BY JOSEPH TREVITHICK
Russia says it has successfully tested a new version of its RS-24 Yars nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with an “experimental warhead” design. The three-warhead configuration could make the weapon more accurate, as well as harder for an opponent to track and intercept.
The Russian Strategic Missile Force conducted the test launch from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the northwestern Arkhangelsk Oblast, flying approximately 3,500 miles before impacting the Kura Missile Test Range in Kamchatka Krai on the other side of the country. It was unclear whether or not this was the first test of the new warhead arrangement on the RS-24, which first entered service in December 2010.
“The main purpose of the launch was to reaffirm the reliability of a batch of the same class missiles,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, according to state-run media outlet TASS. “The experimental warheads reached the designated area at the Kura proving ground in the Kamchatka Peninsula. The targets were met and tasks accomplished in full.”
That the RS-24, also known as the Topol-MR, carried multiple warheads was already well established. From all accounts, the initial version was simply a modification of the original RS-12M Topol-M to allow it to carry multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, or MIRVs, each able to strike a separate target. The United States has argued that the new designation is simply an attempt to circumvent existing Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) limitations on the total number of warheads U.S. and Russian forces can have available on ICBMs.
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/14941/russia-tests-modified-rs-24-ballistic-missile-with-an-experimental-warhead
