Russia reports successful test firing of RS-12M Topol ICBM
18 Oct 2007
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.
