MOSCOW, December 27 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Space Forces test-launched a Topol RS-12M intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said.
The launch took place at 9:30 p.m. Moscow time (17:30 GMT) from the Kapustin Yar testing range in southern Russia’s Astrakhan Region.
The simulated warhead hit a designated target at a test range in Kazakhstan, spokesman Col. Igor Yegorov said.
The RS-12M Topol (NATO reporting name SS-25 Sickle), a single-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile, entered service in 1985.
It has a maximum range of 10,000 kilometers (6,125 miles) and can carry a nuclear warhead with a yield of up to 550 kilotons.
The Defense Ministry earlier announced plans to retire most of its outdated SS-18 Satan, SS-19 Stiletto and SS-25 Sickle (Topol) ICBMs and replace them with SS-27 Sickle-B (Topol-M) and RS-24 Yars missiles by 2021.
