Vladimir Putin has launched a new nuclear-powered submarine equipped with hypersonic Zircon missiles capable of travelling at several times the speed of sound.
Russian state TV footage from the Arctic port of Murmansk shows the tyrant greenlighting the launch of the vessel, named Perm after a city in the Urals, with the order: ‘I hereby authorise!’
Perm is the first nuclear-powered submarine to be equipped with Zircon missiles as a standard feature, according to Russian agencies quoting documents associated with the launch.
The Zircon has a range of 625 miles and travels at nine times the speed of sound, according to Russia.
Military analysts have said its hypersonic speed could mean greatly reduced reaction time for air defences and a capability to attack large, deep and hardened targets.
Putin has previously boasted the weapons have ‘no analogues in any country in the world’.
The Perm is the sixth submarine in Russia’s Yasen and Yasen-M classes built by the Sevmash shipyard near Murmansk.
The Russian agency reports said the vessel’s construction specifications differed slightly from earlier models in the same class.
Putin was said to have also visited a submarine named Arkhangelsk, in the same class, and toured the Atomflot enterprise, which oversees Russia’s icebreaker projects while in Murmansk.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.