MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. Missile systems with the RS-28 Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) will become the mainstay of Russia’s heavy silo-based missile force in the coming years, Strategic Missile Force Commander Colonel-General Sergey Karakayev said on Friday.
"Today researches are being carried out, in particular, by the Russian military industrial sector under the state armaments program with the aim of boosting the combat potential of state-of-the-art missile systems and reliably providing strategic deterrence. One of the results of this work is the Sarmat missile system that will lay the basis for the force of heavy stationary silo-based missiles in the coming years, as well as the Avangard and Yars missile systems that are today arriving for the troops," the commander said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper ahead of Russia’s Strategic Missile Force Day celebrated on December 17. "Under the current conditions, the creation of this missile system means bolstering Russia’s strategic security. For the Strategic Missile Force this means that we are set for work to carry out rearmament and learn to operate new weapons arriving for the troops," Karakayev said.
Invulnerable Sarmat
The Sarmat outshines its Voyevoda ICBM predecessor by some characteristics. In particular, the Sarmat’s short boost phase provides for early targeting of its MIRVed warheads, which makes it very difficult to detect the missile after its launch and engage it by anti-missile defense strike capabilities. The Sarmat ICBM’s energy potential makes it possible to use an expanded range of warheads, the commander elaborated.
"The developers of the Sarmat missile system have managed to create unique characteristics of the new missile that make useless the capabilities of existing and future anti-missile defense systems," Karakayev said.
Uzhur missile formation to be rearmed with Sarmat heavy ICBMs
The Uzhur missile formation in the Krasnoyarsk Region in Eastern Siberia has been chosen for its rearmament with Sarmat ICBMs as this division is technically suited for deploying heavy-class missile systems with the liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile, the commander said.
In addition, the Uzhur missile division is stationed in an important strategic area, he added.
A decision on fielding Sarmat ICBMs in other missile divisions will depend on the developing military-strategic situation and the need to further bolster the combat potential of the Russian Strategic Missile Force, the commander said.
Sarmat ICBM
The RS-28 Sarmat is a Russian state-of-the art silo-based missile system armed with a heavy liquid-propellant orbital intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear charges. The missile has been in the process of its development at the Makeyev State Rocket Center (the town of Miass in the Chelyabinsk Region) since the 2000s to replace the R-36M2 Voyevoda ICBM operational in the Russian Strategic Missile Force since 1988.
Based on experts’ estimates, the RS-28 Sarmat is capable of delivering a MIRVed warhead weighing up to 10 tons to any location worldwide both over the North and South Poles.