MOSCOW. Nov 15 (Interfax-AVN) - Switching to Topol-M mobile land-based missile systems is one of the key goals of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces in 2007, Colonel General Nikolai Solovtsov, the forces' commander, said on Wednesday.
"Speaking about the tasks for 2007, Colonel General Nikolai Solovtsov noted that one of the crucial goals is a switch of the main attack group of the forces to Topol-M new mobile land-based missile systems," the Strategic Missile Forces said in a press release.
Another priority is to cut the service life of missile systems used by the Strategic Missile Forces, the release says.
Checks conducted at various levels in 2006 have confirmed that the Strategic Missile Forces are completely combat-ready and are able to perform their combat duties in any conditions, Solovtsov said at a Military Council session.
"In particular, two command post exercises in missile armies, nine command post exercises in divisions, and 31 tactical exercises of missile regiments have been carried out in the 2006 academic year," the release reads.
"Tactical missions of putting mobile missile regiments on combat patrol routes have been tested successfully as well. In general, the number of tactical training events, during which regiments and battalions of self-propelled launchers were taken out on combat patrol routes amounted to nearly 80 percent, while the figure was as low as 60 percent in 2005," it says.
Since the beginning of the current academic year, the Strategic Missile Forces have made five missile launches, including two aimed at extending service lives of missile armament. The other launches were experimental or were made in the framework of the Dnepr program (missile destruction by means of launching it with simultaneous orbiting of spacecraft). Technical readiness of the forces' attack units is kept on the level of 95-96 percent.