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US unable to develop counter-weapon to Sarmat ICBM in next 40 years — defense firm

The RS-28 Sarmat is the Russian cutting-edge silo-based missile complex with the heavy liquid-propellant ICBM capable of carrying nuclear charges

MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/. The United States will be unable to create an anti-ballistic missile defense system capable of effectively intercepting Russia’s cutting-edge Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), CEO of the Makeyev Design Bureau (the missile’s developer) Vladimir Degtyar said on Tuesday.

"Our today’s development makes the modern US ABM defense systems inefficient while the Sarmat missile complex will remain effective in the next 40 years amid the global missile shield deployment. This means that Sarmat guarantees Russia peace in the coming decades," the chief executive said in an interview published in the corporate magazine Konstruktor (Designer).

The RS-28 Sarmat is the Russian cutting-edge silo-based missile complex with the heavy liquid-propellant ICBM capable of carrying nuclear charges. Russia has been developing the Sarmat since the 2000s to replace the R-36M2 Voyevoda ICBM operational in the country’s Strategic Missile Force since 1988. The Sarmat weighs about 200 tonnes and has a throw weight of 10 tonnes.

Media outlets reported in late December 2017 about the first successful pop-up test of the Sarmat ICBM. The missile’s new pop-up tests were reported in late March. As the Russian Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda daily reported, they confirmed the missile’s performance characteristics during the pre-launch preparations and at the initial stage of the missile’s flight. Also, Russia’s Strategic Missile Force assessed as proper the design and technical solutions made in the process of the missile’s development.

The Sarmat’s serial production is due to begin in 2020 and in 2021 the first regiment armed with these ICBMs is expected to go on combat duty.