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Russia tests perspective armament for Topol ICBM

On December 26, a combat team of the Strategic Missile Force test-fired an RS-12M Topol intercontinental ballistic missile

© TASS, archive

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. Russia’s Strategic Missile Force has tested perspective armament for the RS-12M Topol intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at the Kapustin Yar practice range in the southern Astrakhan Region, the Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"On December 26, 2017, a combat team of the Strategic Missile Force test-fired an RS-12M Topol intercontinental ballistic missile from the Kapustin Yar state central combined arms training range in the Astrakhan Region," Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

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"The launch was aimed at testing perspective armament for intercontinental ballistic missiles," the ministry said.

"During the tests, specialists obtained experimental data that will be used in the interests of developing effective means of overcoming anti-ballistic missile defense and equipping the perspective grouping of Russian ballistic missiles with them," the Defense Ministry said.

The test courses and the measuring systems at the Kapustin Yar practice range allow testing perspective armament capable of overcoming ABM defenses, including their future configuration, across the entire range of the conditions for the armament’s delivery to targets in the interests of the Strategic Missile Force and the Navy," the Defense Ministry said.

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