Russian army could test new intercontinental ballistic missile Rubezh before end of the year 0410131

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Defence & Security News - Russia
 
 
Friday, October 4, 2013 09:25 AM
 
Russian army could test new intercontinental ballistic missile Rubezh before end of the year.
The test launch of Russia’s newest intercontinental ballistic missile, codenamed Rubezh, could take place before the end of the year, a high-ranking defense industry official told RIA Novosti on Thursday, October 3, 2013. The RS-26, a solid-propellant ICBM, will supplement the Yars and Topol-M missiles that are currently in service with Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, the official said.
     
     

RS-26 specifications are currently classified, but an unnamed missile industry expert cited by Vedomosti newspaper said the new missile would most likely be equipped with a new warhead and system to override missile defenses.

The expert cited by Vedomosti also played down speculation that RS-26 was designed in violation of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which prohibits the United States and Russia from owning ballistic missiles with ranges between 500 kilometers and 5,500 kilometers.

In June, Russia tested elements of a new ICBM that Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the defense industry, hailed as a “missile defense killer.”

The Defense Ministry was more reserved in its appraisal of the test, carried out at the Kapustin Yar facility, between Volgograd and Astrakhan, saying only “the [simulated] warhead hit a designated target within the set time frame.”

The missile is to be manufactured at the Votkinsk plant in the Urals republic of Udmurtia, where all solid-propellant missiles are made, the official said.