OREANDA-NEWS. Intercontinental heavy ballistic missile "Sarmat" is in the final stages of testing. This was stated by President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with senior officers and prosecutors. Mass production of the product is planned for 2020, and a year later the complex should be put on combat duty.

The President noted the importance of advanced developments and expressed his gratitude to all the people who made efforts to create a new rocket.The head of state noted the large-scale work on the integrated development of the army and the saturation of troops with advanced equipment. “The Avangard missile system with a planning winged unit, our hypersonic intercontinental range system will seriously increase the strength of the Strategic Missile Forces,” RIA Novosti quotes Putin. He added that the final tests of the Sarmat missile are successful.

“Sarmat” is a fifth-generation strategic base stationed with a heavy multistage liquid intercontinental ballistic missile. Its main difference from operating complexes is that the missile can deliver warheads along trajectories that make it difficult to destroy them even with promising anti-missile defense complexes.

Draft strategic missile "Sarmat" Putin showed the public during last year's message to the Federal Assembly. With a weight of over 200 tons, the Sarmat rocket has a short active segment of flight, which slows down its interception by means of missile defense, the president specified. She has virtually no limits on flight range.

Earlier it was reported that since December 2017 two throwing launches “Sarmat. During the tests, more than 50 tasks were performed. First of all, the specialists were interested in the state of the rocket during the pre-launch preparation and at the initial stage of the flight.