MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military has reported a successful test launch of the new Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, giving the news to Russian President Vladimir Putin on his 68th birthday.
The Russian General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov said the test launch was carried out Tuesday from the Admiral Groshkov frigate located in the White Sea, north of Russia, and that the missile successfully hit a target in the Barents Sea.
Last year, Putin talked about the coming deployment of the new Zircon hypersonic missile for the Russian navy, saying that it’s capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and will have a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).
