MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. Russia’s Defense Ministry posted video footage showing a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) being loaded into a silo at the Kozelsk missile formation in the Kaluga Region in central Russia.
As Russia’s top brass reported, the process lasts several hours. "The missile is being installed in a silo-based launcher with the help of a special transporter-loader. Complex technological operations last several hours," the ministry said.
The Kozelsk missile formation in the Kaluga Region is the first unit in Russia that is being rearmed with advanced silo-based Yars ICBMs. The rearmament of Russia’s Strategic Missile Force also envisages creating new social infrastructure.
"The fulfillment of measures planned for 2021 to rearm the Strategic Missile Force will help increase the share of advanced strategic missile systems and boost its nuclear deterrence capabilities," the ministry stressed.
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 Yars is a modification of the Topol-M missile system. Russia started deploying Yars ICBM systems in 2009, when the Yars launcher was accepted for experimental combat duty in the Strategic Missile Force.