Russia Loads The RS-24 Yars ICBM Into A Silo In Central Russia

The RS-24 Yars is a strategic solid-propellant thermonuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missile system equipped with MIRVd, which stands for multiple independent targetable vehicle warheads, and is a modification of the Topol-M missile system. | Wikimedia | CC-BY-4.0 | Donald Standeford.

By Donald Standeford, SJ Founder/Publisher
December 15, 2022 0130:00 am UTC
Modified: 2022-12-15 01:30 am

MOSCOW - Russia has loaded its RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into a missile silo in the Kaluga Region in central Russia at the Kozelsk missile formation according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The Defense Ministry said, "In the run-up to the Strategic Missile Force Day, the Kozelsk missile formation carried out the loading of a Yars ICBM into the silo launcher."

Russian state news agency TASS said that the "complex process" took a few hours and was carried out with the aid of a special transport loader.

The news agency cited Commander of the Kozelsk missile formation Alexey Sokolov as saying, "This operation is important because it will allow a yet another ICBM to enter combat duty as scheduled."

The RS-24 Yars is a strategic solid-propellant thermonuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missile system equipped with MIRVd, which stands for multiple independent targetable vehicle warheads, and is a modification of the Topol-M missile system.

The missile system is nearly identical to the Topal-M missile system except that the payload "bus" is modified to carry MIRV (multiple independently targetable warheads).

Each missile from the RS-24 Yars is believed to carry up to four separate warheads, though it is not known for sure what the maximum capacity is.

Russia had said that they tested the RS-24 Yars with an "experimental warhead" design in June of 2019. During the test, the missile flew about 3,500 miles before hitting the Kura Missile Test Range in Kamchatka Kra all the way to the other side of Russia.