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). Its range may exceed 1,000 kilometers. The missile is capable of destroying naval and ground targets. Putin said the new missile could launched from ships and submarines currently in service or being built for the missile systems Kalibr.

The Kazan is a second multirole nuclear-powered submarine of project 885M (Yasen). It was launched on March 31, 2017. It is the first in a series of the upgraded project 885M. The submarine is expected to join the Northern Fleet. The lead submarine of the same project, The Severodvinsk, is already in service there.