An industry source tells the Russian media that the Sarmat development program is on track and the first two missiles will be deployed in 2021. It appears that the first missiles will be deployed in Uzhur. Four more missiles will be added to the regiment later.

TO day that the program is on track is a bit of overstatement. The original plan was to begin flight tests in 2017 and deployment in 2020. The program, however, ran into trouble and although the tests did begin in 2017, these were ejection tests. After three tests the missile appears to be ready for its first flight test that is to take place "in the beginning of 2019."

Back in the day the Rocket Forces said that the plan is to deploy seven Sarmat regiments with 46 missiles with two divisions - Dombarovskiy and Uzhur. It's not yet clear if the upcoming deployment of the Avangard system at Dombarovskiy would change that, but it's unlikely that it will - there are plenty of silos there.