MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. A Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile fired from the Plesetsk spaceport has successfully hit a hypothetical target at a firing range in Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, the Russian defense ministry said on Tuesday.
"The missile’s exercise head hit a hypothetical target at a firing range in the Kamchatka Peninsula with high degree of precision. The launch was geared to confirm the stability of flight characteristics of this type of intercontinental ballistic missiles," the ministry said.
The three-stage solid-fuel silo-based Topol-M missile and its mobile modification were developed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering. Tests began in 1994. The missile’s silo-based modification was put into service in 2000. The missile’s operational range is 11,000 kilometers, its launch weight is 46.5 tonnes, the throw weight is 1.2 tonnes. It has one warhead.