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Russia successfully tests hypersonic ICBM
December 24, 2004 23:26 IST
Russia on Saturday successfully tested its Generation-next hypersonic inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of dodging any future missile shield.
In the presence of Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov and Economic Development Minister Gherman Gref, a RS12M2 Topol-M mobile ICBM was test launched at 1239 hours (1509 IST) from the cosmodrome Plisetsk in north Russia.
Twenty-five minutes later it scored a bulls-eye 6,000 kilometres away at the Kura range in Kamchatka in the far east, the defence ministry said.
This was the fourth successful test of the new missile before its induction in 2005.
Topol-M ICBMs will become the 'backbone' of the Russian nuclear missile forces by 2015 and are expected to be in service till 2040. Equipped with three powerful engines, they are capable of penetrating through multi-layered enemy missile defences.
In November, addressing his top generals, President Vladimir Putin had shocked the world by announcing plans to shortly deploy 'unique missiles capable of penetrating any future missile defence systems under development' in the US.
In the late 1980s, responding to US president Ronald Regan's 'Star Wars' plans, the then Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev had cautioned that the USSR will take 'asymmetrical' measures, which would turn the US missile shield costing hundreds of billion dollars into a 'useless toy'.