- Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 26, 2018 announced that Russia has successfully conducted the final tests of a new hypersonic nuclear weapon delivery system. He has dubbed it a guided “fireball” that is practically invisible.
- According to the Russian President, Russia has a new type of strategic weapon, adding that the intercontinental “Avangard” system would be ready for use from 2019.
- The system was launched from the Dombarovskiy missile base in the southern Ural Mountains.
- It successfully hit a designated practice target on the Kura shooting range on Kamchatka, 6000 kilometres away.
- The hypersonic missile could fly at 20 times the speed of sound and manoeuvre up and down, meaning that it could breach defence systems, he had said at the time.
