On 12 May 2026, at 11:15 MSK (08:15 UTC), the Strategic Rocket Forces conducted a successful test launch of the Sarmat ICBM (video of the launch). The missile was launched from a silo of the Dombarovskiy/Yasnyy missile division toward the Kura test site in Kamchatka.

This is the second successful test launch of the Sarmat missile. The first one took place in April 2022. The second successful test came after a series of failures. Two are known - the launch attempt in September 2024 destroyed the test silo in Plesetsk; the failed test in November 2025 was captured on video. There seems to have been a failed test in February 2023 (it was confirmed by US sources). There may have been another one, in October 2023, but it was not confirmed by a reliable source.

The program began in 2010-2011 and is seriously behind schedule (see an earlier post for the recap of the developments). The commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces reported to the president that "the first missile regiment equipped with the Sarmat system [will be] placed on combat duty in the Uzhur formation, Krasnoyarsk Territory, by the end of the year."

It is likely that the first missiles, probably two of them, will indeed be deployed with the Uzhur division by the end of 2026. It is also possible, although somewhat less likely, that the flight tests of the missile will continue.