RS-24 Yars

[10] It is essentially the same missile as the Topol-M except the payload “bus” has been modified to carry multiple independently targetable warheads (MIRV).

[11] The 2007 tests were publicized as a response to the missile shield that the United States were planning to deploy in Europe.

According to Sergey Karakaev, commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, Yars is an acronym for "Yadernaya Raketa Sderzhivaniya" (Russian: Ядерная ракета сдерживания), meaning "Nuclear Deterrence Rocket".

Missile warheads were reported to have successfully reached their targets at the Kura test site in Kamchatka.

[23] On March 1 and October 29, 2024, the Russian Defense Ministry said it conducted successful combat training launches of RS-24 Yars ICBMs from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk.

[24][25] In June 2008, the chief designer of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, Yuri Solomonov, announced that the RS-24 is an enhanced, MIRVed development of the Topol-M missile that would finish all testing in 2008 and most likely be deployed in 2009.

[27] Further on October 10, 2009, on ITAR-TASS, General Andrei Shvaichenko, the new SRF commander, confirmed the December 2009 deployment of the RS-24 which will support the existing RT-2PM2 Topol-M (RS-12М2) missile complex.

[34] On 18 October 2019, Col. Alexander Prokopenkov, commander of the 35th Rocket Division, stated that the new "Yars-S" missile systems will enter combat duty in the city of Barnaul in November.

[37] According to Sergey Karakaev, commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, as of November 2019, there were "more than 150" launchers of the "Yars" complex (silo and mobile-based) in operation.