MOSCOW. Nov 9 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Strategic Missile Forces will conduct two more missile launches this year, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announced at a regular meeting with the president on Tuesday.
This year will see the first launch of the Satan heavy missile from a silo in the area where it is regularly deployed, Ivanov said.
The last test launch of the mobile Topol-M ICBM will be conducted, after which the system is expected to be adopted for service, he said.
This year the Russian Navy has conducted 10 missiles launches and plans to make one more, Ivanov said. "That is many more than last year," he said.
Responding to a question from President Vladimir Putin, Ivanov said that presently, the Defense Ministry has no problems with funding.
The 2005 plan of procuring Topol-M missiles (SS-27) has been drafted, he said.
Putin welcomed the plan for the test launches, but asked the defense minister to call the missiles by the Russian names, not the NATO classification. "Let those people over there who have objections use the NATO terminology," Putin said.
Ivanov said that in 2004, the Strategic Missile Forces have carried out six test launches, two of them last week. One intercontinental ballistic missile was launched in the Sea of Okhotsk from a Pacific Fleet submarine. "The warhead reached the designated area in the north of Russia's European section," Ivanov said.
The second ballistic missile was launched from the Arkhangelsk region from a mobile Topol launcher and reached the testing ground in Kamchatka at the designated time, he said.
"In both instances, the warheads were monitored by early warning systems," Ivanov said.
The test launches have confirmed the efficiency of the control system and the missiles' guaranteed service life, he said.