MOSCOW, May 11. /TASS/. Tests of the prototype of Russia's new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile have been postponed till the second half of 2016 - the launcher at the Plesetsk space center has been prepared, however, there are problems with the missile, a source in the Russian defense industry complex told TASS on Wednesday.

"The missile’s pop-up tests have been postponed until the second half of the year", the source said.

According to him, "The tests were previously postponed because the silo was not ready, and now the missile is not ready." The source said that the silo’s refurbishment for Sarmat was completed in April.

TASS has no official confirmation to this information.

Another source in the defense industry told TASS previously that the pop-up tests of Sarmat would take place in the second quarter of this year. They were planned for March, but then it turned out that launching silo was not ready.

The new-generation liquid propellant ICBM Sarmat is to replace the world’s largest strategic missile R-36M2 Voyevoda, also known as the RS-20V missile which is close to the life cycle expiration date. Earlier, strategic missile force commander Sergei Karakayev said the strategic missile Sarmat was being developed by a group of defense industry enterprises under the Makeyev State Missile Center. According to Karakayev, Sarmat will replace Voyevoda in the missile divisions near Orenburg and Krasnoyarsk.