Russian Official Boasts of New ICBM
May 29 12:01 PM US/Eastern
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia on Tuesday test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile, apparently developed secretly, that a top government official said could penetrate any defense system, Russian news agencies reported.
The missile would modernize Russia's stockpile at a time of rising tensions with the West.
"As of today Russia has new (missiles) that are capable of overcoming any existing or future missile defense systems," ITAR-Tass quoted First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying. "So in terms of defense and security Russian can look calmly to the country's future."
President Vladimir Putin and Ivanov, a former defense minister seen as a potential candidate to succeed the Russian leader in elections next year, have repeatedly said their country would continue to improve its nuclear weapons systems and respond to U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in Europe.
The missile capable of carrying multiple independent warheads was fired from a mobile launcher at the Plesetsk launch in northwestern Russia, and its test warhead landed on target about 3,400 miles away on the Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, according to a statement from Russian Strategic Missile Forces.
Ivanov said Russia also successfully tested a tactical cruise missile.
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