MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. Russia has made over ten test launches of the Tsirkon seaborne hypersonic missile against naval targets at a distance of over several hundred kilometers since the beginning of its trials, a source in the defense industry told TASS on Friday.

The missile’s trials began about four years ago and are continuing now from the coastal stand, the source said.

"Overall, more than ten test launches have been performed against targets at sea at a distance of several hundred kilometers," the source said.

The hypersonic missile "repeatedly destroyed designated naval targets at the hypersonic speed," the source added, declining to give the date of the latest trials.

TASS has no official confirmation of this information yet.

As another source in the defense industry earlier told TASS, there are plans to start the state trials of the Tsirkon missile in 2019 both from surface ships and submarines.

The US CNBC TV Channel reported on Friday that Russia had made another successful test launch of the Tsirkon ship-based hypersonic missile on December 10.

Russia has conducted five total tests of its ship-based hypersonic missile since 2015, CNBC said.

Tsirkon hypersonic missile

The Tsirkon hypersonic missile has been developed by the Research and Production Association of Machine-Building. According to open sources, the Tsirkon has a firing range of about 400km and can develop a speed of Mach 4-6, as various data suggest. As was reported earlier, Tsirkon missiles will be launched with the help of the universal shipborne vertical launching systems currently used for Kalibr and Oniks cruise missiles. Such systems are mounted, in particular, on Project 20380 corvettes, Project 22350 frigates and Project 885 Yasen-class submarines.

Also, according to TASS sources, Tsirkon missiles are expected to be installed on the Russian nuclear-powered missile cruisers Pyotr Veliky and Admiral Nakhimov.