Russia reports successful test firing of RS-12M Topol ICBM

Moscow: Russia has announced the successful test firing on Thursday of an inter-continental ballistic missile, news agencies reported. The RS-12M Topol (NATO codename, SS-25 Sickle) configured for a mobile platform, was successfully launched at 9:10 a.m. Moscow time (1:10 a.m. EDT).

The Topol was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, a base in the north-western Arkhangelsk region, and hit its test target in the Kura test range on Russia''s Pacific coast "with required accuracy," the Strategic Missile Forces press service was quoted as saying.

"Thus, the stability of the main technical flight characteristics of the missile complex were confirmed," it added.

The test was part of a reliability evaluation of flight stabilizers the Topol uses over long distances, and part of a planned extension of the missile''s lifespan to 23 years.

As configured in 1985, the ICBM has a maximum range of 10,000 km (6,215 miles), and can carry one 550-kiloton nuclear warhead.

The missiles are produced at the Votkinsk Missile Building Plant near Izhevsk, 1,000 km east of Moscow, where US inspectors monitor factory production as part of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty since 1988.