Admiral Gorshkov test-fires Tsirkon. (Photo: Russian MoD/TASS)
NPO Mashinostroyeniya has begun serial production of the Tsirkon ship-launched hypersonic cruise missile for the Russian Navy, state-run news agency TASS reported on 30 November.
A Russian MoD source told TASS that batch production is underway, ‘although acceptance trials of the missile from a surface warship will continue’.
Acceptance trials include five test launches at sea and coastal targets. The Project 22350 frigate Admiral Gorshkov fired test-fired Tsirkon since 2019 in the Barents Sea and the same vessel conducted the most recent successful test launch on 18 November 2021.
The MoD signed a contract to obtain an undisclosed number of Tsirkon missiles in August 2021 during the Army-2021 trade show, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said on 3 November that the hypersonic weapon would be delivered to the Russian Navy in 2022.
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