Article Posted on : - Mar 30, 2009

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MOSCOW (BNS): Russia will test a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia on April 10, the Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) announced on Monday.

In a statement released to the media, the SMF said that the goal of the upcoming launch was to confirm the reliability of the technical characteristics of the missile during an extended service period.

The SMF said that RS-12M Topol (SS-25 Sickle) is a single-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) approximately the same size and shape as the US Minuteman ICBM. In 1985, the first Topol missiles were put into service.

Russian news agency RIA Novosti said that the missile has a maximum range of 10,000 km (6,125 miles) and can carry a 550-kiloton nuclear warhead.

It reported that although the service life of the SS-25 was extended to 21 years after a series of successful test launches in 2008, the missile will be progressively retired over the next decade and be replaced by a mobile version of the Topol-M (SS-27 Stalin) missile.

RIA Novosti quoting unidentified sources said that Russia’s SMF has a total of 541 ICBMs, including 306 Topol missiles and 59 Topol-M missiles.