Russia is within the technique of equipping its new nuclear submarines with hypersonic Zircon missiles, the top of Russia’s largest shipbuilder advised the RIA state information company in an interview revealed on Monday.
“Multi-purpose nuclear submarines of the Yasen-M project will … be equipped with the Zircon missile system on a regular basis,” , Alexei Rakhmanov, chief govt officer of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), advised RIA.
“Work in this direction is already underway.”
Yasen-class submarines, also referred to as Project 885M, are nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines, constructed to switch Soviet-era nuclear assault submarines as a part of a program to modernize the military and fleet.
The sea-based Zircon hypersonic missiles have a spread of 900 km (560 miles), and may journey at a number of occasions the velocity of sound, making it tough to defend in opposition to them.
President Vladimir Putin mentioned earlier this yr that Russia would begin mass provides of Zircon missiles as a part of the nation’s efforts to spice up its nuclear forces.
The Russian multi-purposes frigate Admiral Gorshkov, which has examined its strike capabilities within the western Atlantic Ocean earlier this yr, has been already geared up with Zircon missiles.
(Reuters – Reporting by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)