On October 19, 2012 at 13:12 MSK (09:12 UTC), the Strategic Rocket Forces carried out a successful launch of a Topol (SS-25) ICBM from the Plesetsk test site. The official representative of the Rocket Forces was quoted as saying that the warhead has successfully reached its target at the Kura test site in Kamchatka.

According to official statements, the goal of the test launch was to confirm the technical characteristics of the missile during its current 24-year service life term and to evaluate the possibility of extending that term to 25 years." The launch was also part of a strategic forces exercise that included a launch of a R-29 SLBM.

The Rocket Forces were planning to extend service life of the Topol ICBM to 25 years after a test launch in November 2011. However, it apparently remained at 24 years. It is possible that today's launch will also not lead to the extension of the service life - according to some reports the main missile that was prepared for launch failed and a backup missile was launched instead. UPDATE: It wasn't a failure of the missile, as it turned out. Rather, the problem was with the command and control system - when the president, who was participating in the exercise, "pressed the button", the missile didn't take off. This doesn't look good for the "fourth-generation command and control."