Article Posted on : - Sep 07, 2012

An unrelated photo of Topol M. Photo: Missile Defence

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia will build a new heavy intercontinental ballistic missile by 2018, Strategic Missile Forces commander Col. Gen. Sergei Karakayev, has said.

A Ria Novosti report quoting Karakayev said, production is currently underway and is expected to be completed by 2018.

The new ICBM will have a launch mass of around 100 tons with a better payload-launch weight ratio than in a solid fuel missile, he said.

The ICBM will replace the R-36M2 Voyevoda (NATO reporting name SS-18 Satan) missile.

The United States is building a missile defence system in Europe to protect against possible attack from 'rogue states' such as Iran.

In earlier reports Karakayev said, a decision has been made to create a new silo-launched heavy missile that will have "enhanced capability to breach a hypothetical US missile defence system."

The Russian Defence Ministry had said that unless the United States abandons its plans to create a missile defence system in Europe, Russia will take counter measures, including the building of a new heavy liquid-propellant missile.

Moscow possesses more than 400 ICBMs in its inventory and so far Russia's recent ICBM projects, both sea-launched (Bulava) and ground-based (Topol-M, Yars), have been solid fuel, according to media reports.