Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country’s hypersonic missiles will be delivered by next year
Tests of Russia’s Zircon hypersonic cruise missile are nearing completion and deliveries to the navy will begin in 2022, President Vladimir Putin has said.
The move announced on Wednesday is part of a bid by Moscow to forge ahead in a race with the United States and others to deploy the next generation of long-range weapons that are harder to detect and intercept.
Putin’s remarks come a month after Russia’s defence ministry said it successfully tested a hypersonic missile for the first time.
He confirmed the missile hit both ground and sea targets when fired from underwater, or surface ships.
Putin said quote “especially important to develop and implement the technologies necessary to create new hypersonic weapons systems.”
The Zircon missile is meant to arm cruisers, and submarines in Russia.
Moscow said that tests would be completed by the end of the year and before the missiles are commissioned by the navy in 2022.
Other nations are also racing to develop hypersonic weapons, which fly in the atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound.
