RS-24
Encyclopedia
The RS-24 Yars is a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n MIRV
Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle
A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle warhead is a collection of nuclear weapons carried on a single intercontinental ballistic missile or a submarine-launched ballistic missile . Using a MIRV warhead, a single launched missile can strike several targets, or fewer targets redundantly...

-equipped, thermonuclear intercontinental ballistic missile
Intercontinental ballistic missile
An intercontinental ballistic missile is a ballistic missile with a long range typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery...

 first tested on May 29, 2007 after a secret military R&D
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...

 project, to replace the older R-36 and UR-100N that have been already used almost for 50 years. RS-24 is a missile that is heavier than the current Topol-M (which can carry up to 10 independently targetable warheads). The 2007 tests were publicized as a response to the missile shield
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense is the United States system for intercepting incoming warheads in space. Currently, it is a major component of the U.S. national missile defense strategy aimed against ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles...

 that the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 were planning to deploy in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. RS-24 is deployed operationally since 2010.

Testing

Purported by the Russian government as being designed to defeat present and potential anti-missile system
Anti-ballistic missile
An anti-ballistic missile is a missile designed to counter ballistic missiles .A ballistic missile is used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory. The term "anti-ballistic missile" describes any antimissile system designed to counter...

s, the ICBM was first tested by a launch from a mobile launcher at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Plesetsk Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport, located in Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk.-Overview:...

 in northwestern Russia at 11:20 GMT, May 29th, 2007 and its test warheads landed on target about 5750 km (3,573 mi) away at the Kura Test Range
Kura Test Range
Kura Test Range is an intercontinental ballistic missile impact area used by Russia, located in northern Kamchatka Krai. It is northeast of the settlement of Klyuchi. The center coordinates are...

 in Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.

The second launch from Plesetsk to Kura Test Range was conducted on December 25, 2007 at 13:10 GMT. It successfully reached its destination. The third successful launch from the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia was conducted on November 26, 2008 at 13:20 GMT. The missile's multiple re-entry vehicles successfully landed on targets on the Kura testing range.

Neither the development nor deployment of RS-24 is likely to be threatened by the enforcement of the New START
New START
New START is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation with the formal name of Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms...

 treaty.

Deployment

In June 2008 the chief designer of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology
Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology
Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology a Russian scientific research institute that was founded on May 13, 1946...

, Yuri Solomonov, announced that the RS-24 is an enhanced, MIRVed development of the Topol-M missile that would finish all testing in 2008 and most likely be deployed in 2009. According to General Nikolai Solovtsov, the commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces
Strategic Rocket Forces
The Strategic Missile Troops or Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or RVSN RF , transliteration: Raketnye voyska strategicheskogo naznacheniya Rossiyskoy Federatsii, literally Missile Troops of Strategic Designation of the Russian Federation) are a military branch of the Russian...

 (SRF), the first RS-24 missiles will be deployed in Teykovo
Teykovo
Teykovo is a town in Ivanovo Oblast, Russia, located on the Vyazma River southwest of Ivanovo. Population: 42,800 .Teykovo was founded in the 17th century and was granted town status in 1918. It is home to a Strategic Missile Division of the Strategic Rocket Forces where projects like the...

 in 2009.

On March 17, 2009 General Solovtsov announced that the first regiment of RS-24 ICBMs will be put in to service in December 2009 when START-1
START I
START was a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 December 1994...

 is set to expire. He later repeated that statement on May 7. According to the Russian rocket forces the first six RS-24 missiles will be mobile.

Further on October 10, 2009, on ITAR-TASS, General Andrei Shvaichenko, the new SRF commander, confirmed the December 2009 deployment of the RS-24 which will support the existing Topol-M (RS-12М2) missile complex.

Testing for the new-generation ICBM was completed in mid-July 2010, and the first missiles were deployed shortly after on July 19.

In December 2010 the missile division in Teykovo
Teykovo
Teykovo is a town in Ivanovo Oblast, Russia, located on the Vyazma River southwest of Ivanovo. Population: 42,800 .Teykovo was founded in the 17th century and was granted town status in 1918. It is home to a Strategic Missile Division of the Strategic Rocket Forces where projects like the...

received its second delivery of RS-24 missile systems. In total 6 missiles are deployed by the end of 2010. 3 more mobile missile systems were deployed in July 2011 and then the first regiment was operational.
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