MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax-AVN) - All the training launches of intercontinental ballistics missiles planned in 2005 have been successfully performed, Colonel Alexander Vovk, Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) press service chief, told Interfax-Military News Agency Tuesday.
"The Tuesday test launch of the Topol missile put an end to the launches of strategic missiles this year. All the launches planned were performed successfully," Vovk said.
He recalled that since December 1, 2004, when the training year started in the SMF, the operators made six training and test launches either with or without support of Space Force experts.
For instance, the RS-20 Voyevoda (Satan according to Western classifications) heavy ICBM was launched from the strategic missile division in the Orenburg region on December 22, 2004.
Another successful launch was made on December 24, 2004, when the new Topol-M mobile missile system was tested at the Plesetsk space center.
On August 24, 2005, a Dnepr space vehicle derived from the Satan was launched from the Baikonur spaceport. Apart from placing a payload in orbit, the missile was used for testing heavy-class missiles' capabilities of service life extension.
An RS-18 ICBM was launched from Baikonur on October 20, 2005 as part of the service life extension program as well.
An RS-12M Topol missile was launched from the Kapustin Yar proving ground, which hit the target at the Balkhash firing range in Kazakhstan on November 2. The launch was undertaken to test the new missile fittings, which are going to be introduced in Topol-Ms.
Finally, another RS-12M Topol was launched from Plesetsk on November 29 in cooperation with the Space Forces. The test launch proved that the service lives of the missiles of the type can be extended to 20 years.
The RS-12M Topol mobile missile system was developed in the Moscow institute of thermal equipment. Topol, or SS-25 in NATO terms, is a three-stage solid-propellant intercontinental ballistics missile featuring a number of systems enabling it to penetrate enemy missile defenses. It has a max range of 10,000 km, launch weight of 45 tonnes, warhead weight of 1 tonne, and combat patrolling area of 125,000 square kilometers. The launcher is mounted on a seven-axis towing chassis.
According to earlier reports, a total of 312 Topols were in service of the SMF at the beginning of 2004. Each has a single-warhead with the yield of 559 kilotons.
Initially, the missile had a guaranteed service life of ten years. However, the service life was extended several times. Nine regiments of Topols with 81 launchers in inventories were based in Belarus before the collapse of the USSR, after which they were withdrawn to Russia during the period from 1993 until 1996.