Moscow, Oct 29 (IANS): Russia is going to keep on active duty its Topol strategic mobile ballistic missile systems until 2019, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) said Friday.
According to Sergei Karakayev, commander of the SMF, the reliability and technical conditions of the missile systems allowed the SMF to consider a longer service life of the systems, reported Xinhua.
The Topol, which is Russia's principal missile complex, was originally designed to serve for ten years but has been functionally operative for 23 years.
The missile, with a range up to 10,000 km, can carry a single nuclear warhead with the yield of 550 kilotons.