The Russian military have successfully launched a top secret advanced
intercontinental ballistic missile. It is designed to counter the
American antimissile shield currently being deployed in several regions.
­The new weapon is an advanced version of the Topol-M and Yars
missiles, already deployed by the Russian Strategic Missile Forces. The
experiment was boosted off from the Plesetsk launch site in
north-western Russia’s Arkhangelsk region on Wednesday. It delivered its
test block to the Kura target range in Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far
East.The main purpose of the launch was to confirm feasibility of
the design approaches incorporated into the missile, spokesman for the
Forces Colonel Vadim Koval told journalists.The successful test
comes after a failed launch of the prototype on September 27, 2011. At
the time the missile’s first-stage engine reportedly failed, which
resulted in it dropping some 10 kilometers from the launch pad.