Russia conducts exercise to break through enemy’s air defense system with Topol ballistic missile
The Strategic Missile Troops (RVSN) have conducted tests of the RS-12M Topol intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), RIA Novosti New Agency reports quoting Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
The launch of the missile, as specified by the Ministry, was made from the Kapustin Yar test range in the Astrakhan region. "The goal of the launch was to test advanced ballistic missile warheads," the Ministry explained. The missile with the experimental warhead "hit the hypothetical target with specified accuracy" at the Sary Shagan range in Kazakhstan.
The conditions needed for breaking through the missile defense systems of potential enemies were worked out during the tests. The Russian Ministry of Defense states that with the help of the new equipment, it was possible to obtain parametric data on the defenses for warhead-equipped ballistic missiles and overcome anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems.
This data will be used to develop "effective means of overcoming ABM systems to equip with them a group of Russian next generation ballistic missiles," the Russian Defense Ministry stressed.
Earlier tests of the RS-12M Topol missile were conducted by the military in October of last year. The rocket, according to the Ministry of Defense, was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region. Later, an experimental warhead on the RS-12M Topol struck a conditional target at the training ground in Kamchatka. Prior to this, in November 2015, a Topol launched from Kapustin Yar, which also reached its target at a training ground in Kazakhstan.
The latest tests of the intercontinental ballistic missile by the Ministry of Defense took place on September 12 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. The Strategic Missile Troops then launched the silo-based RS-24 Yars. The main purpose of the launch, according to the ministry, was to test the reliability of a missile of the same class as the Yars.