Russia Tests Topol-M ICBM

File picture dated 1998 showing Russian Army artillerymen working at the missile launch pad during a display of the replacement of a nuclear missile by another at the Tamanskaya division, Saratov region. A rocket regiment equipped with the newly-developed Topol-M strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles will be put into service in 1998. Two silo-based Topol-M missiles are already on trial service in a regiment of the Taman division in southwestern Russia's Saratov region. The missiles, which are cheaper to produce and maintain than previous models, are intended to replace the various missiles deployed by the former Soviet Union. Topol-M missiles will form the backbone of Russia's strategic nuclear forces in the 21st century. Under the 1993 START II disarmament treaty signed with the United States, Russia must replace its multiple-warhead SS-18s with single-warhead missiles. Photo/Copyright AFP

Russia Tests Topol ICBM
Moscow (AFP) February 9, 2000 - Russia successfully completed its tenth test firing of the Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile Wednesday, the press service of Russia's strategic missile command said.

The missile was launched at 12:59 p.m. (0959 GMT) from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwest Arkhangelsk. At 1:24 pm (1024 GMT) the missile struck its target at a military base in Kura, on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian far east, 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) away.

The first test firing of a Topol-M took place on December 20, 1994. Russia posesses 20 such missiles, according to the ITAR-TASS news agency.

The strategic arms reduction treaty START II, signed with the United States in 1993 but not yet ratified by Russia's parliament, calls for Russia to replace its SS-18 missiles, which have multiple warheads, with single warhead missiles such as the Topol-M.

The Topol-M can be fired from silos or from mobile launchers. It is 22.7 meters (75 feet) long and has a diameter of 1.95 meters (6 feet 3 inches). The missile weighs 47.2 tonnes and has a range of 11,000 kilometres (6,900 miles).

Topol at Mark Wade's Encyclopedia Astronautica

Topol-M at FAS.org

MILSPACE
TRW To Upgrade Stage Four Engines On Minuteman 3
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