(Reuters) - Russia has completed testing of its hypersonic Zircon cruise missile and will deploy it before the end of the year on a new frigate of its Northern Fleet, a senior military official said on Wednesday.

       Alexander Moiseyev, commander of the Northern Fleet, said the Admiral Golovko frigate would become the first to be armed full-time with the Zircon, TASS news agency reported.

       President Vladimir Putin has described the Zircon as part of a new generation of unrivalled arms systems, travelling at nine times the speed of sound.

       Russia has suffered heavy losses during its three-month war in Ukraine, but has continued to stage high-profile tests of its newest missiles.

       The defence ministry said last week it had successfully test-fired a Zircon cruise missile from a vessel in the Barents Sea to a target some 1,000 km (625 miles) away in the White Sea.

       (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)