MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. The first launch of the latest liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Sarmat has been postponed to 2022, a source in the defense industry told TASS.
"The first launch of Sarmat as part of flight development tests has been postponed from December 2021 to the first quarter of 2022," he said.
TASS did not receive an official confirmation of this information at the time of the publication.
According to earlier plans, a test-launch program of the Sarmat ICBM was re-adjusted and only one launch would take place this year from the Plesetsk space center.
The RS-28 Sarmat is a Russian advanced silo-based system with a heavy liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile. It has been in the process of development since the 2000s to replace the R-36M2 Voyevoda ICBM. It weighs about 200 tonnes and has a throw weight of around 10 tonnes. The Sarmat is capable of breaching any existing and future missile defenses.