RS-24 Yars

RS-24 Yars
Type	Intercontinental ballistic missile
Place of origin	Russia
Service history
In service	July 2010
Used by	Russia
Production history
Designer	Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology
Manufacturer	Votkinsk Machine Building Plant
Specifications
Length	approx. 23 m
Diameter	approx. 2 m
Warhead	MIRVed, not less than 4x 550 kt warheads
Propellant	solid
Speed	Mach 13+
Guidance system	Inertial

The RS-24 Yars (Russian: РС-24 "Ярс") is a Russian MIRV-equipped, thermonuclear intercontinental ballistic missile first tested on May 29, 2007 after a secret military R&D 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 that the United States were planning to deploy in Europe. RS-24 is deployed operationally since 2010.

Testing

Purported by the Russian government as being designed to defeat present and potential anti-missile systems, the ICBM was first tested by a launch from a mobile launcher at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwestern Russia at 11:20 GMT, May 29th, 2007 and its test warheads landed on target about 5,750 km (3,600 mi) away at the Kura Test Range 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 treaty.

Deployment

In June 2008 the chief designer of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, 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 (SRF), the first RS-24 missiles will be deployed in Teykovo 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 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 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. In December 2011 first division of second regiment with 3 missiles was put on combat duty and second division will be deployed by 2011 year end.

Operators

Russia 15 missiles by 2011 year end.