Russia test-launches Tsirkon hypersonic missile from Admiral Gorshkov frigate.

Russia test-launched the Tsirkon hypersonic missile from a ship for the first time when the Project 22350 frigate Admiral Gorshkov fired the weapon from the Barents Sea against a ground-based target in January, two sources in uniformed agencies of Russia’s Northwestern Federal District told TASS.

Admiral Gorshkov frigate (Picture source: Peter Kovalev/TASS)

"Under the program of the Tsirkon state trials, the Admiral Gorshkov frigate test-launched this missile from the Barents Sea against a ground-based target at a testing range in the Northern Urals in early January," one of the sources said.

The other source confirmed the information, adding that "the range of the Tsirkon flight exceeded 500 kilometers [311 miles]."

The source also said that Russia would continue test-launching the Tsirkon hypersonic missile from naval platforms in 2020.

"After the test-launches from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate are over, the missile will be test-fired from nuclear-powered submarines," the source said.

The Machine-Building Scientific and Production Association declined to comment on this information for TASS.

The Russian Northern Fleet’s press office said in November last year that the Admiral Gorshkov frigate had arrived at the Belomorsk naval base in Severodvinsk in north Russia to prepare for the trials of new weapons.

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