MOSCOW. Aug 25 (Interfax-AVN) - According to Col. Gen. Viktor Yesin, the former Chief of General Staff (1994-1996) of Russian Strategic Missile Troops, the servicing of RS-20V "Voyevoda" heavy strategic missiles ("Satan" by Western classification) has been entrusted to the Makeyev State Missile Center, instead of Ukraine's Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (Dnipropetrovsk).
"Russia's military-technical cooperation with Ukraine has effectively ceased, including the servicing of Voyevoda liquid-propelled heavy intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) currently in the Strategic Missile Troop grouping by Ukrainian specialists from Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. Now this function is being overtaken by Russia's Makeyev State Missile Center," Yesin told Interfax-AVN on Monday.
He was commenting on a statement made by Ukraine's Security Service chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko that Ukraine is no longer abiding by Russian-Ukrainian intergovernmental agreements for servicing Voyevoda missiles. "All these contracts have been stopped," Nalyvaichenko said.
RS-20V missiles were designed during the Soviet era by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and built at the Yuzhmash plant in Dnipropetrovsk.
According to Yesin, the Makeyev Center "has enormous experience in servicing liquid-propelled ballistic missiles of its own design."
"This is why there it is certain that the Makeyev Center will successfully manage the task of servicing the Voyevoda ICBMs throughout the remainder of their service life before the end of 2020-2021," the expert said.
It was reported earlier that the Makeyev Center is designing a new liquid-propelled ICBM of new generation, called Sarmat, for the Russian Defense Ministry.
RS-20 is the world's most powerful ICBM. According to open sources, an RS-20V (R-36M2) has the maximum range of 11,000 kilometers, with a starting weight of over 210 tonnes. It can carry a multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle weighing a total of 8,800 kilograms with ten warheads with a capacity of up to 0.75 megatonnes. RS-20s are fitted with anti-counter-missile systems.