According to the official, threats from the US missile defense system in Europe do not critically reduce combat capabilities of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces

MOSCOW, May 10. /TASS/. Russia is developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with special attention paid to their ability to penetrate the US missile shield, Russia’s Strategic Missile Force (SMF) Commander Sergey Karakayev said on Tuesday.

Russia is currently carrying out active work on improving its means of overcoming the missile shield, he said. "This is conditioned by the fact that the United States is not stopping after what it has achieved and continues improving its missile defense system, including the deployment of its elements in Europe. That is why, special attention in the development of new missile complexes is paid to the issue of overcoming the missile shield," Karakayev said. Capabilities of Russian ballistic missiles increase "by reducing ICBM’s acceleration section, introducing new types of warheads with the flight path that is difficult to predict and new means of overcoming the missile defense system," Karakayev went on. Russian missiles are also capable of delivering warheads via energy optimal trajectory and of striking from multiple directions, "which forces the opposing side to ensure perimeter missile defense," he concluded.

"This is achieved both through the ICBM’s shorter acceleration phase and new types of warheads with a hard-to-predict flight trajectory and new means of overcoming the missile shield," the commander said. According to the official, threats from the US missile defense system in Europe do not critically reduce combat capabilities of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces because Russian missiles are constantly upgraded. "Threats from the European segment of missile defense system for SMF are limited and do not critically reduce combat capabilities of SMF," Karakayev said. Strategic Missile Forces to have equal number of mobile, stationary ICBM launchers by 2021 Kartakayev said that Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces will have an equal number of stationary and mobile ground ICBM launchers by 2021. "Considering the ratios of stationary and mobile groupings of the Strategic Missile Forces, it can be noted that at the turn of 2021, the quantitative indicators of these groupings will come to equal each other. However, the capabilities of the stationary grouping will continue to be higher due to the availability of heavy missiles," the commander said.

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Yars missile systems to make half of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces The official has also noted that the Yars missile systems will make up half of the total effective combat strength of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces by 2021. "By late 2021, the Yars missile system will make up about half of the SMF effective combat strength," he said. According to him, practically all the mobile land-based missile divisions will be rearmed with this system, and the Tatishchevo (partly) and Kozelsk missile divisions will get the silo-based version of the Yars system. "The Yars missile system will form the basis of the forces’ mobile grouping. The SMF rearming with this system will offset the forces’ effective combat strength cuts at the turn of 2021 due to the forced decommissioning of the Topol mobile ground missile system the operating life of which will expire by the time, he said. According to him, a large number of combat equipment versions of the new missile systems Yars in conjunction with modern antimissile defense suppression systems installed on them will considerably improve capabilities of the advanced mobile grouping. Previously, Strategic Missile Force commander’s aide, Colonel General Viktor Yesin said that it is planned to fully equip all missile divisions of the Strategic Missile Forces with the Yars and Yars-M mobile ground missile systems with the RS-26 missile in 2021.