Speaking at the Munich conference, Russian Defense Minister announced that Russia will soon deploy a "unique system, not possessed by any country in the world". He referred to Putin's remarks made in February 2004 after a successful test of what was reported to be some kind of a maneuverable warhead for UR-100NUTTH/SS-19 missile (although there are some doubts about the success). Ivanov cryptically added that all words and even commas in that Putin's statement were very important.

Secrecy that breeds confusion and uncertainty is one of the few weapons that Russia has in its arsenal today, so it’s no surprise that neither Ivanov nor Putin disclosed any details about this “unique system”. We will probably have to wait until it gets deployed to know what it is (but don’t bet on it).

Right now, the prime candidate for this role is whatever it was that was tested on February 18, 2004. The mobile version of the Topol-M (SS-27) missile is also a possibility - technically speaking, no other country has a ground-mobile intercontinental missile. But Topol-M it is probably not, since Russia already has ground-mobile Topol (SS-25).

If it is indeed a new warhead for UR-100NUTTH/SS-19 missiles, we can expect to see deployment of some of the 30 or so missiles of this type that were recently brought from Ukraine, since the currently deployed SS-19s are too old to be in service for much longer.