(NSI News Source Info) April 10, 2009: Russia will test launch on Friday a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia, a spokesman for the Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) said. 
A man looks at a newly installed Topol RS-12M mobile missile on display at the Artillery Museum in St Petersburg. Russia test-fired two ballistic missiles and bombed a dummy town at the weekend, but analysts said the show of military preparedness was for domestic consumption and not a Kremlin warning shot to the West.
A man looks at a newly installed Topol RS-12M mobile missile on display at the Artillery Museum in St Petersburg. Russia test-fired two ballistic missiles and bombed a dummy town at the weekend, but analysts said the show of military preparedness was for domestic consumption and not a Kremlin warning shot to the West. The missile was in active service from 1987 until 2007, and deployed with the 54th Strategic Missile Division near the town of Teikovo, about 150 miles (240 km) northeast of Moscow.
"The goal of the upcoming launch is to confirm the reliability of the technical characteristics [of Topol missiles] during an extended service period," Col. Alexander Vovk said.
The RS-12M Topol (SS-25 Sickle) is a single-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) approximately the same size and shape as the U.S. Minuteman ICBM. The first Topol missiles were put into service in 1985.
The missile has a maximum range of 10,000 km (6,125 miles) and can carry a 550-kiloton nuclear warhead.
Although the service life of the SS-25 was extended to 21 years after a series of successful test launches last year, the missile will be progressively retired over the next decade and be replaced by mobile Topol-M (SS-27 Stalin) missile systems.
According to open sources, Russia's SMF has a total of 541 ICBMs, including 306 Topol missiles and 59 Topol-M missiles.
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