MOSCOW, December 27, 22:55 /ITAR-TASS/. An intercontinental ballistic missile in the RS-12M Topol family was successfully launched at 21:30 Moscow Standard Time /17:30 GMT/ Friday from the Kapustin Yar testing range in the Astrakhan region, southern Russia, the Defense Ministry’s public relations department said.
“A duty crew of the Strategic Missile Troops carried out a test launch of a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile from the Kapustin Yar central inter-branch testing range,” it said. “The purpose of the launch was to test promising combat equipment for intercontinental missiles.”
“The drill warhead of the missile hit the designated hypothetical target at the Sary-Shagan testing range in the Republic of Kazakhstan with the desired precision,” the public relations service said.
The report noted the uniqueness of the Kapustin Yar testing center “as regards the testing of combat component parts of ballistic missiles.”
“[Kapustin Yar’s] testing ranges and the data acquisition and management systems make it possible to test combat equipment under a full spectrum of possible conditions, in which the missiles might have to deliver it to designated targets in the interests of Strategic Missile Troops and the Navy,” the press release said.