MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st May, 2020) Preparations for the test flights of Russia's new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile have not been interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov has said in an interview with Sputnik.
"Work is going on as scheduled. Industrial processes have not been suspended at enterprises that take part in the creation of the system. All the necessary sanitary and epidemiological measures are implemented there, including staffers testing," Borisov said.
The test flights of the missile will be conducted in compliance with the time frame set out by the Russian Defense Ministry and the chief designer, the deputy prime minister added.
It was previously said that test flights would start in 2020, with the first batch-produced missiles expected to enter operational service in 2021.
The Sarmat missile, set to replace the world's heaviest strategic missile Voyevoda, has the firing range of 18,000 kilometers (11,185 miles), and its launch mass totals 208.1 tonnes. Payload capacity of the missile amounts to over 10 tonnes. The missile is 35.5 meters (116.5 feet) long and has 3 meters in diameter, and its fuel load totals 178 tonnes.
