Topol hits target at firing range in Kazakhstan

09:57, 6 December 2010

MOSCOW. December 6. KAZINFORM The intercontinental ballistic missile RS 12M Topol, launched on Sunday evening from the landfill Kapustin Yar in the Russia's Astrakhan region, successfully hit the target at the test site in Kazakhstan, Russian Defense Ministry press-secretary said on the Russia's Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) Col. Vadim Koval said. Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.

"The training-warhead part of the missiles hit a conditional target accurately at the landfill of Sary-Shagan in Kazakhstan," the spokesman said.

This was the second launch of this type of the missile this year. The first one was held on October 28 from the Plesetsk Space Centre in northern Russia.

The SMF will be rearmed with multiple-warhead RS-24 missiles instead of the RS-12M Topol-M (SS-27 Sickle) mobile intercontinental ballistic missile systems, SMF Commander Lt. Gen. Sergei Karakayev said on Tuesday.

RS-24 is believed to have up to six independent warheads, and is thus more likely to be able to penetrate anti-missile defense systems than the single warhead Topol-M.

The missile has a maximum range of 10,000 km (6,125 miles) and can carry a nuclear warhead with a yield of 550 kilotons. Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version

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