MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. Government certification tests of the hypersonic cruise missile Tsirkon (Zircon) are drawing to an end. The missile’s batch supplies will begin next year, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at an enlarged meeting of the ministry’s board on Tuesday.

"Government certification tests of the sea-launched cruise missile Tsirkon [Zircon] are about to end. Batch supplies will begin next year," he said.

Earlier, the Defense Ministry said that the Northern Fleet’s frigate The Admiral Gorshkov had successfully fired a Tsirkon missile from the White Sea to hit a target at a proving ground in the Arkhangelsk Region.

A source told TASS a machine-building research and production association in Reutov had begun to produce batches of Tsirkon missiles for the Russian Navy.