MOSCOW: Russia said Sunday it successfully launched a hypersonic missilewhich President Vladimir Putin called “an ideal weapon” as he unveiled anew array of next-generation arms earlier this month.

The high-precision Kinzhal (Dagger) missile was launched from a MiG-31supersonic interceptor jet that took off from an airfield in the SouthMilitary District in Russia’s southwest, the defence ministry said.

“The launch went according to plan, the hypersonic missile hit its target,”the ministry added.

The ministry released video footage showing two pilots gearing up for aflight and then running towards a jet with a large missile slung beneathits underbelly.

Set to rousing, patriotic music, the video then shows a missile detachingfrom the airborne plane and gliding across the dark sky, leaving a fierytrail behind.

The Kinzhal missile was one of an array of new weapons Putin unveiled inhis state-of-the-nation address earlier this month, ahead of a presidentialelection on March 18 that he is all but guaranteed to win.

Putin said the missile flies at 10 times the speed of the sound and canovercome air-defence systems.

The missile has been deployed in the Southern Military District sinceDecember 1, he added.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Facebook that work had alsobeen done to modernise the “unique” MiG-31 supersonic jet that will carrythe missile.

Since the start of the year, more than 250 sorties have been carried out bythe aircraft to perfect the work of the missile systems, the defenceministry said. APP/AFP