Article Posted on : - Apr 15, 2014

RS-24 Yars. Photo: Wikipedia

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia has test-fired the RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk space site, the Ministry of Defence said.

The test on Monday was carried out by the Russian Strategic Missile Forces from the space centre at 10.40 a.m. Moscow time (06:40 GMT) from a mobile launcher, a RIA Novosti report said quoting Defence Ministry's spokesman, Col. Igor Yegorov.

The launch was successful as the simulated warhead hit a designated target at the Kura test range on Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, Yegorov was quoted as saying.

The fifth-generation RS-24 Yars is an upgraded version of the Topol-M ballistic missile that was first tested in 2007.

The RS-24 ICBM can carry multiple independently-targetable nuclear warheads designed to evade missile defence systems to a range of 12,000 kilometres (7,500 miles), according to the report.