Admiral Gorshkov frigate in the White Sea launched the Zircon cruise missile, hitting a practice target 400 kilometres (215 nautical miles) away.
The launch was the latest in a series of tests of Zircon, which is set to enter service next year.
President Vladimir Putin has said Zircon would be capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of 1,000 kilometres (620 miles). Putin has emphasised that its deployment will significantly boost the capability of Russia’s military.
Zircon is intended to arm Russian cruisers, frigates and submarines. It is one of several hypersonic missiles under development in Russia.
The Kremlin has made modernising the country’s arsenals a top priority amid the tensions with the West that followed Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
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