RUSSIA is poised to launch its new “unstoppable” Zicron hypersonic misses “by the end of the summer,” according to informed sources.
It is claimed that Vladimir Putin sees the lethal weapon as his preferred choice to target American cities in the event of a nuclear conflict.
The weapon, which can fly at up to 6,100mph, is said to be a “capable of wiping out a US city” and is expected to go into service next year.
According to a source at Sputnik: "Tests of the missile system with the Zircon hypersonic missile for surface ships are planned to be completed by the end of the summer.”
“The tests will be conducted from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate.
“Several firings at both sea and ground targets are planned.”
They added that the Gorshkov war-ship has been moved to a secret White Sea naval port Severodvinsk ahead of the final tests.
Videos show Zircon tests have been made from the ship in the past year which the Russians say have been successful.
The Sun previously reported that trials have been underway for the missiles for some time, with a “total of four launches” in March.
According to sources, all the missiles in the most recent trials “hit the bullseye."
The success has previously led Putin to claim that the West was seeking to steal secrets relating to Zircon and other state-of-the-art Russian weapons.
Reports now suggest that glitches in the new fourth-generation submarines – which is due to carry the devastating weapon – is the only thing stopping the operation progressing.
The most “dangerous and elusive” warship in the world – the Yasen-M-class Kazan – went into service this month.
Manufacturer Sevmash's General Director Mikhail Budnichenko said the Kazan is “a dangerous hunter” with “completely new qualities” including weapon systems, manoeuvrability, and “improved tactical-technical characteristics”.
“Once in service, they will be the most elusive and dangerous nuclear submarines.
“And the Russian Navy will have not one, but a whole series of such ships.”
However, a new report carried out by official news agency TASS suggests the ship is noisier than its latest rivals from Britain, the US and France and also lacks torpedo protection against an enemy.
They added that it also “lags behind” in “detection technologies, including multi-positional with low-frequency scanning.”
Citing a report in gazeta.ru, the outlet also quoted military expert Maxim Klimov who called it a "weak point."
Klimov told gazeta the hypersonic Zircon and other modern missiles are “very good indeed” but suggested the new submarines due to carry the weapons were vulnerable to enemy attack.
“A submarine needs to make its way to the (missile) launch site first,” he said.
“And this is where our submarines are having serious problems.”
Dmitry Kiselyov, presenter of Russia’s main weekly TV news show Vesti Nedeli, showed on screen a map of the US identifying targets he claimed the Kremlin would want to hit in a nuclear war.
Kiselyov, seen as a top Putin propagandist, said the Zircon missile could hit the targets in less than five minutes.
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