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Russia’s Sarmat ICBM to get next-generation hypersonic warheads

Two missile regiments armed with the latest Yars ICBMs will go on combat alert in Russia, according to the top brass

Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile Press service of the Russian Defense Ministry/TASS

Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile

© Press service of the Russian Defense Ministry/TASS

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. The latest Sarmat liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system will get a broad range of advanced warheads, including next-generation hypersonic vehicles, Russia’s Strategic Missile Force Commander Colonel-General Sergei Karakayev said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper published on Monday.

"The Sarmat system envisages an option to mount a broad range of advanced warheads, including next-generation hypersonic vehicles, in addition to existing warhead types," the commander said.

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Work is currently underway to prepare a lead missile regiment for its rearmament with new systems. Moreover, the system’s properties, design and characteristics have been studied at Russian leading military higher educational institutions for more than three years now, he stated.

"The Strategic Missile Force is fully ready for placing the next-generation missile system on combat duty," Karakayev commented, adding that the domestic industry continued preparations for the Sarmat ICBM’s state flight trials.

The RS-28 Sarmat is a Russian advanced silo-based system with a heavy liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile. It has been in the process of its development since the 2000s to replace the R-36M2 Voyevoda ICBM.

It weighs about 200 tonnes and has a throw weight of around 10 tonnes. The Sarmat is capable of breaching any existing and future missile defenses.

Combat duty of Yars ICBMs

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Two missile regiments armed with the latest Yars mobile intercontinental ballistic missile systems (ICBMs) assumed combat duty in Russia, Strategic Missile Force Commander Colonel-General Sergei Karakayev informed.

One missile regiment went on combat alert in the Altai Region in Western Siberia and the other in the Irkutsk Region in Eastern Siberia, he specified.

"Today a special ceremony was held for the first regiment of the Barnaul formation in the Altai Region and the next regiment of the Irkutsk missile unit, armed with Yars mobile ICBMs, to go on combat alert," the commander reported.

The RS-24 Yars is a Russian strategic missile system comprising a mobile or silo-based solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile with MIRVed (multiple independently targetable vehicle) warheads. The ICBM has been developed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology under the supervision of academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Solomonov. The Yars is a modification of the Topol-M missile system.

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