Russia has announced that the new intercontinental ballistic missile will be operational in 2020. In a meeting with leading companies of the Russian defense industry, it was announced that the Avangard hypersonic missile system, which carried by the RS-28 Sarmat ICBM, will be operational in 2019. It is stated that the system will be in active service in 2020.

RS-28 Sarmat, is a liquid-fueled intermittent ballistic missile, was developed to replace the R-36M2 Voevoda (NATO Code: SS-18 Satan). The Avangard re-entry system, which is developed for the RS-28 Sarmat, can reach 20 Mach speeds during re-entry phase.