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Russian Daily News Information Service Russia
tests Topol-M missile to subdue USA's $50-billion air defence
The successful test launch of the Topol-M missile has proved that the up-to-date Russian warhead is capable of subduing the USA's air defence. Russian military specialists say that the unpredictable flight trajectory of the Russian missile makes it immune to destruction. Russian strategic troops performed the test launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile RS-12M Topol on November 1. The chairman of the press corp, Colonel Alexander Vovk, stated after the test launch that the missile successfully hit the conditional target on the Balkhash range ground in Kazakhstan. It is worthy of note that yesterday's launch of the Topol-M missile became the sixth test of the system, which was created to subdue the US air defence. The Russian military command was keeping the entire flight data under control during the launch of the missile. The test showed that the directional changes, as performed by the missile on its flight trajectory, would prevent foreign air defence troops intercepting and destroying the missile. According to the information obtained from open sources, the arsenal of the Russian strategic troops currently has stationary Topol-M missile systems. It is planned to use the systems on both shaft and mobile bases in the future. The Russian Topol-M missile system has unique technical details. The length of the missile is 22.7 meters, it is 1.95 meters in diameter, the range ability reaches over 10,000 kilometers. The starting weight of the missile is 47.2 tons; the missile gathers speed a lot faster than all previous types with the help of its three engines. In addition, the missile performs unpredictable course and trajectory changes as a result of its numerous auxiliary engines. It was back in July 2001 that the USA tested one of the elements of their national ABM defence system. The intercepting missile was launched from Ronald Regan Test Site on Marshall Islands and hit a test warhead above the Pacific Ocean, not far from California. Following on, the then US President, George Bush Snr, informed the Russian administration about the USA's single-handed pullout from the 1972 START Treaty. This treaty prohibited the deployment of such defence systems on the territory of one single state. The USA's ABM plan implies the creation of a layered anti-ballistic shield. The ABM system would give the USA an opportunity to defend its territory against possible attacks from states from the so-called "axis of evil". The USA chose this evolutionary way for the development of its future air defense system, and as a result will not have a final and stagnant air defence structure. The USA deploys ground and sea based missile interceptors, Patriot systems and a variety of sensors on the ground, at sea and in space. The cost of the US ABM project is estimated at some $50 billion.
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