RS-24 Yars

RS-24 Yars
Type	Intercontinental ballistic missile
Place of origin	Russia
Service history
In service	July 2010
Used by	Russian Strategic Missile Troops
Production history
Designer	Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology
Manufacturer	Votkinsk Machine Building Plant
Produced	July 2010
Specifications
Weight	49,600 kg
Length	20.9 m
Diameter	2 m
Warhead	At least 4 MIRVs with 150–250 kiloton warheads
Engine	solid (,third or fourth - stage can be liquid)
Operational range	11,000 km (6,800 mi) (According to Russian Government's sources)
Speed	over Mach 20 (24,500 km/h; 15,220 mph; 6,806 m/s)
Guidance system	Inertial with Glonass
Accuracy	150-250 m
Launch platform	Silo, road-mobile TEL

The RS-24 Yars also known as RT-24 Yars or Topol'-MR (Russian: PC-24 «Ярс», NATO reporting name: SS-29) is a Russian MIRV-equipped, thermonuclear weapon 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 in use for nearly 50 years. RS-24 is a missile that is heavier than the current Topol-M, and which some reports say 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 has been deployed operationally since 2010.

Asserted 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 29, 2007, and its test warheads landed on target about 5,750 km (3,573 mi) away at the Kura Test Range in Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.

The second launch from Plesetsk to the 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. It was again tested on December 24, 2013, from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwest Russia. On December 26, 2014, the Strategic Forces conducted a successful launch of a RS-24 Yars missile. The missile was launched from a mobile launcher deployed at the Plesetsk test site. Missile warheads were reported to have successfully reached their targets at the Kura test site in Kamchatka. The launch, which was performed with support of the Air and Space Defense Forces, took place at 11:02 MSK (08:02 UTC).