Russian Kazan SSGN to test fire Tsirkon missile in 2020.

The Russian Navy's Kazan SSGN of Project 885M will for the first time test fire the latest Russian hypersonic Tsirkon missile in 2020, a source in the defense industry told TASS.

The Yasen-M SSGN K-561 "Kazan", built for the Russian Navy at JSC "Production Association" Northern Machine Building Enterprise ", heads out from Severodvinsk for the first time under its own power for sea trials, September 24, 2013 (Picture source : CrazyMk / forums.airbase.ru)

"The Kazan submarine will begin test launches of Tsirkon from underwater and surface position in 2020," the source said. The Kazan has to become operational in late 2019, after acceptance trials. The hypersonic missile was previously only launched from the ground. The source also said the Admiral Gorshkov frigate of project 22350 will for the first time fire Tsirkon in late 2019.

Tsirkon can reach a speed of close to Mach 9 and has a range exceeding one thousand kilometers. It can destroy sea and ground targets and can be fired from warships and submarines capable of engaging Kalibr missiles.

The antiship missiles can also hit ground targets with known coordinates. Such a possibility is specifically important in coastal areas where corvettes and submarines have to both fight the adversary and back the ground forces. 

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