Russia has test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile that is capable of carrying multiple independent warheads, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces said.The missile, called the RS-24, was fired from a mobile launcher at the Plesetsk launch in northwestern Russia and its test warhead landed on target some 3,400 miles away on the Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, a statement from the forces said Tuesday.
The new missile is seen as eventually replacing the aging RS-18s and RS-20s that are the backbone of the country's missile forces, the statement said. Those missiles are known in the West as the SS-19 Stiletto and the SS-18 Satan.
The statement said the RS-24 conforms with terms laid down in the START-I treaty and the 2002 Moscow Treaty, which call for reducing each country's nuclear arsenal to 1,700 to 2,000 warheads.
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