MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. State trials of the Zircon hypersonic missile will end this year, after test firing from submarines, Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Alexey Krivoruchko announced Friday.

He noted that the Zircon missile was fired from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate during the design trials, achieving the speed of over Mach 8.

"These positive results make it possible to begin the next trial stage: firing from submarine carriers. The state trials are expected to end in 2021, and serial shipment should begin in 2022," the Deputy Minister said.

According to Krivoruchko, the 13th Missile Division of the Strategic Missile Forces continued its rearmament to the newest Avangard missile system. In December, two missiles with hypersonic glide payload entered service in December 2020.

In December 2020, the Vladimir Monomakh strategic submarine cruiser fired a salvo of four Bulava missiles from the Sea of Okhotsk. The carrier and the weapons performed as expected, completing the firing mission in full.

"We have confirmed the quality and reliability of the serial batches," the Deputy Minister said.