The Russian Navy's top officer has said that the shadowy 3M22 Zircon hypersonic cruise missile is suffering from "childhood diseases" in its development, which will need to be resolved before it enters service some time in the coming years. This comes as the first at-sea test of the weapon has yet to take place, at least publicly, something previous reports had said was scheduled to occur before the end of 2019.

Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, offered the update on Zircon in a recent interview with state-run media outlet RIA Novosti. He also said that unspecified "frigates," likely the Project 22350 Admiral Gorshkov class ships as previous reports had indicated, were slated to be the first to test fire the 3M22s and carry them operationally. Russia had initially identified the Kirov class nuclear-powered battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov, which is still undergoing a deep refit, as the first ship that would be armed with the new missiles. In March 2019, state-run news agency TASS had also reported that the first-in-class Admiral Gorshkov, which entered service in 2018, would be the first ship to launch a Zircon at sea "at the end of 2019."