Weapons

Russia to start flight tests of Sarmat heavy ICBM in spring

The flight development tests of Russia’s most advanced RS-28 Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) are expected to start from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in north Russia in the second quarter of 2019, a source in the domestic defense industry told TASS on Thursday.

"The Sarmat’s flight development tests are planned to be launched from the second quarter of next year," the source said.

During the tests from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome and from the base of the Uzhur missile division stationed in the Krasnoyarsk Region in East Siberia, "several experimental prototypes are planned to be launched. The year 2020 is the declared term of the trials’ completion," the source said.

After that, a control launch of the serial missile will be accomplished, the source added.

In the coming two or three months, work will continue to carry out the missile’s ground tests and create the necessary infrastructure in the Uzhur missile division, the source said.