Another pop-up test of Russia’s advanced RS-28 Sarmat liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) has gone smoothly, the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper reported.

Test-fire of Russian-made RS-28 Sarmat ICBM InteContinental Ballistic Missile (Picture source: militaryrussia.ru)

"Another test conducted at the Plesetsk spaceport [in the Arkhangelsk Region in north Russia] has confirmed the missile system’s characteristics at the pre-launch and initial flight stages. Besides, Strategic Missile Force officials assessed the design and technical solutions incorporated by the missile system equipped with this missile," the newspaper reported.

It was reported earlier that the serial production of the Sarmat ICBM was expected to begin in 2020 under the 2027 state armament program and the first regiment armed with the Sarmat missile was planned to assume combat duty in 2021.

In late December 2017, media organizations reported on the first successful pop-up test of the Sarmat ICBM. Media outlets had repeatedly reported with reference to officials that the work to put the new missile into operation was planned to begin after 2018 but the flight tests of the RS-28 missile had not started yet.

The RS-28 Sarmat is a perspective Russian-made silo-based missile system with a heavy liquid-propellant ICBM. It has been developed by the State Rocket Center named after V. Makeyev since the 2000s to replace the R-36M2 Voyevoda system. The Sarmat missile has a weight of about 200 tons and a throw weight of about 10 tons.