Russia said on Monday it had successfully tested a Tsirkon(Zircon) hypersonic cruise missile, a weapon President Vladimir Putin has touted as part of a new generation of missile systems without equal in the world.

The defence ministry said in a statement that the missile had been fired from the Admiral Gorshkov, a warship located in the White Sea, and travelled at around seven times the speed of sound before hitting a ground target on the coastline of the Barents Sea more than 350 km (217 miles) away.
"The tactical and technical characteristics of the Tsirkon missile were confirmed during the tests," the ministry said.
Some Western experts have questioned how advanced Russia's new generation of weapons is, while recognising that the combination of speed, manoeuvrability and altitude of hypersonic missiles makes them difficult to track and intercept.
Putin announced an array of new hypersonic weapons in 2018 in one of his most bellicose speeches in years, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a U.S.-built missile shield.
The following year, he threatened to deploy hypersonic missiles on ships and submarines that could lurk outside US territorial waters if the United States moved to deploy intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe.
Washington has not deployed such missiles in Europe, but Moscow is worried it might.
SOURCE: REUTERS
Actor Humaira Asghar contacted 14 people in last phone calls on Oct 7: police
- 8 hours ago
OGRA reduces RLNG prices for July
- 8 hours ago
Gold falls by Rs700 per tola as global rates drop
- 6 hours ago

TCP revises sugar import tender amid IMF concerns
- 7 hours ago
PTI founder receiving full class-b jail facilities, says Jail Superintendent
- 8 hours ago

Indonesia lauds Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts
- 3 hours ago

Oldest marathon runner Fauja Singh dies at 114 in hit-and-run
- 3 hours ago
Zardari, Shehbaz discuss country’s political, security, economic situation
- 3 hours ago
Severe heatwave claims 1,180 lives in Spain in two months
- 7 hours ago

FIA arrests human smuggling suspect in Karachi
- 5 hours ago

Rescue underway after boat capsizes in Indonesia
- 6 hours ago

Divided court clears way for Trump to cut education department jobs
- 4 hours ago