Russia test-launched its Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile and successfully hit a target in the Barents Sea. Notably, this coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 68th birthday. Speaking to Putin by video link, Valery Gerasimov, chief of the army’s general staff, said the test strike on Tuesday was carried out from the Admiral Gorshkov vessel which was located in the White Sea in northern Russia.
“The tasks of the launch were carried out. The test-fire was successful,” he told Putin. Gerasimov said the missile hit its target 450 kilometres (280 miles) away in the Barents Sea and reached a speed of Mach 8 – eight times the speed of sound.
Putin praised the successful test as “a big event” for Russia. “Equipping our Armed Forces — the army and the navy — with the latest, truly unparalleled weapon systems will certainly ensure the defence capability of our country in the long term,” the president said in reply.
Putin had revealed the development of the new weapon in a state of the nation address in February 2019, saying it could hit targets at sea and on land with a range of 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) and a speed of Mach 9. Russia has always boasted about their ‘invincible’ missiles and is continuously coming out with new missiles in the last few years. They had reportedly test-launched the missile successfully from a military vessel for the first time in January.