On December 5, 2010 the Strategic Rocket Forces successfully launched a Topol (SS-25) missile from the Kapustin Yar test site toward the Sary-Shagan test site in Kazakhstan. The launch took place at 22:11 MSK (19:11 UTC). According the Rocket Forces report, the launch was used to extend the lifetime of the missile, to test various military instrumentation equipment, and to test new "combat payload" for intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The Sary-Shagan test site in Kazakhstan hosts a number of radars that were developed for missile defense and early-warning programs. Russia apparently uses launches to Sary-Shagan to test various missile defense countermeasures and maybe new types of reentry vehicles. The report on this launch suggests that Russia may have upgraded some radars or deployed new missile tracking equipment.

A similar launch was conducted in December 2009. At the time, the Rocket Forces announced that two "experimental launches of RS-12M [Topol]" from Kapustin Yar will be conducted in 2009. The December 2009 launch became the first and the current launch is apparently the second one in the series - the only other Topol launch in 2010 was conducted in October 2010 from Plesetsk.