This is according to the Russian news agency TASS, which cited a source in the country’s defence sector.
The source said: “After the first series of glide vehicles is produced and a controlling launch of a missile with this armament is carried out successfully, the Avangard complex may be accepted for service already in late 2018.
“At the latest, it will be accepted for operation and placed on high alert in 2019.”
The Avangard is an intercontinental ballistic missile system, with the glide vehicle capable of flying at hypersonic speed.
The warhead travels some of its path at an altitude of several dozen kilometres in the dense layers of the atmosphere, manoeuvring by its flight path and altitude, making it capable of bypassing the area of the missile defence’s detection and destruction capabilities.
Although the warhead’s performance characteristics have not been officially revealed, TASS has speculated that the glider vehicle is around 5.4m long and can travel at a speed exceeding Mach 20, with the warhead either nuclear (from 150 kilotons or 1 megaton) or conventional.
According to Strategic Missile Force Commander Sergei Karakayev, the missile is made of composite materials, which means it is resistant to aerodynamic heating of several thousand degrees and protects it from laser irradiation.
On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yuri Borisov said the Defence Ministry had signed a contract for the mass production of the Avangard strategic missile system.
Details of the new weapon were first confirmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly on March 1.
Mr Karakayev confirmed later that day that trials of the Avangard missile, which are understood to have been ongoing since 2004, had been successfully completed.
Mr Putin had said: “In moving to its target, the missile’s gliding cruise bloc engages in intensive maneuvering – both lateral – by several thousand kilometres – and vertical.
“This is what makes it absolutely invulnerable to any air or missile defence system.
“The use of new composite materials has made it possible to enable the gliding cruise bloc to make a long-distance guided flight practically in conditions of plasma formation.
“It flies to its target like a meteorite, like a ball of fire.”