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Russia’s Strategic Missile Force over 80% armed with advanced weapons — commander

The combat inventory of the Russian Strategic Missile Force includes over 60% of delivery vehicles and nuclear charges of the Russian strategic nuclear forces

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. Russia’s Strategic Missile Force is over 85% armed with advanced weapons, its Commander Colonel-General Sergey Karakayev said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper published on Friday.

"Considering the plans of placing advanced weapons on combat alert in 2022, their share in the [Strategic Missile] Force exceeds 85%," the commander said.

The combat inventory of the Russian Strategic Missile Force includes over 60% of delivery vehicles and nuclear charges of the Russian strategic nuclear forces, which enables it along with high combat command and control capabilities to reliably accomplish assigned tasks, including nuclear deterrence, he stressed.

Russia’s Strategic Missile Force will carry out eight test-launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles from two proving grounds in 2023, Karakayev said.

"In 2023, eight test-launches of ICBMs are planned both from the Plesetsk spaceport and the Kapustin Yar 4th State Central Multiservice Training Ground," the commander said.

In 2022, the Russian Strategic Missile Force carried out four test-launches of strategic missiles, which proved high reliability of these missile systems. Among them was a successful test-launch of Russia’s top-notch Sarmat silo-based ICBM system. All the test-launches were conducted from the Plesetsk 1st State Testing Cosmodrome, Karakayev said.

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