MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Topol entered service with the Russian Strategic Missile Forces in 1988 and is being gradually replaced with more advanced Topol-M and Yars mobile missile systems.
According to a post on the website of state purchase orders, the company is looking for a contractor to dismantle 17 Topol launches from a missile unit based in the Udmurt Republic in Russia's Volga Region "in line with a federal program on the dismantling of weaponry and other military equipment until 2020."
The launchers have been designed to fire RS-12M Topol (NATO reporting name SS-25 Sickle) single-warhead intercontinental ballistic missiles that have a maximum range of 10,000 kilometers (6,125 miles) and can carry a nuclear warhead with a yield of up to 550 kilotons.
