In an interview given to Izvestia, published today, Yuri Solomonov, the former chief designer of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, claimed that the industry "supplied the military" with the "first combat unit" of RS-24 missiles at the end of 2009. Solomonov complained that this event went unnoticed and indeed it was - there was no word about RS-24 for quite some time.
The Rocket Forces reported about deployment of a regiment of Topol-M missiles in Teykovo in December 2009 - if RS-24 was deployed, that would be it. Another possibility is that the missiles were delivered to the Rocket Forces, but were not deployed for whatever reason. This seems unlikely, but on the other hand, some reports discussed deployment of RS-24 as a distant goal.
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Pavel: in consequence we would have the second Topol-M Division equipped with six "normal" Topol-M and with three RS-24 - is that right?
Cheers from bernd reuter
I don't know. I'm still not sure if this RS-24 deployment is real. I'd like to see more information.
I recall reading an article that talked about the RS-24 as a multi-warhead variant of the Topol-M. Is it possible that the RS-24 is now being presented as a Topol-M variant rather then a new missile?
No, in the new treaty RS-24 is listed as a new missile.
I don't mean for treaty purposes, I mean for internal classification and public statements.
I have a question: old SS-24 Scalpel was 24m long and 2,4m large, had got 4050kg payload, and could be carried by a "normal" railway wagon. In my view it would have been useful to develop a road-version of SS-24 rather than project the Topol and Topol-M, which are lighter, of course, but far less powerful