MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. Work on silo-based advanced Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) systems is nearly completed, Colonel General Sergey Karakayev, Commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, said.

"At present, work on the new Sarmat stationary silo-based missile system, which has unique tactical and technical characteristics and embodies the advanced achievements of the Russian rocket and space industry, has been practically completed," Karakayev said in an interview with Russia’s Krasnaya Zvezda daily.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 23 that top-notch Sarmat systems with new heavy ICBMs would go on combat duty in Russia already this year.

However, Roscosmos’ presentation demonstrated at the event suggests that Sarmat ICBM systems are set to go on combat alert next year.

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 developed at the Makeyev State Rocket Center (the town of Miass in the Chelyabinsk Region) 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.