March 31,
2008: Russia has destroyed six Topol mobile ICBMs, as part of the 1991 START-1
disarmament treaty. The Topol (SS-25)
was the first successful Russian solid fuel ICBM. It is comparable to
the 1960s era U.S. Minuteman ICBMs. Solid fuel is tricky to manufacture, and
after many early unsuccessful attempts to develop it, the Russians stuck with
liquid fuel until the 1980s. They finally perfected their solid fuel
technology, with the successful test launch of the 45 ton Topol in 1985. The 52
ton Topol-M (SS-27) [VIDEO] followed ten years later, and is replacing the older
Topols. Both missiles have a range of
10,500 kilometers. The Topol-M is more reliable, especially compared to the
mobile Topol, which often developed reliability problems when it was moved by
truck or train, and then fired. The Topol-M also had reliability problems, but
these appear to have been fixed. Topol-Ms cost $52 million each, which is said to
be about what the original Topols cost.
The
START-1 treaty expires in December, 2009, and requires Russia and the U.S. to
have no more than 1,600 delivery vehicles for nukes, and no more than 6,000
nuclear warheads. Both nations have agreed to further reduce their warhead
count to 2,000 or less.
