On October 16, 2012, the Air and Space Defense Forces (VKO) conducted a successful test launch of the 53T6 (Gazelle) interceptor of the A-135 missile defense system, which is currently deployed around Moscow. The test launch took place at 12:01 MSK (08:01 UTC) at the Sary-Shagan test site in Kazakhstan. According to the official representative of VKO, the goal of the test was to confirm technical characteristics of the currently deployed systems.

The last time the 53T6 interceptor was tested in December 2011.