Russia says test-launched new intercontinental ballistic missile

The launch from the Kapustin Yar test range in the Astrakhan region was part of testing on next-generation ICBM combat equipment, the defense ministry reports.

“On April 11, 2023, a Strategic Missile Forces combat crew conducted a successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Kapustin Yar state central joint forces test range in the Astrakhan region,” the statement read.

The launch helped confirm the correctness of schematic and structural and technical solutions used in developing new strategic missile systems, the Defense Ministry said. The missile’s test warhead hit the target at the Sary Shagan firing range (Republic of Kazakhstan) with the target accuracy, according to the statement.

“The objectives of the launch were fulfilled in full,” the statement added.

Back in February, Moscow carried out a test of an ICBM that appears to have failed around the time President Joe Biden was in Ukraine, according to two US officials familiar with the matter.

Russia notified the United States in advance of the launch through deconfliction lines under its New START treaty obligations, one official said, adding that “such testing is routine.” Another official stated that the test did not pose a risk to the United States and that the US did not view the test as an anomaly or an escalation.