Amid the flurry of Russian end-of-year news (it is a traditionally very busy time, with everybody rushing to finish things by the end of year) one news was conspicuously absent - that of deployment of the RS-24 missile. Earlier this year, the Rocket Forces repeatedly promised that the first RS-24 missiles will be deployed in Teykovo in 2009. However, there was no word of the deployment.
It is quite possible that the missiles were deployed without much fanfare, but this would be quite unusual - RS-24 deployment is a big deal by any measure. Then, there was no word of Topol-M deployment in Teykovo either, although three missiles were supposed to join the division in 2009.
My guess is that the deployment was delayed for a month or so - this happened before with Topol-M. But finding out what happened may take a while - we don't have START MOU data anymore.
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My thought would be that the rs-24 is too light for Mirving. I think the fact that ss-18's and ss-19's are going to be replaced by a new "heavy" liquid fuelled rocket have a lot to do with the silence on rs-24.
RS-24 is perfectly capable of carrying multiple warheads. My estimate was that it can be deployed with three 400-kt size warheads.
I would take the almost ready to deploy rs-24 with only three warhead capability over a brand new replacement for ss-19/18, even though both of this liquid fuelled monster are capable fo carrying 6 and 10 warheads each. Just about the only positive(other than the above mentioned fact that this missile is almost ready to go and is solid propelled)is that this system is also mobile and that cannot be underestimated.