Strategic Missile Forces Russia test-fired a silo-based Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile

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Defence & Security News - Russia

 
 
Saturday, November 1, 2014 10:42 AM
 
Strategic Missile Forces of Russia test-fired a silo-based Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile.
The Russian Strategic Missile Forces test-fired on Saturday, November 1, 204, a Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile from a launch site in northwestern Russia, the country's Defense Ministry said. "The (MBR) RT-2PM2 ,Topol-M', a silo-based intercontinental ballistic missile, was launched on November 1, at 9:20 a.m. [local time, or 6:20 GMT] from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome," the ministry said in a statement.
     
The Russian Strategic Missile Forces test-fired on Saturday, November 1, 204, a Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile from a launch site in northwestern Russia, the country's Defense Ministry said. "The (MBR) RT-2PM2 ,Topol-M', a silo-based intercontinental ballistic missile, was launched on November 1, at 9:20 a.m. [local time, or 6:20 GMT] from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome," the ministry said in a statement.
Russian road-mobile Topol-M being loaded into an underground missile silo.
     
The launch was carried out to test Topol-M's technical features. According to the statement, the missile demonstrated its high precision capabilities and overall good performance, hitting a designated target at a test range on Russia's Kamchatka peninsula.

The Defense Ministry said previously that Topol-M and RS-24 ballistic missiles would be the mainstays of the ground-based component of Russia's nuclear triad and would account for no less than 80 percent of the SMF's arsenal by 2016.

The Topol-M is a cold-launched, three-stage, solid-propellant, silo-based or road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile. The missile's length is 22.7 m and the first stage has a body diameter of 1.9 m. The mass at launch is 47,200 kg, including the 1200 kilogram payload. The Topol-M, has a range of 10,500 km and is reported to typically be equipped with a 550 kT yield nuclear warhead.

By the end of 2010 the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces operated 70 Topol-M missile systems including 52 silo-based and 18 mobile systems.