HYPERSONIC MISSILE TEST LAUNCH MARKS PUTIN’S BIRTHDAY

Russia’s armed forces have celebrated the 68th birthday of their president with the successful test- launch of a hypersonic missile. The Tsirkon missile, which can travel at eight times the speed of sound, was launched on Tuesday from a vessel in the White Sea in Russia’s north-west, said Gen Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff. It successfully hit its target in the Barents Sea, he added. The missile covered a distance of 450 kilometres in four- and- a- half minutes after reaching a hypersonic speed of more than Mach 8. Tsirkon’s tests will continue for some time before it can be deployed on Russian vessels and submarines, according to Gen Gerasimov. Relations between Russia and the U. S. are at their worst since the end of the Cold War.