Russia to Deploy More Topol-M ICBMs Next Year

Russia plans to commission next year a fifth regiment to be armed with Topol-M ICBMs, Russian Missile Force Commander Nikolai Solovtsov said (see GSN, Nov. 18).

In addition, Russia hopes to deploy the first regiments armed with mobile Topol-Ms within two to three years, Solovtsov said.

He also said that Russia plans to conduct two missile training launches by the end of this year — a heavy missile launch scheduled for Dec. 22 and a Topol-M flight test from the Plesetsk cosmodrome.

Russia plans to phase out its arsenal of liquid-propellant missiles by 2009, Solovtsov said. He said that ultimately Russia would consolidate its land-based strategic nuclear arsenal in two versions of the solid-fuel Topol-M, with one type of missile to be installed in silos and the second to be on mobile launchers (RIA Novosti, Dec. 10).

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