Newspaper: Russia is developing new generation ICBM

Jul 19, 2011, 9:33 GMT

Moscow - Russia is developing a new-generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) which will become the world's most effective nuclear weapons delivery system, Izvestia newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The new liquid-fueled heavy missile will carry a maximum of 15 nuclear warheads and be able to reach almost any target in the Northern Hemisphere.

The missile also will be equipped with jammers and decoys to make it and its nuclear warheads, each of which may be aimed at separate targets, 'impossible' to intercept, the article said.

Russia's Ministry of Defence is in the final stages of developing blueprints for a prototype missile which will be built at a military test centre in the Ural city Chelyabinsk.

The Kremlin has spent 27.5 billion dollars in developing new technologies for the missile. Its deployment should begin in 2020.

The weapon will replace the Russia's fleet of silo-based SS-18 missiles, which currently form the main leg of Moscow's deterrent to a potential enemy nuclear strike.

The SS-18 was first fielded by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Western analysts have said almost all of the 58 SS-18 missiles currently in service are probably aimed at ICBM silos in the US or China.

Russia and the US have been in a row since the mid-2000s over a US plan to deploy missile defence systems to Europe which, according to Washington, are needed to protect NATO states from a missile launched by a rogue nation.

Kremlin officials have repeatedly criticised the missile shield plan, saying the system would be able to intercept Russian missiles and so give NATO and the US a powerful advantage in a confrontation with Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in early July warned the Kremlin would retaliate with new-technology weapons of its own if the NATO missile defence plan went forward, saying 'Russia would have to respond.'