RS-24 Test-Fired Successfully For Third Time

An increasingly bellicose Russia test-launched a sea-based ballistic missile from a submarine, and also readied plans to deploy a land-based nuclear-tipped missile that Russians claim can elude U.S. missile defense systems.

In one test, the Dmitry Donskoy submarine launched a Bulava missile with a multiple warhead that hit targets at the Kura training range in Kamchatka, according to Itar- Tass.

In the other test, a land-based RS-24 missile was fired for a third time, traveling a trajectory of 4,000 miles.

Russia is preparing to deploy the RS-24 land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that is said to be able to slip through U.S. ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems, according to the London Daily Telegraph, quoting Russian news agencies.

The RS-24s would be deployed at the end of next year at the Teikovo missile unit at a base northeast of Moscow.

These developments come after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier, in a single week, personally witnessed a submarine ICBM launch, and a separate land-based ICBM launch.

Russia for months has attempted to intimidate the United States and European nations to abandon plans to construct a European Missile Defense (EMD) system.

While the EMD would guard Europe against missiles launched by a rogue Middle Eastern nation such as Iran, Moscow claims the EMD would threaten Russian ICBMs, a claim that U.S. leaders say is preposterous, since the EMD interceptors wouldn’t be fast enough to catch Russian ICBMs.

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic and Poland have ignored Russian bluster and threats to use missiles to destroy the EMD system if it is built, with one house in the Czech parliament approving the plan Thursday, just before Americans sat down to Thanksgiving Day dinners. (Please see separate story in this issue.)

In a related development, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in comments he may have thought would make him seem reasonable, told French journalists that he will forego placing Iskander missiles in an enclave near Kaliningrad, close to Poland, if the United States refrains from building the European Missile Defense (EMD) system. It would have a radar in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland. (Please see separate story in this issue.)

Iran now possesses the Sajjil missile with a 1,200-mile range sufficient to strike Israel and parts of Europe, and is developing even longer-range missiles. Further, Iran has launched a missile from a submerged submarine, and announced plans for a space program, which would involve much the same technologies required for an ICBM that could strike targets in the United States.

President Bush has seen growing Iranian missile capabilities as a threat, along with the Iranian refusal to stop producing nuclear materials.

While Iran claims the materials would be used for electrical power generation, Westerners fear the materials would be used to fashion nuclear weapons that would be mounted on missiles. (Please see separate story in this issue.)

Although Bush has been a strong proponent of the EMD system, and of missile defense generally, he leaves office next month. While President-elect Obama sees a need for missile defense in the face of the rising Iranian threat, it is unclear just how much support and funding he will provide to the EMD program, and to other missile defense systems.