MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. Launchers for the missile system Avangard have already begun to be built, the leading research fellow at the Peter the Great Strategic Missile Force Military Academy, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Zakharov, retired, said on Wednesday.

"The Dombarov division of the Strategic Missile Force is preparing infrastructures for the deployment of this missile system. By now geodesic preparations of the deployment site have been completed. The missile’s launchers are currently under construction," Zakharov said.

In the meantime, the personnel and military and special equipment are being prepared for using the system. The first Avangard-armed regiment will enter duty in 2019.

"Already this year the Strategic Missile Force will have a missile system armed with a glide vehicle capable of approaching targets at hypersonic speeds through the thick layers of the atmosphere," Zakharov said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that a regiment armed with the Avangard system would enter combat duty in December 2019.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reviewed Russia’s efforts to create new weapon systems in his message to the Federal Assembly last year. This year he provided more details to say that laser systems Peresvet, currently being tested in the armed forces, would go operational in December. A submarine carrying unmanned underwater vehicles Poseidon would be launched in the spring. The Avangard system has begun to be manufactured serially.

Also, Putin announced successful tests of the inter-continental missile Sarmat and unlimited range cruise missile with a nuclear power plant Burevestnik. Putin said the rearmament and testing of new weapons was proceeding rhythmically, without disruptions and according to the original timetable.