Russia expects final flight tests of RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental missile in 2026.

Izvestia reported on January 12, 2026, that the RS-28 Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile is expected to enter the final phase of its flight test program during 2026, ahead of acceptance into service. Completion of this phase will precede its formal acceptance into service and the start of deployment with the Russian Strategic Missile Forces at the Uzhur missile base in Krasnoyarsk Krai, replacing aging R-36M2 Voevoda missiles while retaining existing silo infrastructure.
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The only publicly confirmed successful full flight test of the RS-28 Sarmat ICBM took place on April 20, 2022, when a missile was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome to the Kura test range in Kamchatka. (Picture source: Russian MoD)

Izvestia stated that the Russian RS-28 Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile is expected to enter the final stage of its flight test program during 2026, a step intended to precede formal acceptance into service and the start of deployment with the Strategic Missile Forces, beginning with a regiment based in Uzhur in the southern Krasnoyarsk region. The RS-28 Sarmat was developed to replace the R-36M2 Voevoda, a silo-based heavy intercontinental ballistic missile developed in the late Soviet period and still in service with the Strategic Missile Forces, allowing existing silo infrastructure to be reused with limited modification rather than requiring a new basing concept. This continuity allows Russia to modernize a core element of its strategic forces while maintaining established operational practices.

The creation of the RS-28 Sarmat emerged from the need to replace the R-36M2 Voevoda heavy intercontinental ballistic missile, a silo-based system developed in the late Soviet period and deployed from the 1980s onward, which remained in service well into the post-Soviet era. By the early 2010s, the Voevoda fleet faced issues linked to aging airframes, life extension limits, and dependence on industrial facilities and design organizations located outside the Russian Federation. At the same time, changes in the missile defense environment drove requirements for improved penetration capability compared to earlier ICBMs. As a result, Russian planners opted to retain the heavy liquid-fueled missile concept and silo basing of the Voevoda, while introducing a new design with updated propulsion, guidance, and payload flexibility. The objective was to sustain the silo-based component of the Strategic Missile Forces without transitioning to mobile launchers or abandoning liquid propulsion.

Development responsibility for the RS-28 Sarmat was assigned to the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau, with propulsion development involving NPO Energomash and serial production designated to the Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant, creating a fully domestic industrial chain. Engine development centered on a modernized derivative of the RD-264 liquid-fuel rocket engine previously used on the R-36M2, reducing technical risk while allowing the integration of updated control systems. Early stages included ground tests and throw tests at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome during the second half of the 2010s, validating silo ejection, first-stage ignition, and initial guidance functions. The program then progressed to flight testing in the early 2020s, alongside parallel work on payload concepts supporting both multiple reentry vehicles and maneuvering hypersonic glide vehicles associated with the Yu-71, a secret missile program codenamed 'Project 4202', and the Avangard system. Development thus combined established heavy-missile engineering practices with newer requirements for trajectory flexibility and penetration aids.

However, to date, the flight test campaign for the RS-28 Sarmat has extended over several years and has included both successful and unsuccessful launches. The only publicly confirmed successful full flight test took place on April 20, 2022, when a missile was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome to the Kura test range in Kamchatka. This test demonstrated basic flight performance over intercontinental distance, but it did not conclude the overall testing program. Subsequent tests were intended to validate reliability, payload deployment, and flight characteristics under different conditions. Several later launches reportedly failed, including an incident in September 2024 that resulted in the destruction of a launch silo at Plesetsk. This event indicated unresolved technical issues and the need for further testing and infrastructure repair. As a result, completion of the test program is expected to continue in 2026.

From a pure military point of view, the RS-28 Sarmat was developed to improve the survivability and penetration abilities of the Russian ICBMs rather than to increase the sheer number of deployed launchers. Key drivers included the need to complicate interception by modern anti-ballistic missile systems through flexible trajectories, shorter boost-phase vulnerability, and the ability to approach targets from non-traditional directions, including suborbital paths. Another objective was to enhance the ICBM's flexibility by supporting different payload configurations, allowing planners to balance warhead quantity, maneuverability, and countermeasures depending on mission requirements. The RS-28 also aimed to preserve rapid launch readiness from hardened silos while integrating modern guidance and control systems compatible with automated command structures, as well as maintain strategic reach against global targets without relying on mobile basing.

If the RS-28 Sarmat enters service as planned, its deployment would renew the silo-based segment of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces without altering its fundamental structure. From a military standpoint, it would allow the retirement of aging Voevoda missiles while maintaining a class of heavy intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying diverse payloads. From a strategic perspective, the missile’s long range and trajectory flexibility are intended to preserve deterrence by complicating missile defense planning. Deployment at the regiment level suggests a gradual integration rather than an immediate force-wide replacement. Therefore, the Sarmat would operate alongside other intercontinental missiles rather than replacing them entirely. Its role would therefore be to sustain one component of a mixed strategic force, which continues to combine Soviet and Russian missiles.

The RS-28 Sarmat is a heavy, silo-based intercontinental ballistic missile built around a three-stage liquid-fueled architecture, with a launch mass of about 208.1 tonnes, an overall length of about 35.5 meters with the warhead section installed, and a body diameter of 3 meters, placing it among the heaviest operational ICBMs. It is designed to fit into existing silo launchers previously used by the R-36M2 with limited infrastructure modification, using a cold-launch method in which a gas generator ejects the missile from the silo before first-stage engine ignition. Propulsion relies on a modernized derivative of the RD-264 engine family, providing high thrust during the boost phase and supporting a maximum stated range of about 18,000 kilometers. Guidance combines inertial and astro-inertial navigation, allowing long-range accuracy without reliance on external signals. The missile is assessed to have a throw weight of up to 10 tonnes, placing it among the heaviest operational ICBMs.

In a conventional arrangement, it can carry at least 10 to 14 multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, with individual warhead yields assessed in the hundreds of kilotons class, while an alternative configuration replaces part of this load with a smaller number of maneuvering hypersonic glide vehicles, often cited as three units, associated with Product 4202. During atmospheric flight, these glide vehicles are assessed to reach speeds of up to about Mach 15, with sustained maneuvering intended to complicate interception. The missile also incorporates penetration aids such as decoys and other countermeasures released during the midcourse phase. The Sarmat is also designed to fly along traditional ballistic trajectories as well as non-standard suborbital paths, including routes over the Southern Hemisphere, expanding its operational envelope.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.