Click to see full-size image. (Russian Ministry of Defense)
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on August 28 that its forces had carried out a test launch of a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at the Plesetsk State Test Cosmodrome.
“The training warheads arrived at the assigned area at the Kura training ground” on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the ministry said, adding that “all the assigned tasks have been fully completed.”
The ministry noted that Strategic Missile Forces units “trained redeployment to the launch battery deployment area with preparation and conduct of the launch.”
According to the statement, the purpose of the launch was “to confirm the tactical, technical, and flight characteristics of the missile system.”
While the ministry didn’t specify which ICBM was launched, footage from the test suggests that it was the RS-24 Yars, or a version of it.
The Yars is a three-stage solid-propellant ICBM developed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology as an evolution of the Topol-M, featuring a modified post-boost vehicle that enables Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) capability.
Measuring approximately 22.5 meters in length and 2 meters in diameter, it has a launch weight of about 49,600 kilograms and can be deployed either in hardened silos or on road-mobile 16×16 MZKT-79221 transporter-erector-launchers.
The missile achieves a range of 10,500–12,000 kilometers, reaches speeds of up to Mach 20–25, and is guided by an inertial system augmented by the GLONASS satellite navigation network, producing a circular error probable of roughly 150–250 meters.
It typically carries three to four — possibly up to six or more according to some estimates — independently targetable nuclear reentry vehicles, each with yields of 150–300 kilotons and a total payload of around 1,200 kilograms, along with penetration aids and decoys to help overcome missile defenses.
The ICBM test came after U.S. media reported that the CIA director’s recent trip to Moscow was to warn Moscow against any attack on NATO member states.
The Wall Street Journal, CBS News and other news outlets reported CIA director John Ratcliffe aimed to dissuade Russia from attacking NATO members amid U.S. intelligence assessments that Moscow could seek to test the alliance. These reports were dismissed by both Moscow and Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump himself told Axios on August 27 that Ratcliffe delivered no such warning to Russia during his recent visit.
“I am not concerned … at all. There is no problem,” Trump said when asked about a possible Russian provocation against NATO countries.
The U.S. president went on to call Ratcliffe’s trip “standard business” and expressed puzzlement over the media accounts of it.
While the latest Russian missile test may have been conducted in response to recent U.S. media reports, it is even more possible that it was just a pre-planned routine test meant to improve readiness or aid in development. Such tests happen every year.
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if russia can’t even push afu out of donbas…imagine what usa will do to it…heheheh
if usa can’t even keep hormuz strait open and protect gulf states countries..imagine what russia will do to it….hhehehee