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Russia to Update Intercontinental Missiles Against US NMD
The U.S. deployment of a national missile defense (NMD) system and development of new small-power nuclear arms will force Russia to upgrade its intercontinental ballistic missiles, experts of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences said Monday.
Commenting on the reports of the Pentagon's decision to launch the production of nuclear shells for hitting in-depth targets, the experts told Itar-Tass that Russia's answer could be equipping the single-headed ballistic missiles Topol-M with three warheads and mounting 10 warheads on submarine-launch ballistic missiles.
The Russian-American strategic arms reduction treaty, START-I, does not ban such modernization, they noted.
Serial production of Topol-M missiles has been launched at Russia's Votkinsk factory. Their flight range is 10,000 kilometers, take-off weight 47.1 tons and warhead weight 1.2 tons.
The submarine ballistic missiles, SS-N-23, have separable warheads with individualized guidance. They are intended to strike highly protected silo launchers, with a range of 9,000 kilometers. Their system for overcoming anti-missile defense is based on latest technology, the experts said.
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