MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/. The first regiment of strategic missile systems with the Avangard boost-glide vehicle will go on combat duty by the end of this year, 13th Missile Division Commander Major General Andrei Cherevko said on Tuesday.
"Measures continue in the 13th missile division to rearm it with new strategic missile systems. The task set for 2021 stipulates completing procedures to place the first missile regiment with the Avangard missile systems on combat duty," the commander reported to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during the single military output acceptance day.
"Work is ongoing to prepare two silo-based launchers with missiles. The rearmament is proceeding according to schedule. The missiles will be placed in the silo-based launchers and readied for combat alert in the fourth quarter of this year," the commander specified.
The first regiment partially armed with the Avangard hypersonic missiles assumed combat duty in the Orenburg Region in the Urals in December 2019.
Second Avangard hypersonic missile regiment to go on combat alert by 2023
The second regiment of intercontinental ballistic missiles with the Avangard boost-glide vehicles will assume combat alert in the Russian Strategic Missile Force by 2023, the general said.
"Another regiment armed with the Avangard strategic missile system is set to go on combat alert in the 13th missile division by 2023," the commander reported to the Russian defense chief.
The Avangard boost-glide vehicle is capable of flying at a hypersonic speed of up to Mach 28 in the dense layers of the atmosphere, maneuvering by its flight path and its altitude and breaching any anti-missile defense. The Avangard hypersonic weapon was first mentioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2018.