Russia upgrades intercontinental ballistic missile complex

Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted a source from the Russian Ministry of Defense posted on the morning of May 11 that the upgraded version of the mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) complex RS-24 Yars with the code name RS-26 Yars-M will be officially launched in 2017.

“The RS-26 Yars-M ICBM is an upgraded version of the Yars missile. This new generation of ICBMs will only have a mobile version, and the fixed-launch version is not planned to be developed,” a source from the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The source added that the Yars-M ICBM development project was previously known as the Rubezh design project. The Russian Strategic Missile Forces are expected to equip the Yars-M to gradually replace the Topol-M complexes that have reached the end of their service life.

Illustration photo.

Currently, information about the tactical and technical characteristics of the Yars-M ICBM has not been disclosed. However, according to many sources, the development program of this ICBM line has been carried out since the early 2000s at the Votkinsky plant of the Moscow Thermal Institute.

The Yars-M is designed to carry multiple warheads, up to four nuclear warheads or space attack vehicles to help penetrate enemy missile shields. Equipping multiple warheads on mobile ICBMs is also a new feature of the Yars-M. Previously, due to limitations on the weight and length of the missile, Russia's mobile ICBM complexes often carried only a single warhead.

Russia has previously conducted several test launches of the Yars-M ICBM and was accused by the US of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. However, Moscow later asserted that the Rubezh or Yars-M is actually an ICBM with a range exceeding 5,500km.

According to qdnd.vn/Rian