Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov recently visited the Teikovo strategic missile division, which placed the first regiment of unique mobile ground-based Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles on combat duty.

The Russian Strategic Missile Force has received over 40 Topol silo-based ICBMs since 1997. However, unlike these earlier missiles, the mobile, hard-to-detect and interchangeable Topol-M ballistic missiles, which are immune to electromagnetic impulses, can be launched from a wide area.

R&D and deployment costs were reduced because the new missile system retains the main engineering solutions of its predecessor.

Moreover, the Topol-M can breach any existing anti-ballistic missile shield, including the highly expensive U.S. National Missile Defense system.

It is therefore hardly surprising that Topol-M missiles will soon be the mainstay of Russia's Strategic Missile Force and replace other missiles that have been serving for over 20 years.

The Topol-M missile has a lift-off weight of 47.2 metric tons, a range of over 10,000 km and carries a 1,200-kg warhead.

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