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Tsirkon hypersonic missile to enter service with Russian naval ships in September — source

The Tsirkon hypersonic missile was engineered and is produced by the Research and Production Association of Machine-Building

MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. The state-of-the-art Tsirkon hypersonic missile is set to enter service with surface ships of the Russian Navy in September this year, a source close to Russia’s Defense Ministry told TASS on Thursday.

"The missile’s state tests have been completed and all the documents on accepting the weapon for service have been adopted. The Tsirkon is expected to enter service with the Navy in September," the source said.

TASS has no official confirmation of this information yet.

The breakthrough Tsirkon weapon was earlier expected to become operational in the Russian Navy by the end of 2022.

Tsirkon hypersonic missile

based in the town of Reutov in the Moscow Region (part of Tactical Missiles Corporation).

In his State-of-the-Nation Address to the Federal Assembly in February 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Tsirkon was capable of developing a speed of about Mach 9 (nine times the speed of sound) and its striking range capability could exceed 1,000 km.

On August 24, 2021, a contract was signed at the Army 2021 international arms show on the delivery of Tsirkon hypersonic missiles to Russia’s Defense Ministry. President Putin announced on December 24, 2021 that the Tsirkon hypersonic missile system had conducted a salvo launch and the tests had been held "successfully and impeccably." It was reported in the fall of 2021 that Russia began the first tests of the Tsirkon hypersonic missile from an underwater carrier, the nuclear-powered submarine Severodvinsk.

On May 28 this year, a Tsirkon hypersonic missile was test-fired to the longest possible range, wrapping up the weapon’s state trials from a surface carrier, the Northern Fleet’s frigate Admiral Gorshkov. The warship fired the missile from the Barents Sea against a naval target in the White Sea at a distance of about 1,000 km, TASS sources reported.

According to the TASS data, the Reutov-based Research and Production Association is serial-producing Tsirkon hypersonic missiles. The defense firm is working on extending the missile’s operational range. A TASS source reported in May 2022 that the defense manufacturer was also developing a new coastal defense system with a Tsirkon missile.

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