Ten combat training and test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles are planned to be carried out in 2011 by the Strategic Missile Forces. In addition, in the Strategic Missile Forces over the past three years, all deputy commanders have been replaced, as well as commanders of missile armies and divisions.
"For 2011, ten different launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles are planned, including three launches of RS-12M Topol missiles, four launches of PC-18 and three launches of the latest missiles with multiple warheads RS-24," the press said - Colonel Vadim Koval, secretary of the press service and information department of the RF Ministry of Defense for Strategic Missile Forces.
He noted that test launches are carried out as part of development work to create promising missile technology, and combat training launches, as a rule, are combined with working out the tasks of extending the service life of missiles on alert.
Koval recalled that in 2010, the Strategic Missile Forces conducted five launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Including the launch of the RS-20V Voevoda rocket (according to the Western classification Satan) from the positional area of the Yasnenskaya missile division (Orenburg region) in order to confirm the flight performance of the rocket and extend the service life of the Voevoda missile system to 23 years … There were also two launches of the RS-20B rocket (from the Baikonur cosmodrome and from the positional area of the Yasnenskaya division) under the Dnepr conversion program with the passing of spacecraft into near-earth orbit.
In 2010, two RS-12M Topol missiles were also launched. Including one - from the Plesetsk cosmodrome (Arkhangelsk region); the second - from the Kapustin Yar test site in order to confirm the stability of the main flight characteristics of missiles of this class during the extended service life, as well as to develop measuring instruments of various types of measuring complexes in the interests of the RF Armed Forces, and to test the combat equipment of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
In addition, as Vadim Koval told Interfax, the average age of unit commanders has dropped over the past three years from 46 to 44 years, and regiment commanders - from 40 to 38 years. "During the same period, one hundred percent of deputy commanders of the Strategic Missile Forces, commanders of large formations and commanders of formations, 92% of regiment commanders were re-appointed," he said.
He noted that the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the officers of the Strategic Missile Forces make it possible to solve the challenges of maintaining combat readiness. "Officers of 61 nationalities serve in units and formations, 98% of them have higher education. The average age of the officer corps is less than 33 years, and 45% of the officers are under the age of 30," said Koval.
