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Russia’s longest-range nuclear missile goes into service – space chief | Russia’s longest-range nuclear missile goes into service – space chief |
(about 2 hours later) | |
The Sarmat ICBM has been approved for combat duty, Roscosmos head Yury Borisov has announced | The Sarmat ICBM has been approved for combat duty, Roscosmos head Yury Borisov has announced |
The Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, one of Russia's most capable nuclear weapons, has been approved for active duty, Yury Borisov, the head of the Roscosmos space agency, has announced. | |
The development was revealed on Friday during a Roscosmos event. The weapon is believed to be the longest-range and heaviest missile in the Russian nuclear arsenal. | |
The liquid-fueled silo-based delivery vehicle, final stage testing of which was completed last year, is the intended replacement for the aging R-36M2 Voevoda missiles. Its range is estimated at at least 11,000km, with a payload weighing around 10 tons. | |
Russian President Vladimir Putin has touted the Sarmat's range as offering new opportunities for defeating anti-ballistic missile systems. Shorter-range ICBMs can, for example, only reach the US from Russia by flying over the Arctic, and the US has ground-based interceptors situated for such a flight path. | |
Putin has repeatedly stressed that Russia was forced to develop the new weapon after the US reneged on its commitment not to build ABM systems. | |
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu reported last December that deployment of the Sarmat had begun and that the missile would be ready for service in 2023. |